Mother's Party Dress

“Some day,” says Ma, “I'm goin’ to get

A party dress all trimmed with jet,

An’ hire a seamstress in, an’ she

Is goin’ to fit it right on me;

An’ then, when I'm invited out

To teas an’ socials hereabout,

I'll put it on an’ look as fine

As all th’ women friends of mine.”

An’ Pa looked up: “I sold a cow,”

Says he, “go down an’ get it now.”

An’ Ma replied: “I guess I'll wait,

We've other needs that's just as great.

The children need some clothes to wear,

An’ there are shoes we must repair;

It ai n't important now to get

A dress fer me, at least not yet;

I really can n't afford it.”

Ma's talked about that dress fer years;

How she'd have appliqued revers;

The kind o’ trimmin’ she would pick;

How‘ t would be made to fit her slick;

The kind o’ black silk she would choose,

The pattern she would like to use.

An’ I can mind the time when Pa

Give twenty dollars right to Ma,

An’ said: “Now that's enough, I guess,

Go buy yourself that party dress.”

An’ Ma would take th’ bills an’ smile,

An’ say: “I guess I'll wait awhile;

Aunt Kitty's poorly now with chills,

She needs a doctor and some pills;

I'll buy some things fer her, I guess;

An’ anyhow, about that dress,

I really can n't afford it.”

An’ so it's been a-goin’ on,

Her dress fer other things has gone;

Some one in need or some one sick

Has always touched her to th’ quick;

Or else, about th’ time‘ at she

Could get th’ dress, she'd always see

The children needin’ somethin’ new;

An’ she would go an’ get it, too.

An’ when we frowned at her, she'd smile

An’ say: “The dress can wait awhile.”

Although her mind is set on laces,

Her heart goes out to other places;

An’ somehow, too, her money goes

In ways that only mother knows.

While there are things her children lack

She wo n't put money on her back;

An’ that is why she has n't got

A party dress of silk, an’ not

Because she can n't afford it.