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'll 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!

[Illustration]

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'll say
Jes where he'll hit him--yes, sir-_ee_!
And he's hit thataway!

C

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.

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.

CII

Doc gits off now and then and takes
a huntin'-trip somewhere
'Bout Kankakee, up 'mongst the lakes--
sometimes'll 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,--

[Illustration]

CIII

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_'ll give out there

CIV

Long 'fore his _ducks_!--But folks'll smile
and blandish him, and make
Him tell and _tell_ things!--all the while
enjoy 'em jes fer sake
O' pleasin' _him_; and th