A Boy's Trials

Jean Blewett 1862 (Janet McKishnie Scotia, Kent County, Ontario) – 1934 (Chatham)



When I was but a little lad
One thing I could not bear,
It was to stand at mother's knee
And have her comb my hair.

They didn't keep boys' hair as short
As it's kept now-a-days,
And mine was always tangled up
In twenty different ways.

I'd twist my mouth and grit my teeth,
And say it wasn't fair-
It was a trial, and no mistake,
When mother combed my hair.

She'd brush and brush each stubborn curl
That grew upon my pate,
And with her scissors nip and clip
To make the edges straight.

Then smooth it down until it shone,
While I would grin and bear,
And feel a martyr through and through,
When mother combed my hair.

She'd take my round chin in her hand
And hold it there the while
She made the parting carefully,
Then tell me with a smile:

'Don't push your cap down on your curls
And spoil my work and care;
He is a pretty little lad
When mother combs his hair.'

I'd hurry out and rumple up
That mop of hair so thick-
A vandal, I, for she had worked
So hard to make it slick-

And wish I were a grown-up man
So nobody would dare
To put a washrag in my ears,
Or comb my tangled hair.

Heigho! now that I'm bald and gray,
Methinks I would be glad
To have her smooth my brow and cheeks,
And whisper, 'Mother's lad!'

A longing for the care-free days
Doth take me unaware;
To stand, a boy, at mother's knee
And have her comb my hair.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:24 min read
102

Quick analysis:

Scheme abcB xded xbxB xfxf xbxB xgcg xbab ehxh xbxb xaxa dbcB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,292
Words 270
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Jean Blewett

Jean McKishnie Blewett (4 November 1862 – 19 August 1934) was a Canadian journalist, author and poet. Blewett was born Janet McKinshie in Scotia, Kent County, Ontario in 1862 to Scottish immigrants (some sources say 1872). She attended St. Thomas Collegiate and in 1879 married Bassett Blewett and published her first novel, Out of the Depths. In 1896, she won a $600 prize from the Chicago Times-Herald for her poem "Spring". Blewett was a regular contributor to The Globe, a Toronto newspaper and in 1898 became editor of its Homemakers Department. In 1919, assisted by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, she published a booklet titled Heart Stories to benefit war charities. During this time she regularly lectured on topics such as temperance and suffragism. She used the pseudonym Katherine Kent for some of her writing. In 1925 Blewett was compelled by ill-health to retire her editorship. For two years she lived with a daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta, before returning to Toronto in 1927. She died in 1934 in Chatham, Ontario. After her death, fellow female journalist Bride Broder wrote in tribute: There is a simplicity about Mrs. Blewett's prose and verse that has made a wide appeal, and her gay-hearted attitude to life, the humorous twists she gave to little things, made her very welcome as a speaker at women's gatherings. In all her writings she touched on the things that appeal to women everywhere and, in doing so, won the admiration of men readers also. Her brother, Archie P. McKishnie, was also a noted writer.  more…

All Jean Blewett poems | Jean Blewett Books

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