RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 3fanu* IWttomb Kilt g POEMS HERE AT HOME. NEGHBORLY POEMS. SKETCHES IN PROSE AND OCCASIONAL VERSES. AFTERWHILES. PIPES PAN (Prose and Verse). RHYMES OF CHILDHOOD. FLYING ISLANDS OF THE NIGHT. OLD-FASHIONED ROSES (English Edition). GREEN FIELDS AND RUN NING BROOKS. ARMAZINDY. A CHILD-WORLD. AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE. RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY ILLUSTRATED BY C. M. RELYEA PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK MDCCCXCVII Copyright, 1897, By THE CENTURY Co. Copyright, 1897, By JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY THE DEVINNE PRESS. TO DR. FRANKLIN W. HAYS THE LOYAL CHUM OF MY LATEST YOUTH AND LIKE FRIEND AND COMRADE STILL WITH ALL GRATEFUL AFFECTION OF THE AUTHOR. IX WE FOUND him in that Far-away that yet to us seems near We vagrants of but yesterday wJien idlest youtJi was here, When lightest song and laziest mirth possessed us through and through, And all the dreamy snmmer-earth seemed drugged with morning dew : When our ambition scarce had sJiot a stalk or blade indeed : Yours, cJiokcd as in the garden-spot yo2i still deferred to " weed " : Mine, but a pipe half-cleared of pith as now it flats and whines In sympathetic cadence witJi a JiiccougJi in the lines. Aye, even then O timely hour! the High Gods did confer In our behalf: And, clothed in power, lo, came their Courier Not ^vinged with flame nor shod with wind, but ambling down the pike, Horseback, with saddlebags bcJiind, and guise all human-like. And it was given us to see, beneath his rustic rind, A native force and mastery of sncJi inspiring kind, That half unconsciously we made obeisance. Smiling, thus His soul shone from his eyes and laid its glory over us. Though, faring still that Far-away that yet to us seems near, His form, through mists of yesterday, fades from the vision here, Forever as he rides, it is in retinue divine, The hearts of all his time are his, with your hale heart and mine. RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS EF you don t know Doc SlFERS I 11 jes argy, here and now, You ve bin a mighty little while about here, anyhow ! Cause Doc he s rid these roads and woods er swtim em, now and then And practised in this neighberhood sence hain t no tellin when ! II In radius o fifteen mile d, all p ints o com pass round, No man er- woman, chick er child, er team, on top o ground, But knows him yes, and got respects and likin fer him, too, Per all his so-to-speak dee-fects o genius showin through ! Ill Some claims he s absent-minded ; some has said they wuz afeard To take his powders when he come and dosed em out, and peared To have his mind on somepin else like County Ditch, er some New way o tannin mussrat-pelts, er makin butter come. m mrjvv&aFi IV He s cur ous they hain t no mistake about it ! but he s got Enough o extry brains to make a jury like as not. They s no describm Sifers, fer, when all is said and done, He s jes hisse f Doc Sifers ner they hain t no other one ! Doc s allus sociable, polite, and greeable, you ll find Pervidin ef you strike him right and nothin on his mind, Like in some hurry, when they ve sent fer Sifers quick, you see, To tend some sawmill-accident, er picnic jam boree ; VI Er when the lightnin s struck some hare brained harvest-hand ; er in Some tempt o suicidin where they d ort to try ag in ! I ve knowed Doc haul up from a trot and talk a hour er two When railly he d a-ort o not a-stopped fer " Howdy-do I" VII And then, I ve met him long the road, a- lopin\ starin straight Ahead, and yit he never knowed me when I hollered "Yatc, Old Saddlebags!" all hearty-like, er "Who you goin to kill? " And he d say nothin only hike on faster, starin still ! VIII I d bin insulted, many a time, ef I jes wuz n t shore Doc did n t mean a thing. And I m not tetchy any more Sence that-air day, ef he d a-jes a-stopped to jaw with me, They d bin a little dorter less in my own fambily ! 10 IX Times now, at home, when Sifers name comes up, I jes let on, You know, at / think Doc s to blame, the way he s bin and gone And disapp inted folks L\-jee-mun-nec/ you d ort to then Jes hear my wife light into me " ongratefitl- est <? men ! " Mongst all the women mild er rough, splen- differous er plain, Er them with sense, er not enough to come in out the rain, Jes ever shape and build and style o women, fat er slim They all like Doc, and got a smile and plea sant word fer him! XI Ner hain t no horse I Ve ever saw but what 11 neigh and try To sidle up to him, and paw, and sense him, ear-and-eye : Then jes a tetch o Doc s old pa m, to pat em, er to shove Along their nose and they re as ca m as any cooin dove ! XII And same with dogs, take any breed, er strain, er pedigree, Er racial caste at can t concede no use fer you er me, They 11 putt all predju-dice aside in Docs case and go in Kahoots with him, as satisfied as he wuz kith- and-kin ! XIII And Doc s a wonder, trainin pets ! He s got a chicken-hawk, In kind o half-cage, where he sets out in the gyarden-walk, And got that wild bird trained so tame, he 11 loose him, and he 11 fly Clean to the woods! Doc calls his name and he 11 come, by-and-by ! XIV Some says no money down ud buy that bird o Doc. Ner no Inducement to the bird, says I, at he d let Sifers go ! And Doc he say at he s content long as a bird o prey Kin bide him, it s a compliment, and takes it thataway. XV But, gittin back to docterirt all the sick and in distress, And old and pore, and weak and small, and lone and motherless, I jes tell you I predate the man at s got the love To "go ye forth and ministrate!" as Scriptur tells us of. i8 XVI Dull times, Doc jes //z/anders round, in that old rig o his : And hain t no tellin where he s bound ner guessin where he is ; He 11 drive, they tell, jes thataway fer maybe six er eight Days at a stretch ; and neighbers say he s bin clean round the State. XVII He picked a old tramp up, one trip, bout eighty mile d from here, And fetched him home and k-yored his hip, and kep him bout a year ; And feller said in all his ja nts round this terreschul ball At no man wuz a circumstance to Doc! he topped em all ! 21 XVIII Said, bark o trees s a open book to Doc, and vines and moss He read like writin with a look knowed ever dot and cross : Said, stars at night wuz jes as good s a com pass : said, he s pose You could n t lose Doc in the woods the darkest night that blows ! XIX Said, Doc 11 tell you, purty clos t, by under- bresh and plants, How fur off warter is, and most perdict the sort o chance You 11 have o findin fish ; and how they re liable to bite, And whether they re a-bitin now, er only after night. 22 XX And, whilse we re talkin fish, I mind they formed a fishin -crowd (When folks could fish thout gittin fined, and seinin wuz allowed!) O leadin citizens, you know, to go and seine "Old Blue" But had n t no big seine, and so w y, what wuz they to do ? ... XXI And Doc he say he thought at he could knit a stitch er two " Bring the materials to me at s all I m astin you ! " And down he sets six weeks, i jing ! and knits that seine plum done Made corks too, brails and ever thing good as a boughten one ! * XXII Doc s public sperit when the sick s not takin all his time And he s got some fer politics is simple yit sublime : Pie 11 talk \&& principles and they air honest ; but the sly Friend strikes him first, election-day, he d commodate, cr die ! XXIII And yit, though Doc, as all men knows, is square straight up and down, That vote o his is well, I s pose the cheapest one in town ; A fact at s sad to verify, as could be done on oath I Ve voted Doc myse f And I was criminal fcr both! 26 XXIV You kin corrupt the ballot-box corrupt your- se f, as well Corrupt some neighbers, but old Doc s as oncorruptible As Holy Writ. So putt a pin right there ! Let Sifers be, I jucks ! he would n t vote agin his own worst inimy ! xxv When Cynthy Eubanks laid so low with fever, and Doc Glenn Told Euby Cynth ud haf to go they sends fer Sifers then ! . . . Doc sized the case : " She s starved," says he, "fer warier yes, and meat! The treatment at she 11 git from me s all she kin drink and eat!" 2 9 XXVI He orders Euby then to split some wood, and take and build A fire in kitchen-stove, and git a young spring- chicken killed; And jes whirled in and th owed his hat and coat there on the bed, And warshed his hands and sailed in that-air kitchen, Euby said, XXVII And biled that chicken-broth, and got that dinner all complete And clean and crisp and good and hot as mortal ever eat ! And Cynth and Euby both 11 say at Doc 11 git as good Meals-vittles up, jes any day, as any woman could ! XXVIII Time Sister Abbick tuk so bad with striffen o the lung, P tracted Meetin , where she had jes shouted, prayed and sung All winter long, through snow and thaw, when Sifers come, says he : " No, M lissy ; don t poke out your raw and cloven tongue at me ! XXIX " I know, without no symptoms but them injarubber- shoes You promised me to never putt a fool-foot in ner use At purril o your life ! " he said. " And I won t save you now, Onless here on your dyin bed you con secrate your vow ! " XXX Without a-claimin any creed, Doc s rail reli gious views Nobody knows ner got no need o knowin whilse he choose To be heerd not of man, ner raise no loud, vainglorious prayers In crowded marts, er public ways, er i jucks, XXXI Less n it is away deep down in his own heart, at night, Facin the storm, when all the town s a-sleep- in snug and tight Him splashin hence from scenes o pride and sloth and gilded show, To some pore sufferer s bedside o anguish, don t you know ! XXXII Er maybe dead o winter makes no odds to Doc, he s got To face the weather ef it takes the hide off! cause he 11 not Lie out o goin and p tend he s sick hisse f like some At I could name at folks might send fer and they d never come ! 35 XXXIII Like pore Phin Hoover when he goes to that last dance o his ! That Chris mus when his feet wuz froze and Doc saved all they is Left of em " Nough," as Phin say now, " to track me by, and be A adver/z^ment, anyhow, o what Doc s done fer me ! xxxiv " When he come knife-and-saw " Phin say, " I knowed, ef I d the spunk, At Doc ud fix me up some way, ef nothin but my trunk Wuz left, he d fasten casters in, and have me, spick-and-span, A-skootin round the streets ag in as spry as any man ! " XXXV Doc sees a patient s got to quit he 11 ease him down serene As dozin off to sleep, and yit not dope him with mor-p/teen. He won t tell what jes lows at he has " airn t the right to sing O grave, where is thy victery! O death, where is thy sting ! XXXVI And, mind ye now ! it s not in scoff and scorn, by long degree, At Doc gits things like that-un off: it s jes his shority And total faith in Life to Come, w y, " from that Land o* Bliss," He says, " we 11 haf to chuckle some, a-lookin back at this ! " 39 XXXVII And, still in p int, I mind, one night o niti- ation at Some secert lodge, at Doc set right down on em, square and flat, When they mixed up some Scriptur and wuz funnm -\ike w y, he Lit in em with a rep imand at ripped em, A to Z! XXXVIII And onc t when gineral loafin -place wuz old Shoe-Shop and all The gang ud git in there and brace their backs ag inst the wall And settle questions that had went onsettled long enough, Like "wuz no Heav n ner no torment " jes talkin awful rough ! XXXIX There wuz Sloke Haines and old Ike Knight and Coonrocl Simmes all three Ag inst the Bible and the Light, and scoutin Deity. "Science" says Ike, "it dimonstrates it takes nobody s word Scriptur er not, it vestigates ef sich things could occurred ! " XL Well, Doc he heerd this, he d drapped in a minute, fer to git A tore-off heel pegged on agin, and, as he stood on it And stomped and grinned, he says to Ike, " I s pose now, purty soon Some lightnin -bug, indignant-like, 11 Vesti- gate the moon ! . . . . XLI "No, Ike," says Doc, "this world hain t saw no brains like yourn and mine With sense enough to grasp a law at takes a brain divine. I ve bared the thoughts of brains in doubt, and felt their finest pulse, And mortal brains jes won t turn out omni potent results ! " XLII And Doc he s got respects to spare the rich as well as pore Says he, "I d turn no millionaire onsheltered from my door." Says he, " What s wealth to him in quest o honest friends to back And love him fer hissef? not jes because he s made his jack ! " 45 XLIII And childern. Childern ? Lawzy-day ! Doc worships em ! You call Round at his house and ast em ! they re cL-sivarmin there that s all ! They re in his Zzb ry in best room in kitchen fur and near, In office too, and, I p sume, his operatin - cheer ! XLIV You know they s men at bees won t sting? They s plaguey few, but Doc He s one o them. And same, i jing ! with childern ; they jes flock Pound Sifers natchurl / in his lap, and in his pockets, too, And in his old fur mitts and cap, and heart as warm and true ! XLV It s cur ous, too, cause Doc hain t got no childern of his own Ceptin the ones he s tuk and brought up, at s bin left alone And orphans when their father died, er mo ther, and Doc he Has he pped their dyin satisfied. "The child shall live with me m 49 XLVI 11 And Winniferd, my wife," he d say, and stop right there, and cle r His th oat, and go on thinkin way some mo ther-hearts down here Can t never feel their own babe s face a-pressin em, ner make Their naked breasts a restin -place fer any baby s sake. XLVII Doc s Lzb ry as he calls it, well, they s ha f a-dozen she ves Jam-full o books I could n t tell Jww many count yourse ves ! One whole shef s Works on Medicine! and most the rest s about First Settlement, and Indians in here, fore we driv em out. XLVIII ^ And Plutarch s Lives and life also o Dan el Boone, and this- Here Mungo Park, and Adam Poe jes all the lives they is ! And Doc s got all the novels out, by Scott and Dickison And Cooper. And, I make no doubt, he s read em ever one ! y 53 XLIX Onc t, in his office, settin there, with crowd o eight er nine Old neighbers with the time to spare, and Doc a-feelin fine, A man rid up from Rollins, jes fer Doc to write him out Some blame p scription done, I guess, in minute, nigh about 54 And / says, "Doc, you pear so spry, jes write me that recei t You have fer bein happy by, fer that u d shorely beat Your medicine ! " says I. And quick as scat! Doc turned and writ And handed me : " Go he p the sick, and putt your heart in it." LI And then, "A-talkin furder bout that line o thought," says he, " Ef we ]! jes do the work cut out and give to you and me, We 11 lack no joy, ner appetite, ner all we d ort to eat, And sleep like childern ever night as puore and ca m and sweet" 55 LII Doc has bin cuscd o offishness and lack o talkin free And extry friendly ; but he says, " I m feard o talk," says he, "I ve got," he says, " a natchurl turn fer talk- in fit to kill. The best and hardest thing to learn is trick o keepin still." LIII Doc kin smoke, and I s pose he might drink licker jes fer fun. He says, " You smoke, yon drink all right ; but /don t neether one" Says, " I like whiskey good old rye - - but like it in its place, Like that-air warter in your eye, er nose there on your face." LIV Doc s bound to have his joke ! The day he got that off on me I jes had sold a load o hay at " Scofield s Livery," And tolled Doc in the shed they kep the hears t in, where I d hid The stuff at got me " out o step," as Sifers said it did. LV Doc hain t, to say, no "rollin stone" and yit he hain t no hand Fer cumulatiif. Home s his own, and scrap o farmin -land Enough to keep him out the way when folks is tuk down sick The suddentest most any day they want him special quick. 59 LVI And yit Doc loves his practice ; ner don t, wil ful, want to slight No call no matter who how fur away er day er night. He loves his work he loves his friends June, Winter, Fall, and Spring: His lovin* facts is never ends; he loves jes everything. . . . LVII Cept keepin books. He never sets down no accounts. He hates, The worst of all, collectin debts the worst, the more he waits. I Ve knowed him, when at last he had to dun a man, to end By makin him a loan and mad he had n t more to lend. 6o LVIII When Pence s Drug Store ust to be in full blast, they wuz some Doc s patients got things frekantly there, charged to him, i gum ! Doc run a bill there, don t you know, and allus when he squared, He never questioned nothin , so he had his feelin s spared. LIX Now sich as that, I hold and claim, hain t Reusable it s not Perfessional! It s jes a shame at Doc his- se f hain t got No better business-sense ! That s why lots d respect him more, And not give him the clean go-by fer other doctors. Shore ! LX This-here Doc Glenn, fer instance; er this little jack-leg Hall ; They re business folks respects em fer their business more n all They ever knowed, er ever will, bout medi cine. Yit they Collect their money, k-yore er kill. They re business, anyway ! 6 4 LXI You ast Jake Dunn ; he s worked it out in figgers. He kin show Stastistics how Doc s airnt about three fortunes in a row, Ever ten-year hand-runnm straight three of em thirty year At Jake kin count and lucidate o Sifers practice here. LXII Yit "Praise the Lord," says Doc, " we Vc got our little home!" says he "(It s railly Winnifcrd s, but what she owns, she sheers with me.) We got our little gyarden-spot, and peach- and apple-trees, And stable, too, and chicken-lot, and eighteen hive o bees." > ffl : - 6 7 LXIII You call it anything you please, but it s witchcraft the power At Sifers has o handlin bees ! He 11 watch em by the hour Mix right amongst em, mad and hot and swarmin ! yit they won t Sting him, er want to pear to not, at least I know they don t. LXIV With me and bees they s no f tense o social- bility A dad-burn bee u d climb a fence to git a whack at me! I s pose no thing at s got a sting is railly satisfied It s sharp enough, ontel, i jing! he s honed it on my hide ! 68 LXV And Doc he s allus had a knack inventin things. Dee-vised A windlass wound its own se f back as it run down : and s prised Their new hired girl with clothes-line, too, and clothes-pins, all in one : Purt -nigh all left fer her to do wuz git her primpitf done ! LXVI And onc t, I mind, in airly Spring, and tappin sugar-trees, Doc made a dad-burn little thing to sharpen spiles with these- Here wood -spouts at the peth s punched out, and driv in where they bore The auger-holes. He sharpened bout a mil lion spiles er more ! i LXVII And Doc s the first man ever swung a bucket on a tree Instid o troughs; and first man brung grained SU gar so s at he Could use it fer his coffee, and fer cookin , don t you know. Folks come clean up from Pleasantland fore they d believe it, though ! LXVIII And all Doc s stable-doors clocks and locks theirseves and gates The same way; all rigged up like clocks, with pulleys, wheels, and weights, So, s Doc says, " drivin out, er in, they 11 open; and they 11 then, All quiet-like, shet up ag in like little gentle men ! " LXIX And Doc ud made a mighty good detective. Neighbers all Will testify to that er could, ef they wuz legal call : His theories on any crime is worth your listenin to. And he has hit em, many a time, long Tore established true. , LXX At this young druggist Wenfield Pence s trial fer his life, On primy faishy evidence o pizonin his wife, Doc s testimony saved and cle red and quitted him and freed Him so s he never even peared cog-//zzant of the deed ! LXXI The facts wuz Sifers testified, at inquest he had found The stummick showed the woman died o pizon, but had downed The dos t herse f, because amount and cost o drug imployed No druggist would, on no account, a-lavished and distroyed ! LXXII Doc tracked a blame-don burgler down, and nailed the scamp, to boot, But told him ef he d leave the town he would n t prosecute. He traced him by a tied-up thumb-print in fresh putty, where Doc glazed it. Jes that s how he come to track him to his lair ! LXXIII Doc s jes a leetle too inclined, some thinks, to overlook The criminal and vicious kind we d ort to bring to book And punish, thout no extry show o sympa thizing where They hain t showed none fer us, you know. But he takes issue there : 79 LXXIV Doc argies at "The Red-eyed Law," as lie says, " ort to learn To lay a mighty leenient paw on deeds o sich concern As only the Good Bein knows the wherefore of, and spreads His hands above accused and sows His mer cies on their heads." 8o LXXV Doc even holds at murder hain t no crime we got a right To hang a man fer claims it s taint o lu nacy, er quite. " Hold sick a man responsibul fer murder," Doc says, " then, When he s hung, where s the rope to pull them sound-mind jurymen ? LXXVI "It s in a nutshell all kin see," says Doc, " it s cle r the Law s As ap to err as you er me, and kill without a cause : The man most innocent o sin / Ve saw, er Aspect to see, Wuz servin a life-sentence in the peniten- tchury." LXXVII And Doc s a whole hand at a fire ! directin how and where To set your ladders, low er higher, and what first duties air, Like formin warter-bucket-line ; and best man in the town To chop holes in old roofs, and mine defec tive chimblies down : LXXVIII Er durin any public crowd, mass-meetin , er big day, Where ladies ort n t be allowed, as I ve heerd Sifers say, When they s a suddent rush somewhere, it s Doc s voice, ca m and cle r, Says, "Fall back, men, and give her air! that s all she s faintin fer." 8 4 LXXIX The sorriest I ever feel fer Doc is when some show Er circus comes to town and he 11 not git a chance to go. Cause he jes natchurly flights in circuses clean down From tumblers, in their spangled tights, to trick-mule and Old Clown. LXXX And ever body knows it, too, how Doc is, thataway ! . . . . I mind a circus onc t come through wuz there myse f that day. Ringmaster cracked his whip, you know, to start the ridin when In runs Old Clown and hollers "Whoa! Ladies and gentlemen LXXXI " Of this vast audience, I fain would make in^//zry cle r, And learn, find out, and ascertain Is Doctor Sifers here ? And when some fool-voice bellers down : " He is ! He s settin in Full view o ye ! " " Then; says the Clown, " the circus may begin ! " 6* 86 LXXXII Doc s got a temper ; but, he says, he s learnt it which is boss, Yit has to watch it, more er less. ... I never seen him cross But onc t, enough to make him swear ; milch-cow stepped on his toe, And Doc ripped out " / doggies ! " There s the only case I know. LXXXIII Doc says that s what your temper s fer to hold back out o view, And learn it never to occur on out ahead o you. " You lead the way," says Sifers "git your temper back in line And furdest back the best, ef it s as mean a one as mine ! " 8 9 LXXXIV He hates contentions can t abide a wrangle er dispute O any kind ; and he till slide out of a crowd and skoot Up some back-alley fore he 11 stand and listen to a furse When ary one s got upper-hand and t other one s got worse. LXXXV Doc says : " I spise, when pore and weak and awk ard talkers fails, To see it s them with hardest cheek and loud est mouth prevails. A all-one-sided quarr l 11 make me biased, mighty near, Cause ginerly the side I take s the one I never hear." LXXXVI What peals to Doc the most and best is " seein folks agreed, And takin ekal interest and universal heed O ever body else *s words and idies same as we Wuz glad and chirpy as the birds jes as we d ort to be ! " LXXXVII And paterotic ! Like to git Doc started, full and fair, About the war, and why t uz fit, and what wuz complished there ; " And who wuz wrong" says Doc, " er right, t uz waste o blood and tears, All prophesied in Black and White fer years and years and years ! " 93 LXXXVIII And then he 11 likely kind o tetch on old John Brown, and dwell On what his warnin s wuz ; and ketch his breath and cough, and tell On down to Lincoln s death. And then well, he jes chokes and quits With "I must go now, gentlemen!" and grabs his hat, and gits! LXXXIX Doc s own war-rickord wuz n t won so much in line o fight As line o work and nussin done the wownded, day and night. His wuz the hand, through dark and dawn, at bound their wownds, and laid As soft as their own mother s on their for- reds when they prayed. . . . 94 xc His wuz the face they saw the first all dim, but smilin bright, As they come to and knowed the worst, yit saw the old Red-White- And-Blue where Doc had fixed it where they d see it wavin* still, Out through the open tent-flap there, er cros t the winder-sill. XCI And some s a-limpin round here yit a-waitin Last Review, U d give the pensions at they git, and pawn their crutches, too, To he p Doc out, ef he wuz pressed financial same as he Has allus he pped them when distressed ner never tuk a fee. 97 xcn Doc never wuz much hand to pay attention to p fence And fuss -and -feathers and display in men o prominence : "A railly great man," Sifers lows, " is not the out ard dressed All uniform, salutes and bows, and swellin out his chest 9 8 XCIII " I met a great man onc t," Doc says, " and shuk his hand," says he, " And he come bout in o)ie, I guess, o dis- app intin me He talked so common-like, and brought his mind so cle r in view And simple-like, I purt -nigh thought, / ;;/ best man o the two ! " XCIV -^z>/ Doc s got convictions and old-fash ioned kind o ways And idies bout this glorious Land o Freedom ; and he 11 raise His hat clean off, no matter where, jes ever 1 time he sees The Stars and Stripes a-floatin there and flap- pin in the breeze. IOI xcv And tunes like old " Red, White and Blue " 11 fairly drive him wild, Played on the brass band, marchin through the streets ! Jes like a child I Ve saw that man, his smile jes set, all kind o pale and white, Bare-headed, and his eyes all wet, yit dancin with delight ! XCVI And yit, that very man we see all trimbly, pale and wann, Give him a case o surgery, we 11 see another man ! We 11 do the trimblin then, and we 11 git white around the gills He 11 show us nerve o nerves, and he ull show us skill o skills! 102 XCVII Then you could toot your horns and beat your drums and bang your guns, And wave your flags and march the street, and charge, all Freedom s sons! And Sifers then, I bet my hat, u d never flinch a hair, But, stiddy-handed, tend to that pore patient layin there. XCVIII And Sifers eye s as stiddy as that hand o his! He 11 shoot A old-style rifle, like he has, and smallest bore, to boot, With any fancy rifles made to-day, er expert shot At works at shootin like a trade and all some of em s got ! 105 XCIX Let em go right out in the woods with Doc, and leave their " traps " And blame glass-balls and queensware-goods, and see how Sifers draps A squirrel out the tallest tree. And fore he fires he 11 say Jes where he 11 hit him yes, sir-cc/ And he s hit thataway ! Let em go out with him, i jucks ! with fishin - pole and gun, And ekal chances, fish and ducks, and take the rain, er sun, Jes as it pours, er as it blinds the eye-sight ; then, I guess, At they d acknowledge, in their minds, their disadvantages. i o6 CI And yit he d be the last man out to flop his wings and crow Insultin -like, and strut about above his fallen foe! No-sir/ the hand at tuk the wind out o their sails ud be The very first they grabbed, and grinned to feel sich sympathy. CTI Doc gits off now and then and takes a huntin - trip somewhere Bout Kankakee, up mongst the lakes some times 11 drift round there In his canoe a week er two ; then paddle clean on back By way o old Wabash and Blue, with fish all he kin pack, io8 cm And wild ducks some with feathers on em yit, and stuffed with grass. And neighbers all knows he s bin gone comes round and gits a bass A great big double-breasted "rock," er "black," er maybe pair Half fills a ordinary crock. . . . Doc s fish 11 give out there CIV Long fore his ducks! But folks 11 smile and blandish him, and make Him tell and tell things! all the while enjoy em jes fer sake O pleasin him; and then turn in and la nch him from the start A-tellin all the things ag in they railly know by heart. II cv He s jes a child, s what Sifers is ! And- sir, I d ruther see That happy, childish face o his, and puore simplicity, Than any shape er style er plan o mortals otherwise With perfect faith in God and man a-shinin in his eyes. TAMAM. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewals only: Tel. No. 642-3405 Renewals may be made 4 days prior to date due. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.