Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/105

Rh Money is bound to be hard to get;
 * Every thing's bound to be very dear;

How the cattle are going to be fed,
 * How we're to keep the boys at school,

Is kind of a debit and credit sum
 * I can't make balance by any rule."

She turned her round from the baking bread,
 * And she faced him with a cheerful laugh;

"Why, husband, dear, one would think
 * That the good rich wheat was only chaff.

And what if the wheat was only chaff,
 * As long as we both are well and strong?

I'm not a woman to worry a bit,—
 * Somehow or other we get along.

Into some lives some rain must fall,
 * Over all lands the storm must beat;

But when the rain and storm are o'er,
 * The after sunshine is twice as sweet.

Through every strait we have found a road,
 * In every grief we've found a song;

We've had to bear, and had to wait,—
 * But somehow or other we get along.

For thirty years we have loved each other,
 * Stood by each other whatever befell;

Six boys have called us father and mother,
 * And all of them living and doing well.

We owe no man a penny, my dear,
 * We're both of us loving, well, and strong:

Good man, I wish you would smoke again,
 * And think how well we've got along."

He filled his pipe with a pleasant laugh;
 * He kissed his wife with a tender pride;

He said, "I'll do as you tell me, love;
 * I'll just count up on the other side."

She left him then with his better thought,
 * And lifted her work with a low, sweet song,—

A song that followed me many a year:
 * "Somehow or other we get along."