Last night Pa said to Ma, "My dear it's gittin' on to fall
it's time I did a little job I do not like at all.
I wish that I was rich enough to hire a man to do
the durty work around this house an' clean up
when he's through,
but since I'm not, I'm truly glad that I am
strong an' stout,
an' ain't ashamed to go my self an' clean the
furnace out."
Then after supper Pa put on his overalls an' said,
he'd work down in the cellar till twas time to go to bed,
he started in to rattle an' to bang an' poke an' stir,
an' the dust began a climbin up through every register
till Ma said "goodness gracious go an' shut those things up tight
or we'll all be suffocated an' the house will be a sight."
Then he carted out the ashes in a basket an' a pail,
an' from cellar door do alley he just left a ashy trail.
Then he pulled apart the chimney an' twas
full of something black,
an' he skinned most all his knuckles when he
tried to put it back,
we could hear him talkin' awful an' Ma looked
at us an' said
"I think it would be better if you children
went to be."
When he came up from the cellar there were
ashes in his hair.
there were ashes in his eyebrows but he
didn't seem to care
there were ashes in his mustache, there were ashes in his eyes,
an' we never would have known him if he'd
took us by surprise.
"Well, I got it clean," he sputtered, an' Ma said "I guess that's true,
once that dirt was in the furnace but now
most of it's on you."
