Edith Ann | 08/15/2008 1:00 pm

Life in the Little Lane: Edith Ann on Messes

When my sister Irene says
“Who made this mess?”
she’s talking about a few things
of mine that have somehow landed on
her side of the room.

When Mom says
“Who made such a mess of things?”
she’s talking about any place
in the house where I’ve been
for at least 10 minutes.

When Dad says
“Who made this mess?”
he means the garage.

But when I say
“Who made such a mess of things?”
I’m talking about the world!

Dear Readers: I wrote this composition for English class and got a B+. My teacher said I would have made an A but the page was a bit too messy.

Read more about: Edith Ann, Humor, Illustrations, Life in the Little Lane, World

149 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Hey Miss Georgia, No mock intended in MY smartypants utterances. Some of the girls here are so smart, and probably not told that often enough. Darn these regional things…one girl’s compliment is another girl’s mocking, but speaking for myself, I meant the smarty, and added the pants just for fun. By the way, Miss Kitty just loves going down to Nawlinz and soaking up that charm you Southern girls just ooze. The rest of us could use some of your manners - even if when you’re ribbing us a little.

By K O on 08/15/2008 10:51 pm

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No mock taken, lovey…. Re: “one girl’s compliment”: My dad, who thought groan-producing puns were the highest form of humor, used to say, “One man’s Mede is another man’s Persian”…(Five stars on the groaner scale)… Re: this thread: The talking heads were just all over this last night…For all the gnashing of teeth and frothing at the mouth, it does seem just a tad anticlimactic somehow….especially when they point out how minimal the absolute duties of the veep are, constitutionally speaking…A smartypants will probably take issue with “minimal” and that will be instructive I bet….go girl… Nonetheless, I sure hope it ain’t just another case of “a ten dollar hat on a ten cent head…” (Sorry..that’s the grannies again..) Gotta get off dawn patrol here and set up for a town festival/art show/Bluegrass music hoorah…80 degrees, no rain, full moon for the evening riverboat cruise on the Ohio….Have a good time at the Olympics! I’ll be thinking about you….

By georgia fatwood on 08/16/2008 6:13 am

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You are wise beyond your years, Edith. And I personally think that teacher should have given you an A- (at the very least)! Messy page, pffftt - it’s all about content!

By Kryssi K on 08/15/2008 5:18 pm

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Yes, Kryssi, but sometimes, it seems my content is a bit messy, too. My brain isn’t any neateer than my room, I’m afraid. Edith

By Edith Ann on 08/17/2008 3:10 pm

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But I wonder how many children with “messy brains” have grown up to be intellectual and artistic geniuses…? I personally think messy brains are fine just as long as YOU know where everything is. ;-)

By Kryssi K on 08/17/2008 5:06 pm

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Oh, Edith - Don’t you think we are all rather glad that the world is a bit messy? I just don’t believe I would feel comfortable in a neat and tidy world.

By Restless Gal on 08/15/2008 9:15 pm

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Edith Ann, I think it’s better to be a smart little girl with a messy paper than an empty-headed girl with a tidy paper. Caring about the world makes you sound really, really smart to me. Besides, I’ll tell you a little secret, grades only matter in school, not in life.

By Laurel Bowman on 08/16/2008 1:26 am

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That’s good to know, Laurel, I’m dislesxic so my grades go up and down.Do you think I should take ritalin? Some teachers say I should. Edith

By Edith Ann on 08/17/2008 2:22 pm

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I think you’re perfect the way you are. You don’t need ritalin (but your teachers might).

By Laurel Bowman on 08/18/2008 2:31 am

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Dear Edith, Once again, you’ve asked a really, really big and important question. I heard a very smart man on pbs this morning say to Bill Moyers that to clean up the mess we’re in we all have to look in the mirror and stop thinking there’s a magician somewhere who’ll do it for us. He even wrote a book about it. I’m an authority on messes because my house is strewn with art stuff and I can never seem to find a good place to keep it all. Sometimes I just tell myself I’m “eccentric” (a much more interesting word than “messy”) but when you get right down to it…. Your paper, you know, the one you wrote for your English class, well…I would have given you an A because it’s not the neatness that counts, it’s the thinking. And you are a pretty deep thinker. You know all those people who invented computers and those artists who painted the most beautiful pictures in the world? Guess what? Messy!

By Maurine H on 08/16/2008 11:20 am

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Dear Messy Maurine, Just like I thought, we’re soul mates. Edith

By Edith Ann on 08/17/2008 3:15 pm

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Thank you, Messy Edith, I am honored.

By Maurine H on 08/19/2008 2:00 pm

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Hey Edith, A very smart girl I know once said, “Nothing makes you realize you don’t know what you want more than getting what you want.” —Edith Ann You know what? I think this perfectly explains a LOT of the messes we’re in right now!

By Serena . on 08/16/2008 1:54 pm