Did You Ever Hear of a Blue Monday? by M.L. Stancil, 1930

M.L. Stancil, editor and manager of The Johnsonian-Sun, Selma, N.C., offered one of his poems on the editorial page on Thursday, May 15, 1930

Did You Ever Hear of the “Blue” Monday?

By M.L. Stancil

It’s an old, old saying and seems rather true,

That of all other days, Monday seems the most blue;

But, of course, it ought to seem the very best,

Following a day set apart to take our rest.

As we start to live over a new week in our life,

Our pathway seems strewn with turmoil and strife;

Not that these conditions exist so very much,

We just merely have a feeling that they are such.

When we arise on Monday morning, we feel it in our bones,

And most every one else appear to be human drones;

Then as we start out to live the week over anew,

Everything seems out of place for the first hour or two.

These clouds of gloom coming with each Monday morn,

Disappear on Tuesday when another new days is born;

And even on Monday, by late in the afternoon,

The clouds begin to lighten and we see the silvery moon.

We went out last Monday to try our luck a speck,

And one customer wasn’t just sure how to write a check;

‘Twas the first they had written in such a long time,

If they spent a dollar, they might not see another dime.

Another was bewailing about the shortage in cash,

And we almost deiced everything had gone to smash;

I saw but little hopes to sell any stationery here,

For he told me he had only written one letter this year.

This man is a merchant with a combination store,

Selling meats and groceries by sanding ‘round the door

Telling his prospective customers how hard cash is to get,

And if any of them had a dollar, we’ll bet they have it yet.

When we went to another fellow and asked for a job to print,

He said: “Do you print paper dollars?”—and we got the hint;

Were we able to do such printing for him and any other,

We would drop our newspaper and print money altogether.

We went to one place to collect a small printing bill,

But we haven’t seen him yet and are looking him still;

We don’t mean to say that he is such bad pay—

It is just his way of getting an extension of pay day.

Another told of his troubles with his wife and his kids,

While we watched tear drops gather between his eye lids.

We suggested to one that we needed a good warm rain,

He said, “Even if it is cold, I would like to see it again.”

This was the first man who did not grumble and fret,

And was willing to be content with whatever he could get;

But by this time it was getting toward Monday’s noon,

Then the gloom-clouds lifted and the sun came out soon.