Growler

      More Letters From Paradise
              Growler
Beautiful old brass
cash register
That old machine rings up
pints and quarts
the old man said
That's because it used to be
in an old saloon.
I'll bet it has had a couple
million dollars
put through it.
You never saw a broke
saloon keeper
even when beer was
5 cents a glass.
The old cobbler
used to send me down to the
saloon
for a bucket of beer
what used to be called a
growler.
It was larger than a tin
dinner bucket
and I always drank some off of
the top
on the way back
so that it wouldn't spill
he explained.
In those days
he continued
5 cents would buy a
huge glass of beer
and you could eat what you wanted
of  the
free lunch.
Of course, he added
men worked for 75 cents
a day.
            July 1978
        Aloha
        Grant