a trip to valley forge

Gary Mitchell and Amos

Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse who types by hurling himself at the keys, but he can’t use the capital shift keys and he shuns punctuation marks — except for hyphens and dashes.

willifred the white rat

came by yesterday boss

to see if i wanted to

travel back in time in

his experimental tiny

time machine

you remember willifred

boss he escaped from a

mad scientist s research

laboratory and now he has

started his own scientific

research career

at any rate he installed

his tiny time traveler

machine on my little 57

cheeserolet motorized

matchbox

just as soon we climbed

in we found ourselves in

the coldest fiercest

bitterest place i think

i ve ever been boss - some

snow pit called valley

forge pennsylvania

trying to find a warm

spot i bumped into a

little ragged field

mouse named georgie

boy who was busy

scavenging for food

and nearly bit off my

little frozen foot

hey watch it says me

whaddaya think you re

doing chomping around

here so indiscriminately

i m hungry says he why

what s it to thee

i m looking for george

washington the father

of our country says me

he s not the father of

any country says he

more like the father

of misery is he

look around you what

do you see an army

living in luxury

not hardly no sirree

how do you know so

much about washington

and his men says i

my friend and i just

wanted to celebrate

president s day in a

wild way and here we are

in a snow slide

this is the continental

army boys that s general

washington over there

and i m his personal

mousy courier

so how is life for the

victorious army says me

you talkin to me says he

if this is victory i d hate

to see the other army in

its misery we have no

food no shoes no guns

and no sun i tell you

this war s over before

it was begun

in fact boss georgie boy

told me about a message

washington received the

other day from general

nathanael greene it said -

poor fellows - they exhibit

a picture truly distressing -

more than half naked and

two-thirds starved -

a country overflowing with

plenty are now suffering

an army employed for the

defense of everything

that is dear and valuable -

to perish for the want of

food -

and boss that about sums up

the scene at valley forge

but the dream of freedom

overpowered the pits of

despair god answered

washington s every prayer

he gave a ragtag army

victory and set a nation

at liberty

amos