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Show 34 Karl watched his mother, her back turned resolutely away from the Culley house, her lips firmly set. Hugo swung into 'When You and I Were Young, Maggie,' a song he knew would improve his wife's ill-humor. Hugo and Maggie Rose Kerner were a marriage of mixtures: he Lutheran, she Catholic; Hugo born in America of German parents, Maggie Rose Hannon stepping off the boat from Ireland when she was just sixteen. Hugo was easy-going, while Maggie Rose had a hot temper and could cling to a grudge bitterly for years, as she had done against the Culleys. Yet as unalike as they were, Hugo and Maggie Rose fit well together. After the Culley fireworks ended, Hunnie climbed back onto his mother's lap. Following their custom, each of the Kerners took a turn requesting a favorite song. In the pauses between their singing, Karl had been making up lines for a new song to amuse his family. He wanted to save it for last, as a finale to his disappointing day -- if he could get a laugh out of it, he might gain at least a little consolation out of the ruins of his plans. When Hunnie began to yawn and rub his eyes, Maggie Rose said, "Time to sign off. This little muggins needs his bed." "I'll take him up," Karl told her. "But first I get to sing my song. Pop, play the music for 'I Took My Girl to a Fancy Ball.'" With his father's harmonica accompaniment, Karl sang: |