Charlie Card

These are the times that try men's souls. In the course of our nation's history, the people of Boston have rallied
bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan
Transit Authority, better known as the M. T. A., is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the
form of a subway fare increase. Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!

(Eight bar guitar, banjo introduction)

Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charley on a tragic and fateful day.
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family, went to ride on the M. T. A.
Chorus:
Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unknown. (What a pity! Poor ole Charlie. Shame and scandal. He may ride forever. Just like Paul Revere.)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, "One more nickel." Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

(Chorus)

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station, crying, "What will become of me?!!
How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea or my cousin in Rocksbury?"

(Chorus)

Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station every day at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumblin' through.

(Chorus)

Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal how the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brien! Get poor Charlie off the M. T. A.

(Chorus)

He's the man who never returned. He's the man who never returned. Ain't you Charlie

You can go to Google and put in Kingston Trio songs and they sing the MTA song on UTube. I haven't figured out how to pirate the music onto my site.....on our way home we stopped and got our "Charlie Cards" for senior citizens!!! You get to ride the MBTA for $.60 instead of the regular $2.00 fare for each trip! And it's actually one of the best pictures I've had for an ID card in my life. Official card carrying members we are......the hard part is that once you get off the MBTA and surface from underground into the light, you never know which way to go to your destination!! We will have to say the Bostonians are great at helping you to decide which way to go. Do we ALWAYS look lost??? People come right up to us and ask if they can help us get somewhere....and usually we've been headed the wrong way! Even in the subway, if you're on the wrong side of the tracks you might ride forever neath the streets of Boston. The "T" is certainly the way to go for your peace of mind.....except when it breaks down, or someone jumps onto the tracks or a driver is texting and runs into the car ahead. Then the whole system goes down...usually for the rest of the day! Even with the gruesome scenes we've seen on CSI in the subways, they are really safe...lots of police and MTA security on the platforms and just regular people going about their daily lives. Back to the ships. Most of the ships in the docks were training vessels...training new sailors on the workings of the sailboats. One had a crew of 259 and the smaller ones had a crew of 4 or 5. And I think the Irish warship had a crew of close to 500. You can imagine sailing one of those big ships from Russia, or South America or Ireland, or wherever they came from. Dad thought it was a little boring but I loved being on the water and seeing stuff.


Most of the ships had figures on the bows so you'll see some of them.



Here's the only ship with partially opened sails.


This is the Mircea from Brazil.



Even on the water we're still available to those who need some help with employment.

This is the Liberty which is the only ship with full sails up. It is full of tourists in this picture and is the ship that reenacts the Boston Tea Party.






You see what looks like a mini Washington monument...it's actually Bunker Hill.

In the next few pix you'll see the steeple of the Old North Church, sandwiched tightly between high buildings and narrow roads...remember..one if by land, two if by sea....


This is the Sacem bridge which is the only one of it's kind. You can barely make out what looks like ropes holding it together.

This is the Irish battle ship






Crowd control and traffic...even on the water.


This is one of the Duck Boat tours that run on land and water.


Sacem bridge again with the Boston Garden on the left (where the Celtics play)


Rowe's Wharf where the tall ships festival started



So I've done my thing. It was a fantastic day...for me, anyway. Now today we had a workshop, tomorrow visit another ward, Monday volunteer at the hospital and then work in some employment work while cleaning up this apartment! We have 4 grandkids coming the 21st to spend a week with us ad we're soooooo excited!!! So we have to rest up so we can try and keep up with them. We take the missionaries out to dinner on Friday and have a self-employment workshop next Saturday. Anyone wanna come scrub the bathtub??? It's a beautiful blue but unfortunately it shows the water marks. Looking forward to a busy week.....