When The Minister Calls

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