Matthew D. Bennett, "The Knocker" (1906)
And gambles and drinks and looks for fight,
Then goes home to wifie, all cross and black,--
At the least provocation he gives her a smack,
Then runs the poor creature way out of the yard,
And yet every day she's working hard;
And she with her children don't know what to do,
I wouldn't care much for her happiness, WOULD YOU?
WHEN a man who is single, without chick or child
Instead of being frugal, steady and mild
Goes out every night, with some maiden petite,
To spend all his earnings to see some " great sight,"
To ball and theatre and pleasure resorts,---
He, dressed in his best, some lady escorts,
When board bill, house rent and other things are due,
And he loses his job in the Winter time, too,
I wouldn't care much for his comfort, WOULD YOU?
WHEN a man who has preached for forty odd years,
Who has flooded his Bible with fervent tears,
Who never gave an instructive talk, but dwelt at length on "how to walk;"
Who scoffs at the young folks ' progressive ideas
And holds the old "fogies" in superstitious fears--
Who goo goos at the best looking sisters in the church
And yet tells them to live right or they'll be left in the "lurch"
When he comes down to die and say "adieu;"
I wouldn't care much for his heaven, WOULD YOU?
WHEN a little colored child of three years or more
Has sense enough only to bellow and roar,
Who is ugly enough to stop a runaway steed,
And who never satiates its awful greed
When it bawls and squalls from morn till night,
Which is enough to make St. Peter fight,
The mother calls it her "little drop of dew,"
But I wouldn't change a rag-doll for the dew-drop, WOULD YOU?
WHEN a woman goes from door to door and slanders one's name,
Her only ambition is to lie and reputation maim;
Who has no taste for literature or things which are refined,
Nor cares for culture, or progress, or nothing of the kind,
Nor knows the care of children, nor how to raise them right,
But takes delight in tattling and figuring in a fight,
Whose only aim in life is to raise a hullabaloo,
I wouldn't care for her intellectual or moral qualities, WOULD YOU?
Published in Colored American Magazine, March 1906