A Black Hills Episode
A little, warty, dried-up sort
O’ lookin’ chap ‘at hadn’t ort
A ben a-usin’ round no bar,
With gents like us a-drinkin’ thar!
And that idee occurred to me
The livin’ minit ‘at I see
The little cuss elbowin’ in
To humor his besettin’ sin.
There ‘re nothin’ small in me at all,
But when I heer the rooster call
For shugar and a spoon, I says:
“Jest got in from the States, I guess.”
He never ‘peared as if he heerd,
But stood thar, wipin’ uv his beard,
And smilin’ to hisself as if
I’d been a-givin’ him a stiff.
And I-says-I, a edgin’ by
The bantam, and a-gazin’ high
Above his plug—says I: “I knowed
A little feller onc’t ’at blowed
Around like you, and tuck his drinks
With shugar in—and his folks thinks
He’s dead now—’cause we boxed and sent
The scraps back to the Settlement!”
The boys tells me, ‘at got to see
His modus operandum, he
Jest ‘peared to come onjointed-like
Afore he ever struck a strike!
And I’ll admit, the way he fit
Wuz dazzlin’—what I see uv hit;
And squarin’ things up fair and fine,
Says I: “A little ’shug’ in mine!”