The Implement Dealer's Dream

The Implement Dealer sat in his fine chair
And smole a sweet smile, for he hadn't a care,
For customers crowded and crowded him there
To pay off their bills that day.
And one even offered to pay the express
Upon a small casting, which, strange to confess,
Was broken because of his own carelessness,
And insisted on having his way.

Another one said that thc planter he got
Was worth twice the price, so he'd pay on the
spot
Instead of by note, and he said like as not
His neighbors would be in soon.
For his neighbors were there when he started the
thing,
And it worked like a charm, and he knew it
would bring
"A half dozen sales from that corner, by Jing"^___
Ah me, what a merry old tune!

"If it isn't too early I'll take up that note,"
Responded a third, as he cleared up his throat;
"The water was high so I came in a boat
In order to pay it today.
For it's mighty poor sleep these short nights I get
When every evening I think of this debt,
But for your kind favor I'll never forget^___
That rake is a daisy in hay."

And so it went on from morning till night,
Ere one was through paying another in sight,
And everyone of them talking just right,
As good paying customers do.
And just at the close a fellow in tears
Squared up an account that was outlawed ten
years;
He'd just been converted, so sold off two steers
To pay it, with interest too.

The dealer awoke as he gave him a hug,
For as he reached out he knocked over a jug
Of "castor machine" on his new office rug,
(The gunny sack rug by his chair),
And a voice from the twilight outside called "Hey,
Jake,
That gol durned machine that I bought was a
fake,
So I bought of another a different make;
I unloaded your old trap out there."

^__Ed Blair.

Sunflower Siftings
Ed Blair
(Boston: The Gorham Press. 1914)
Pages 190-191