Christopher Morley

Washing the Dishes

WHEN we on simple rations sup

How easy is the washing up!

But heavy feeding complicates

The task by soiling many plates.


And though I grant that I have prayed

That we might find a serving-maid,

I'd scullion all my days I think,

To see Her smile across the sink!


I wash, she wipes. In water hot

I souse each pan and dish and pot;

While taffy mutters, purrs, and begs,

And rubs himself against my legs.


The man who never in his life

Has washed the dishes with his wife

Or polished up the silver plate--

He still is largely celibate.


One warning: there is certain ware

That must be handled with all care:

The Lord Himself will give you up

If you should drop a willow cup!

 

 

For those who don't know, old Morley wrote "Parnassus On Wheels" and " The Haunted Bookshop" two books that I assume that anyone who has ever worked in or owned a used bookstore has read. For the rest of you, find them and read them. Morley died in 1957.

I turned up a copy of "Letters of Askance" 1939 a collection of his essays and short things for magazines- just the sort of thing you'd find as a thrift store throwaway. Funny stuff. I'm reverting to my childhood. I loved Ring Lardner and Thurber and Bret Hart and O. Henry as teenager. Found a little book by Thurber called "The White Deer" recently. Happy little afternoon read. 




Anyway, the opening essay if about Mrs. Piozzi, who knew Boswell and Johnson and 80 began writing marginalia in the "Life of Johnson" -At first I thought this was stuff like some Beerbohm or Borges inside made up joke about some mythical literary rarity, but apparently its real stuff, I think. If you are really a Boswell nut, then you know this stuff. From the looks of the photo below, me thinks old Christopher was raised correctly