--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Townsend, Joseph L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 10 published: 1906-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Joseph L. Townsend, "When the Old Man Has Nothin’ to Say," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 10 (August 1906): 784.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0910unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0910unse start_page: 784 end_page: 784 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1906-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0910unse publication_year: 1906 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1906, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # When the Old Man Has Nothin’ to Say when thine accusers are also come." (.TO BE CONTINUED.) WHEN THE OLD MAN HAS NUTHIN' TO SAY. (A Farm Ballad, for the Improvement Era.) Someiimes, there's a bit of tarnation Starts up with the wind and the sun, An' ev'rything goes topsy-turvey, you know, An' nuthin' is properly done; The boys they has trouble a mi'kin', The gals has the dickens to pay; An' that is the mornin' for me to shet up, An' have nuthin' at all to say. 'Pears like thar is sumthin' a whiskin' All thru the cantankerous air, An' ev'ry one's feelins' is nettled and riled, An' almost a bustin' to swear; Wh;n natur's that way, thinks I, "Sted dy; The weather is narvous today, An' now is the time for] a close-shet mouth" — An' the ole man has nuthin' to say. Payson, Utah. 1 notice then, 'long about noontime, When I've helped all I can with the work, That one's feelin's git quiet and easylike, An' ev'ry one's growin' more chirk; The boys they get merry a whistlin', The gals get to singin' so gay; For the ole man's lamed a natural law— That's why he has nuthin' to say. So I b'lieve when the weather is ailin', An' ev'ry one's feelin's are riled, 'Tis a good thing to calculate early, my boy, 'Bout tempers, an' how they get spiled, So, keepin' myself cool an' steddy, One's narvousness passes away; That's why I carries a close-shet mouth, An' has nuthin' at all to say? Joseph L. Townsend.