Happy Days for Pa

From the Rock Island Argus, May 28, 1913.
 By S. E. Kiser.
 

 Pa is feeling rather chipper; every day he wears a smile
 Though he has no public office and keeps working all the while;
 They have not increased his wages, and they never will, I guess,
 But his look is always cheerful and he’s full of hopefulness.
 
 His overcoat is seedy and his pants bag at the knees;
 We are not among the people who can travel overseas;
 The price of living’s higher than it ought to be, ’tis true,
 But pa’s clinging to his courage and he takes a hopeful view.
 
 The folks next door have lately had to cut expenses down;
 It seems they’ve been unlucky—it’s the talk all over town;
 They have sold their new electric—ma pretends it was too bad—
 So it seems pa needn’t buy one, and it makes him mighty glad.