When The Minister Calls <br />My Paw says that it used to be, <br />Whenever the minister came for tea, <br />'At they sat up straight in their chairs at night <br />An' put all their common things out o' sight, <br />An' nobody cracked a joke or grinned, <br />But they talked o' the way that people sinned, <br />An' the burnin' fires that would cook you sure <br />When you came to die, if you wasn't pure- <br />Such a gloomy affair it used to be <br />Whenever the minister came for tea. <br /> <br />But now when the minister comes to call <br />I get him out for a game of ball, <br />And you'd never know if you'd see him bat, <br />Without any coat or vest or hat, <br />That he is a minister, no, siree! <br />He looks like a regular man to me. <br />An' he knows just how to go down to the dirt <br />For the grounders hot without gettin' hurt- <br />An' when they call us, both him an' me <br />Have to git washed up again for tea. <br /> <br />Our minister says if you'll just play fair <br />You'll be fit for heaven or anywhere; <br />An' fun's all right if your hands are clean <br />An' you never cheat an' you don't get mean. <br />He says that he never has understood <br />Why a feller can't play an' still be good. <br />An' my Paw says that he's just the kind <br />Of a minister that he likes to find- <br />So I'm always tickled as I can be <br />Whenever our minister comes for tea.<br /><br />Edgar Albert Guest<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-the-minister-calls/
