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Project Gutenberg Australia a treasure-trove of literature treasure found hidden with no evidence of ownership |
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Project Gutenberg Australia HomeReturn to Index of Poems
We were sittin’ in front o’ Ben Mosey’s store,
Along about sundown when work was done,
That’s me an’ Jack Thomson an’ sev’ral more,
When up rides Dicky—old Scrubbin’s son.
Sez he: “Me father wants two good men
To pull ten acres or so o’ corn.”
“What’s come o’ them as I sent?” asks Ben.
“Them new-chums!” sez Dick, with a snort. “They’re gorn.
“Why, one he was Hiram, an’ one was Hank,
An’ they talked about Kansas an’ old Missoo.
Deserters th’ pair; tho’ there warn’t no Yank
In the gol-durned fleet they e’en ‘lowed they knoo.
“Well, me father he sez, if they liked, he would
Put ‘em on for a week, that’s if they could pull.
They guessed an’ cal’lated as how they could,
An’ he give ‘em th’ slide an’ th’ steer an’ bull.
“When they started to drive, snakes alive! ‘twas sport,
With one on each side of th’ road to steer;
An’ Hiram cried ‘Starboard!’ an’ Hank yelled ‘Port!’
Accordin’ as how they desired to sheer.
“Me father was shinglin’ a barn jes’ then
For Slocum, whose place is ten miles away.
He showed ‘em th’ crop, an’ then left th’ men,
An’ he only got back agin yesterday.
“An’ what do yer think them fellers did?
Why, strike me purple! the barn was full
Of stalks pulled up by th’ roots—no kid!
They didn’t know farmin’ but they could pull.
“An’ wasn’t th’ old man jes’ rampin’ wild!
Them Jackies, afore you’d ‘a’ counted ten
Were cuttin’ out tracks ‘sif their jints were iled;
An’ there’s vacancies now for two workin’ men.”
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