Hard Work
It’s hard to keep smiling when troubles are piling
Their weight on your neck till it’s sprained;
It’s hard to keep grinning when others are winning
The prizes for which you have strained.
It’s hard to be cheery on days wet and dreary,
When everything near you looks drowned;
It’s hard to be sunny when all of your money
Is sunk in a hole in the ground.
It’s hard to keep laughing when wearily quaffing
The flagon of grief to the dregs,
It’s harder to frolic when you have the colic,
Or gout at the end of your legs.
But how will it aid you, when woe has waylaid you,
To rumble and grumble and swear?
There’s nothing that’s healing in kicking the ceiling,
Or biting the rungs from a chair.
It’s hard to look pleasant when anguish is present,
And yet it is strictly worth while;
Not all of your scowling and fussing and growling
Can show off your grit like a smile.
by Walt Mason: “Terse Verse” (1917)
Walter S. ‘Walt’ Mason was born on 4 May 1862 in Columbus, Ontario, Canada. He started out as a farmhand and a laborer, but soon became a newspaperman, eventually after many years writing a syndicated column, “Rippling Rhymes.” Walter S. ‘Walt’ Mason passed on at 77 years of age on 22 June 1939 in La Jolla, California, United States of America.
It’s hard to keep smiling when troubles are piling
Their weight on your neck till it’s sprained;
It’s hard to keep grinning when others are winning
The prizes for which you have strained.
It’s hard to be cheery on days wet and dreary,
When everything near you looks drowned;
It’s hard to be sunny when all of your money
Is sunk in a hole in the ground.
It’s hard to keep laughing when wearily quaffing
The flagon of grief to the dregs,
It’s harder to frolic when you have the colic,
Or gout at the end of your legs.
But how will it aid you, when woe has waylaid you,
To rumble and grumble and swear?
There’s nothing that’s healing in kicking the ceiling,
Or biting the rungs from a chair.
It’s hard to look pleasant when anguish is present,
And yet it is strictly worth while;
Not all of your scowling and fussing and growling
Can show off your grit like a smile.
by Walt Mason: “Terse Verse” (1917)
Walter S. ‘Walt’ Mason was born on 4 May 1862 in Columbus, Ontario, Canada. He started out as a farmhand and a laborer, but soon became a newspaperman, eventually after many years writing a syndicated column, “Rippling Rhymes.” Walter S. ‘Walt’ Mason passed on at 77 years of age on 22 June 1939 in La Jolla, California, United States of America.
