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Vol. I, No. 3, Winter 1988 |
The Expert
by Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey
"Now this is the way to use your sugar," said the lady with the painted nails.
Wisely she spoke--of plums and
peaches and berries
and food values and nutrition.
Aunt Lucindy gazed at her
with tired old eyes.
Eyes that had grown dim
watching bubbling pots of richness.
Eyes that had studied
cool cedar shelves
and the best way of marking
jams and jellies.
Cunning old eyes that flicked momentarily
from the stained nails to the stained lips.
"Yes 'um," was all she said.
Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey (1877-1948), "Poet Laureate of the Ozarks," and long time correspondent for the Taney County Republican and Springfield Newspapers. In 1935, named by The Farm Journal "Best Rural Newspaper Correspondent in the United States." (Photo by Townsend Godsey)
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