Butch Says Grandmas Are Grand!

   “I know what makes a Grandma grand–she always has a treat, A cookie or a piece of cake or apple pie to eat, And when we go to visit her, she gets the good things out, And we don’t have to ask for more as long as she’s about. Then Ma will say, ‘That’s all today, don’t give them any more; you’ll make them ill, I know you will, Tonight we’ll walk the floor.’

  A Grandma never punishes or says that we are bad, She always takes us on her knee and tells us she is glad, To have us racing round the house, and when we get too smart, An’ Pa and Ma are awful cross, she always takes our part. And once when I had told a lie, and had to go to bed, without my tea . . . She came to me, and brought me jam and bread.

  Ma says it’s funny Grandma acts the way she does today; When she was Grandma’s little girl she couldn’t disobey, Or only eat the things she liked and get the stomach ache, Or pick the chocolate frosting off an’ never touch the cake. When she was bad, she always had, the punishment to bear, But we can be much worse than she, and Grandma doesn’t care.

  Pa says that Grandmas are alike; their job of training’s done, They don’t like tears to come along and spoil the children’s fun. They love to see the youngsters eat, an’ though it isn’t right, They never have to walk the floor or stay up all the night. An’ children know, the times they go . . . to Grandma’s house to play, Though bad they are, Their Ma and Pa…can’t have a word to say.”

  The above poem was written by Edgar Guest in 1924. Now . . . one hundred and two years later, Grandmas are still grand, aren’t they?

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 37 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.