| There was a state called Kansas, it's a place I used
to know, And I'd like right well to see it if I knew which way to go; Its prairies they were level and as far as eye could see There wasn't any house but ours, and not a fence or tree. We had a field of second sod where tumble weeds would grow And in the fall when they were dry I liked to watch them blow. They made the nicest herd of cows for little girls and boys Who didn't have___and didn't need___a lot of costly toys. We hadn't any berries so we made sheep-sorrel pie; We sliced our pumpkins into strips and hung them up to dry, And in the winter they were fine, cooked with a hunk of meat; Those were the days when anything seemed mighty good to eat. The sunsets out in Kansas were not clouded o'er with smoke And when we went to take a walk there was no dust to choke; I could name a hundred reasons, as I live those times again, Why Kansas was a paradise for women folks and men. I ought to go back there once more, I thought I heard you say; Why, sure, I'd like to do it___but I never moved away. |
Verdigris Valley Verse
Albert Stroud
(Coffeyville, Kansas: The Journal Press. 1917)
Page 18
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