| "I'm sorely peeved," said Deacon Dobbs, when he
came home from church, "I used to be a crackerjack on scriptural research; I had whole chapters memorized which I would oft- times quote, I knowed the Bible so that I could sing it through by note. "But now they've got a new revise and everything is changed; The chapters and the verses are differently ar- ranged; And when the preacher reads a text it don't sound right at all For Hell is rendered "Ha-dees," "Gehenna" or "She-ol." And lots of sound opinions the church has held so long The new revision indicates to be entirely wrong. "When some smart theologian who wants to win a name, Who's studied Greek and Hebrew till he worked his way to fame, Finds out us old time brethren has got him fairly beat A quotin' of the scriptures, he rises in his seat And moves to change the version that we relied upon From the openin' of Genesis to visions of St. John. "I reckon in a few more years the Book will be re- vised Till all them ancient stories will be wholly modern- ized, With Adam as a boozer who drank his apple-jack And Sampson as a slugger who managed to come back; With Noah as the captain of a steamer on the seas Who caught wild animals for men who ran menag- eries; And Moses, with a job press, upon Mount Sinai, Will be printin' the commandmandments for the people standin' by, While Jehu in his armored car with rapid firin' gun Is chargin' heathen trenches from the dawn till set of sun." |
Verdigris Valley Verse
Albert Stroud
(Coffeyville, Kansas: The Journal Press. 1917)
Pages 14-15
Visit the Home Page for Kansas