Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1916 — Fat and Lean [ARTICLE]

Fat and Lean

(By Walt Mason)

In August heat is at its worst; the sun roasts on, with zeal accurst; all brown and wilted is the grass, the sky looks like a sheet of brass.

Oh, August always hits me hard, for I am well equipped with lard; I scored two hundred in the shade jtheji last T had my person weighed. And as I sizzle in the warmth, I Wish I had a slender fornuli. ?Jy neighbor, Wilkins, has no fa;, he's lean and limber as a cat, and in the burning August days, serene and j cool he goes his ways; no wilted j collar on his neck, he likes to ste the heat on deck. He doesn't hav<i to mop a brow that drizzles sweat, as Ido now. I envy him his lanky shape, but from my fat there's no escape, And, as I envy, comes a thought with hope and consolation l fraught. Full soon the wintry winds I will blow; there’ll be all kinds of

ice and snow, and then, while freezing Wilkins shakes, the fat man who in August bakes, will calmly view the bitter storm, by his own store of grease kept warm. Thus things are balanced on this earth, and. reconciled to ample girth, I tell tb-j sun to go ahead, and paint the solar system red.