Bring A Dime

This from J. R. Glasgow, class of 1952:

I have sent this poem out which was written by one of my internet friends. I can relate to this. Growing up in Temple during the 30’s and 40’s and coming from a low income and big family. A dime was hard to come by then. Eight of us children and my grandmother lived with us. While growing up I thought I was worse off than others but talking with people at the Temple alumni reunions I have found that a lot felt the same way. Most remember the wife going with husband to pick out feed and flour to get the right sack to make dresses and shirts out of.

Bring a Dime
The tattery girl with hungry brown eyes,
Sits on the edge but she never cries,,
Watching and wanting and always alone,,
Wondering what life will be like when she's grown.

Bring a dime and pay your own way,
One whole dime to brighten your day,,
Candy or soda, a book or a toy,
One big dime buys so much joy.

Bring a dime, Oh! So much money,
If only she had one, life would be sunny,,
Bubble gum, jawbreakers, strawberry pop,
All for herself to the very last drop.

"Bring a dime and be part of the group,"
The leader said to the girl scout troop,,
The little girls smiled and stepped up to pay,
A whole big dime! Her dream fell away.

The tattery girl crept out thru the door,
She knew she would not come back anymore,,
So much money to be a girl scout,
One more thing she would live without.

Now she is old and has many dollars,
Nice clothes to wear and fur on her collars,,
But never quite able to find that dime,
She needed so much in that long ago time.
Mary June Christensen
I have not made the many dollar yet but am not too bad off. I started with nothing and still have most of it. My internet is paid up and that is where lots of my friends live.

John (J.R.) Glasgow, Class of 1952

J. R.
About your memory and Mary June Christensen’s poem of growing up poor. I remember a Christmas day when I was about five. We lived in a two room house with path in north Temple. I was walking across town to my grandmother’s house. At a house where I thought rich people lived I saw a boy my age riding a new shiny tricycle. I thought that I wanted to someday have a tricycle like that.

Another incident about then but on a hot summer day I was walking to town when at the back yard of the Mooney house I heard laughter and splashing in the back yard. I peeked through the picket fence and saw a bunch of kids in a swimming pool. I thought how wonderful it would be to swim in a real swimming pool.

You and I had one big thing in common. Our dads always had a job. They were workers. They were good examples for us.

Harold