Grocery Store Farming

        

“I’ve tried to make my ol’ farm pay

      For all of thirty year or more,

An’ I ain’t worth ten cents today,”
Said Enoch Dodge, in Stokes’ store.

“As fur as I kin see I’m jist

      About where I begun, no more;

An’ I hev done my level best,”

      Said Enoch Dodge, in Stokes’ store.

Ame Green was allus sour as swill,

      But allus tried to hit the nail;

He hoped to speak the truth, an’ still

      Sometimes somehow he seemed to fail.

He said to Enoch, “Don’t alarm

      Yourself an’ go to feelin’ sore,

Wust place I know to run a farm

      Is settin’ round a grocery store.

“That so?” says Enoch, bristlin’ mad,

      “I hedn’t thought uv that a fore;”

An’ ev’ry idle setter had

      A waitin’ grin, in Stokes’ store.

“I often wondered what it was

      Made your’s look sol gol-darned poor”

An’ Ame was drownded by guffaws

      That circled round in Stokes store.

Jan. 19, ‘10