HERE'S A RITIN FRUM
FOR OCTOBER 1999
Here's wat tyme it is in Dallus, Texus wear I live:
FOR OCTOBER 1999
Hi, evrybudy! This is Old Bear ritin 2 U agin and that's a pitcher of me wearin the nice new shirt Miss Virginia bought 4 me when I was at her house gettin my sore feet fixed up. I shure du lyke it and it's even got a pocket that I kan put things in.
The spooky musik U R hearin is cus October is the time wen all the spooky peples cum out 4 Halloween and the little kids go TRICK OR TREATIN. My man rote a poum abowt wat happened 2 him 1 tyme wen he went trick or treatin. He sed maybe U wuld lyke 2 reed it. Here it is.
by
James Sage
We were just a few boys
On this Halloween night.
Going from door to door
To get a treat or give a fright.
We were in our teens
And I know now too old
To do that sort of thing
But then we were rather bold.
We did no damage,
For we weren't that kind.
In general we were pretty good
And really did our parents mind.
So it was rather odd on this night
That we would all go to jail
Oh, yes, I remember it well.
It's rather a funny tale.
You see, we went to a house
Where a city Alderman resided.
It was a mistake on our part
That to go there we decided.
We hollered TRICK OR TREAT
And beat upon his door.
He threw it open with a bang
And his voice gave a mighty roar!
So it's a treat you want!
Well you just wait.
I've called the police
Who'll treat you just great!
Well, we were taken in
But not put in a cage.
They just made us sit and wait
And hope our parents wouldn't rage.
It's funny now to think about.
But it surely wasn't then.
But oddly enough, one of our group
Ended up in the pen.
My man quit goin trick or treatin a long tyme ago. Now he jist buys big bags of candy 4 the little kids and then eats most of it by himself.
Now I want 2 tel U abowt sum e-mail I got from a nyce lady named Miss Joyce who red my ritin. Here's wat she sed in her e-mail ritin:
Your story would have been wonderful if it had not been for all the misspelled words and all the other grammer mistakes. I know that you are doing that for a reason but our children already do a number on the english language as it is. I am hoping our children will use their education to spell better and to write better.
What she rote about my ritin made me feel purty bad cus I try reel hard 2 du gud ritin and thot I wus duin purty gud cus lots of peples rite 2 say u du gud ritin. My man saw that I wus feelin purty bad sew he rote her bak a e-mail and sed how I never did get 2 go 2 skool sew didn't no all the ritin rules and the spellin rules lyke he did and lyke she probly did. Sumpn else he sed to Miss Joyce wus that maybe childrun who reed my ritin wuld no how portant it is 2 go 2 skool and learn reedin and ritin and spelun and rithmetic rules She rote my man back and here's wat she sed.
I am not the best speller in the world either but I have a dictionary next to my computer so that I can use it when I need to know how to spell correctly. If you can use a computer I know you know how to use a dictionary.
My man sed that wus sort of funny cus in the furst e-mail Miss Joyce had spelled the wurd grammer wrong. I think it is supposed 2 be spelled grammur but I'm not sure. But I guess spellin only 1 wurd wrong in an e-mail is purty gud. My man knows all about spellin and he dus wurser than that sumtymes. He has 3 dicshunaries. Mr. Webster rote 1 of them cus he knew all the wurds. Another has all the sound alyke wurds in it 4 when my man rites poums and the other has a hole lot of Spanish wurds that he has 2 luk up symtymes before he goes to the grocery store. I guess if I knew how 2 spell wurds I culd find them in his dicshunary.
Well, I shure am sorry Miss Joyce thinks my ritin is a bad thing 4 childrun 2 reed. My gud frend Kaycie who is maybe 9 or 10 now has been reedin my ritins 4 a purty long tyme now and her mama or her daddy never rote me 2 say it was bad 4 her 2 reed my ritins.
My man nose a nice lady named Miss Dianne who teaches 3rd grade childrun and also teaches reedin but had never red my ritins. He rote her a e-mail and sed Pleze reed Old Bear's ritin and tell me wat you think of it. Here is wat she rote bak:
Wow. Neat idea and clever way of presentation. I think children would enjoy reading it. ... ...part of its charm is the dialect. That intrigues the kids and it did me too.. gives a real voice to the bear.
What Miss Dianne rote bak made me feel a lot better cus she probly knows a hole lot abowt wat little childrun lyke 2 reed.
Gosh, I hardly got nuff room left 2 tell you that me and my man r goin 2 Boston in about 2 weeks. We r goin 2 fly on 4 big Unity Airlynes airplanes cus we have 2 change airplanes in Chicago goin 2 Boston and then cumin bak we R goin 2 Denver which seems sort of funny. My man and me were at the Denver airport one tyme cumin bak frum Californy and it luks lyke a big circus tent frum outside.
It is goin 2 B purty much fun in Boston cus we r goin 2 stay at a place kalled the YMCA and eat Baked Beans and sumpn kalled clam chowder and go 2 lots of historikal sight seeing places. One of these site seeing places is kalled Haymarket Place. My man didn't get 2 sightsee here when he wus in Boston the last time. He sez he thinks it's where you kan buy vegetables and fruits and other things. Miss Lillian who my man has known 4 a reel long tyme is cumming all the way from Maine 2 meet us 4 the furst tyme and maybe go site seein with u and go with us 2 eat in a fancy restrunt sumplayce. Miss Lillian runs a skool in Maine and dus such a gud job of runnin it that she's getting a Blue Flag thing frum the President or maybe Mrs. President to wave from the skool window so everybudy will know wat a gud skul it is.
Gosh, I jist thot of sumpn.
Miss Lillian has been reedin my ritins 4 most as long as anyone and she never did say it wus bad 4 childrun 2 reed my ritins. I'll ask her wat she thinks wen I see her in Boston.
U have a Happy Halloween tyme!
