Keep a-goin’!

I—and several of my friends these days—seem to be struggling. With the shorter days, the economy, with health, with the health of loved ones. It’s just hard.

But here’s a little cheerleading post for us all.

It’s retro wisdom.

I found this bit in one of my Grandma Schroeder’s old books. I think it’s good, simple advice; basically what Winston Churchill said: “If you are going through hell, keep going”!

Excelsior!

KEEP A-GOIN’!
by Frank L. Stanton

If you strike a thorn or rose,
   Keep a-goin’!
If it hails or if it snows,
   Keep a-goin’!
’Taint no use to sit an’ whine
When the fish ain’t on your line;
Bait your hook an’ keep on tryin’—
   Keep a-goin’!

When the weather kills your crop,
   Keep a-goin’!
When you tumble from the top,
   Keep a-goin’!
S’pose you’re out of every dime?
Gittin’ broke ain’t any crime;
Tell the world you’re feelin’ prime,—
   Keep a-goin’!

When it looks like all is up,
   Keep a-goin’!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
   Keep a-goin’!
See the wild birds on the wing!
Hear the bells that sweetly ring—
When you feel like sighin’—sing!
   Keep a-goin’!

From Grenville Kleiser, Humorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience: A Collection of Short Selections, Stories, and Sketches for All Occasions, 9th ed. (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1908), 145.