Doctor Minnie

"Ellen, boil some water

and bring rags that are clean!"

Dr. Minnie said to Grandma,

"This child will soon be seen."

(Grandma took great pride

in her linen, snowy white)

she brought out her finest sheets,

which started the fight.

-

"How dare you tear my sheets?"

Grandma cried in despair.

"I asked for rags!" Minnie said,

"Something I could tear"

Mother, in hard labor,

was trying not to laugh

as Grandma watched the Doctor

tear her finest sheets in half.

-

Enter my Aunt Ethel,

her job, to hold the lamp.

She started to feel weak,

vision blurred, palms damp.

"Take the lamp, Red!" she said

to my Dad, "I'm not well!"

Daddie grabbed the lamp

as to the floor she fell.

-

"Doctor! Ethel fainted,

what shall I do?" Daddie cried,

"I'm busy! She's all yours!"

the Doctor curtly replied.

During all this madness,

my brave mother gave birth.

This story oft was told with

merriment and mirth.

-

It took a lot of courage

in nineteen-thirty-three,

then, a woman doctor

was difficult to be.

Doctor Minnie Simmons,

the person, was so good,

her fee for my delivery

was just a cord of wood.