Saturday, October 7, 2006

The Pin

This was probably written around 1921 ior 1922:

                                        THE PIN 

 

The pin in my opinion, is a blessing to mankind,
For everywhere and everyplace, a use for it we find
It has so many relatives, so many kith and kin,
That for every little service, there is some sort of pin.
 
From babyhood to oldest age, there service we require -
And oft, indeed, they rescue us from situations dire.
Consider now the safety pin - a friend so tried and true
From very earliest infancy their services we knew.
 
We use them by the dozens and lose them by the score
And we're always finding further use and always buying more
We fasten baby's little BVD's and little shimmy shirts
And pin the little dresses and dainty little skirts.
 
And then when baby goes to sleep, we pin the covers tight.
And when a little older, his britches he does tear,
A safety pin will close the breech and hide what else were bare
And if,  perchance, a button needs, or two
It is marvelous what wondrous things a safety pin will do.
 
For Ma says, "Pa there's lots of pins upon the chiffonier -
You'll have to use a safety pin - I'm much too busy, dear."
And Pa says, "Ma, in days of old, it would not have been thus."
But promptly grabs a safety pin - and thus avoid a fuss.
 
                      William Kurtz Booth
 
These next words are from Ruth DeHority Booth (nee Metz):
While being installed as Treasurer of the Board of Lakeview Presbyterian Church, Chicago, Illinois, Will K. Booth saw a pin on the floor in front of him.  As Ruth prepared Sunday dinner, Will kept chuckling to himself as he jotted down the above.  Our two little girls had outgrown the three-cornered stage;  they were brought up in the days of "Vantas" and were not "pinned up" - they were "tied up"

 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

how funny.  

some great stuff you have here!  thanks for sharing.

Kathy

Anonymous said...

dear Penny,
how interesting! your grandfather shows the development of life in a pin!
terrific! thanks for sharing!
love,natalie

Anonymous said...

What a great poem.  He had quite a sense of humor.
Lori

Anonymous said...


Hi Penny:

I really enjoyed this. I wanted to e-mail you but it seems you have put a block on me. I hope and pray that I didn't up set you. That you felt you had to block.

I learned a lot from reading your journals. God bless you and your family.

Your friend ( I hope ) in Christ Jesus,

Alayne