From Rude Rural Rhymes by Bob Adams, New York: The Macmillan Company; 1925; pp. 105-106.
WASHING DISHES
This bard is much inclined to shirk
And sidestep certain jobs of work.
Among the few that meet his wishes,
Is not included washing dishes.
It is too careful, close and fussy
And most abominably mussy.
A lot of crockery he breaks,
He makes a lot of fool mistakes.
When Hannah has the job in hand
She leaves the rest till glass is panned,
But being with a bonehead cursed,
I do the greasy dishes first.
Within the pan a while I slosh them,
Then likely with the sink-cloth wash them.
Yea, if I’m running true to type,
I use the dust cloth when I wipe.
And, such is not my reputation
At this dish-slinging occupation,
My wife prefers that I should stack
The dishes up till she gets back.
This may not seem the thing to do —
But it suits her and suits me too.
She’d rather find them whole and dirty,
[106]
Than near-clean fragments ten to thirty.
O if I swung gay in, day out,
As Hannah does, that old dish clout,
I should demand this new machine
Which washes dishes slick and clean.
They’d buy me one to still my hollers,
E’en though it cost a hundred dollars.