n' wriggle
Lak' a yellow rattlesnake;
De res' buzz jus' lak' bumblebee
Stirred op vit hayin' rake.

Dis bottom off on July pork
Is strike me kin' of queer,
I's t'ink dat hogs is good for eat
Mos' all of de 'hole year.
Dose feller on Chicago town
Is mak' such fonny phrase
Dat--_entre nous_--I sometimes t'ink
Dat som' of dem ees craz'.

Den dere ees somet'ing happen
Dat mak' 'em more excite',
W'en news ees com' overe de vires
Dat Boer an' Britain fight,
I nevere saw such meex-op yet,
In days since I be born,
Dey scowl an' call wan nodder names,
Dere faces show moch scorn.

Wan man grow wild an' mos'ly craz',
De tears stream off his eyes,
Dere's nodder man dat's laf an' shout,
It's mak' me mos' surprise.
I guess it mak' som' diffe_rance_
Vich side you're on de fence,
But in dis Bear an' Bull meex-op
I see not ver' moch sense.

HEZEKIAH BEDOTT'S OPINION

BY FRANCES M. WHICHER

He was a wonderful hand to moralize, husband was, 'specially after he
begun to enjoy poor health. He made an observation once when he was in
one of his poor turns, that I never shall forget the longest day I live.
He says to me one winter evenin' as we was a settin' by the fire,--I was
a knittin' (I was always a wonderful great knitter) and he was a smokin'
(he was a master hand to smoke, though the doctor used to tell him he'd
be better off to let tobacker alone; when he was well he used to take
his pipe and smoke a spell after he'd got the chores done up, and when
he wa'n't well, used to smoke the biggest part of the time). Well, he
took his pipe out of his mouth and turned toward me, and I knowed
something was comin', for he had a pertikkeler way of lookin' round when
he was gwine to say anything oncommon. Well, he says to me, says he,
"Silly" (my name was Prissilly naterally, but he ginerally called me
"Silly," cause 'twas handier, you know). Well, he says to me, says he,
"Silly," and he looked pretty sollem, I tell you--he had a sollem
countenance naterally--and after he got to be deacon 'twas more so, but
since he'd lost his health he looked sollemer than ever, and certainly
you wouldent wonder at it if you knowed how much he underwent. He was
troubled with a wonderful pain in his chest, and amazin' weakness in the
spine of his back, besides the pleurissy in the side, and having the
ager a considerable part of the time, and bein' broke of