Jon Carroll’s 29th annual Christmas Quiz comes a day early this year, and you have all weekend to puzzle out the answers. I contributed Question #2, which is all about the original names of some familiar brands.
And here’s a bagatelle from the American poet Don Marquis (1878-1937)—yes, the Don Marquis who wrote “archy and mehitabel.” This lesser-known verse, originally published in the December 22, 1928, issue of the New Yorker, was brought to my attention by Risa Nye, who tells me her children recite it in her presence each Yuletide. How very touching!
Mother’s Home Again!
’Twas on the Eve of Christmas
A face against the pane
Peered in at the firelight;
’Twas worn with vice, and plain;
But all the children shouted:
“Mother’s home again!”Mother’s out of jail, Dad!
Let us ask her in!
Make her Christmas merry,
With food and fire and gin!
Mother’s out of jail, Dad,
Let us ask her in!She’s watching through the window
Her babes in happy play;
Do not call a copper
To club the Jane away—
Remember, ere you strike her,
That once her hair was gray!Soon at some new night-club
She’ll be pinched again,
For Mother is so popular
With all the dancing men—
Invite her in to visit,
Mother’s home again!She’s staring through the window
At the Yuletide glow!
Oh, do not throw the old wife
Back into the snow!
She bore you all your children,
And oft has told you so.Mother’s in the street, Dad!
She is out of jail!
Put morphine in the needles,
And some ether in the ale,
Mother’s home for Christmas,
Mother’s out of jail!
Reminds me of a neighbour, a real Auntie Mame dame, who would respond, when you asked her if she'd like another, "Might as well be drunk as the way I am now."
All the best, Nancy!
Posted by: Duchesse | December 24, 2010 at 11:50 AM