Plucking the pelts of lambs and sheep
Was no small task. It must be done.
It did the women busy keep.
Here young and old could work as one.

The caul of cattle and of sheep
Would tallow yield with heat applied
And this for many months would keep
Its value was approved and tried.

Then came the poultry.
What a task The feathered fowl to kill and dress!
For busy fingers it did ask.
It was hard work you must confess.

Then came the marketing. What now?
For pork, five or six cents a pound.
For beef four cents or five I trow.
Turkeys twelve cents. Birds good and sound..

What wonder farmers were despised
By those who prospered in their toil?
They stupid were, men ill advised!
So thought those who refused to moil.

Work on the farm a new turn took
In view of Christmas drawing nigh
Man to animals must look
Fat animals alone men buy.

Cattle and sheep must sorted be,
And tended with the outmost care
That this meant work all will agree
but to neglect work no man dare.

And poultry must for weeks be fed
If they could gain their proper weight.
And this to much careful cooking led,
A labour no man dare abate.

To fatten pigs., meant extra work
Cooking their food and mixing grain
None could afford such work to shirk
If he did hope reward to gain.

There were uncounted things to do
Lest Christmas find one unprepared.
Women were knitting, sewing too,
To show they for their menfolk cared.

Each member of the family
Must get a present, must give one
And much work was done secretly
For a surprise is always fun.

The house became a buzzing hive
As soon as butchering began.
Christmas all knew would soon arrive,
And to be ready was the plan.

The pigs were first to slaughter led,
Their flesh would men's approval win
It was for this they had been bred.
It made much work without, within.

Then came the cattle set apart
For slaughter by necessity,
For it was through no lack of heart
That forfeited their lives must be.

There would not be sufficient food
To feed them through Winter’s chill.
Their slaughter was a kindness rude
The laws of nature to fulfil

Now it was time to kill the sheep.
For not all these could wintered be.
Only the sheep they wished to keep
Were left alive, alert and free.