Читать книгу Boys and Girls - James W. Foley - Страница 14

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I ’MEMBER when they cut my curls not very long ago,

Because they looked just like a girl’s, and I’m a boy, you know;

I used to wear ’em awful long, and once my Pa, he said,

It’s time I had my curls cut off and wore short hair instead;

Because I’m big enough for that; and then they took the shears

And snipped my curls off one by one right close up to my ears,

But every time a curl came off, my Mother, she just hid

Her face a little bit and cried. I wonder why she did!

And after while she picked one up and held it in her hand

With something shining in her eyes I didn’t understand;

She petted it as if it was a little boy or girl,

And acted fond of it when it was nothing but a curl.

And after while they’re all cut off and down there on the floor,

And I looked much more like a boy than I had been before,

But there was something in her eyes she tried and tried and tried

To brush away, but still it came. I wonder why she cried.

And after while I’m all trimmed off, and then my Pa, he said,

I’m not a baby any more, but I’m a boy instead,

And he is awful proud of me, and then my Ma, she smiled

And said we found a boy that day and lost a little child;

So I said I would hunt for him and bring him back but then

She said she was afraid that he would not come back again;

And picked the curls I had all up from off the floor and hid

Them in her bureau drawer and cried. I wonder why she did.