| His health is good, his limbs are strong,
His voice is like a dinner gong, He lifts a half a ton with ease And he can eat a hoop of cheese. But strange to say he will not work Because he's lazy as a Turk. At digging wells or splitting wood He'd do the world a lot of good, But something whispers to this chap That some day he will strike a snap; And so he loafs the whole day through And nothing useful will he do, Because he fears to soil his shirt Or get his fingers in the dirt. When first I met this man of ease He had a rig for shelling peas, But when he found no great demand For such a jim-crack in the land He organized a minstrel troupe That dealt old jokes and lived on soup And tried the people's joys to drown Until they ran him out of town. A dozen peaceful days passed o'er Before I saw him any more; And then he came, imploring me To join the B. of X. Y. Z., A lodge that never asked for dues And fed its members oyster stews And paid a hundred dollars gold For every time you caught a cold. |
Verdigris Valley Verse
Albert Stroud
(Coffeyville, Kansas: The Journal Press. 1917)
Page 47
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