The Grumble Family

Poem

The Grumble Family

Lucy Maud Montgomery

The poet gives a vivid picture of neighbourhood scenes .Read to know how we should mend our ways.

There's a family nobody likes to meet;

They live, it is said, on Complaining Street

In the city of Never-Are-Satisfied,

The River of Discontent beside.

They growl at that and they growl at this;

Whatever comes, there is something amiss;

And whether their station be high or humble,

They are all known by the name of Grumble.

The weather is always too hot or cold;

Summer and winter alike they scold.

Nothing goes right with the folks you meet

Down on that gloomy Complaining Street.

They growl at the rain and they growl at the sun;

In fact, their growling is never done.

And if everything pleased them, there isn't a doubt

They'd growl that they'd nothing to grumble about!

But the queerest thing is that not one of the same

Can be brought to acknowledge his family name;

For never a Grumbler will own that he

Is connected with it at all, you see.

The worst thing is that if anyone stays

Among them too long, he will learn their ways;

And before he dreams of the terrible jumble

He's adopted into the family of Grumble.

And so it were wisest to keep our feet

From wandering into Complaining Street;

And never to growl, whatever we do,

Lest we be mistaken for Grumblers, too.

Let us learn to walk with a smile and a song,

No matter if things do sometimes go wrong;

And then, be our station high or humble,

We'll never belong to the family of Grumble!

About the author

L. M. Montgomery, (1874–1942) was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning in 1908 with Anne of Green Gables. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. A prolific writer, Montgomery published over 100 stories between 1897 and 1907. Montgomery's work, diaries and letters have been read and studied by scholars and readers worldwide.