Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4886, 6 September 1884, Page 1

Select Poetry.

THE WASHERWOMAN'S SONG.

In a very Humble cot, In a rather quiet spot, In the suds and in the soap Worked a woman fall of hope, Working, singing all alone, in a sort of undertone, "With a Saviour for a friend, . He will keep me to the end," Sometimes happening along I had heard that serai-song, And I often used to smile, More in sympathy than guile, But I never said a word In regard to what I heard, As she sang about her friend Who would keep her to the end. Not in sorrow nor iia glee Working all day long was she, As'her children, ifchree or.fqtu:, Played around her on Tthla £6or.j But in monotones tide s«ng She was humming all day lon&.v : . " With a Savionr for a friend— fie will keep me 'to the' end." Just a trifle lonesome she, Just as poor as poor could be, But her spirits always rose, Like the bubbles in the;elothes, And, though widowed and alone, Cheered her with the monotone, Of a Saviour and-a friend, Who would keep her to the end. I have seen her rub and scrub On the washboard in the tub, While the baby sopped in suds, Rolled and tumbled in the duds, Or was paddling in the pools With old scissors stuck in spools, She still humming of her friend, Who would keep her to the end. Human hopes and human creeds Have their root in human needs, And I wonld not wish to strip From that washerwoman's lip Any song that she can sing, Any hope that-songs canbring, For the woman has a friend Who will keep her-to the end. EUGENE T. WAKE.