"YOU ARE OLD, FATHER ..."

Recently someone, that shall not be named, mentioned that my husband was old.

nice truck Cla-la-la

We were engaged in the taxing physical labor of loading well-aged manure (a generous farmer donated to our cause) into a pickup, driving it several miles home to our garden, and unloading it.

Yes it was done one shovel full at a time.

weilding 'Grandpa's' grain scoop - not an easy task ...
Papa says my dad gave him that shovel the year we were married

Special thanks to my son Clarence and 3 of my grandsons that shoveled with us and made the 3 loads happen in one afternoon.  My garden should be lush for the next several years.

Immediately after the words 'you are old' were spoken there came into my mind the first and last couple of lines of a funny little poem I have always loved - but I could not dig up the rest of it.  I first read about this 'old' man when I was a child and later committed it to memory.

Since that faculty (memory) seemed to not be quite up to snuff - don't say it - I know ... it begins to fail as we age ... anyway I looked it up and now can repeat it anew.  ENJOY

“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”

“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door –
Pray, what is the reason of that?”

“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment – one shilling the box –
Allow me to sell you a couple?”

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak –
Pray how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”

“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose –
What made you so awfully clever?”

“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”
Said his father; “don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!”

Poem written by Lewis Carroll in the mid 1800's.