Betty Jane

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© W.A. Kostelec
(The Devil is Beating His Wife)

Betty Jane Upton, an aged woman
Was sent to the poor farm last week
The county board sent her at the request of her brother
She died there at sunrise this morning

General disability and old age caused her death
She was over 60 years old so they said
Mrs. Upton had been married four times in her life
But not all of her husbands were dead

She could not walk when they brought her in last week
There was no doctor to attend her there
Funeral arrangements are pending until her brother responds
But so far not a word has been heard

Mrs. Betty Jane Upton an inmate of the county farm
Who died early Tuesday morning
Was buried on Friday just after noon
Interned in a paupers grave

No service was held there on sunset hill
No kind words were said about her
Whoever was there spoke not a prayer
They just shoveled the dirt down upon her
No one held her hand as she lay in her dying
No one kissed her forehead for comfort
She was just some old woman who outlived those who cared
Like so many of whom no one remembers

Mrs. Betty Jane Upton, an aged woman
Was sent to the poor farm last week
The county board sent her at the request of her brother
She died there at sunrise this morning.

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