Our Summer Boarders

Life in the country allus ain’t

     What it’s cracked up to be;

It ain’t so inderpendunt nor

     So absolutely free.

In winter time it’s well enough,

     An’ spring an’ fall I mum;

But now, it ain’t so much becuz

     The summer folks hev come.

I thought the farm belonged to me,

     But no, tain’t none of mine;

I owned it once, but that wuz in

     The days uv’ ol’ lang Syne.

‘Twuz when the ground wuz bare an’ brown,

     When spring wuz cold an’ glum;

‘Twuz in the palmy days afore

     The summer boarders come.

The sleepin’ rooms they’ve got ‘em all

     ‘Cept one, that’s full o’ trunks;

Semanthy’ a’ me we occupy

     Some foldin’ kitchen bunks.

We darsn’t use the settin’ room,

     Nor touch the porch, I swim;

We ain’t called nothin’ ours sence

     The summer boarders come.

They want the hoss ten times a day,

     An’ not a minute’s wait;

They chase me up with spade an’ hoe

     To dig ‘em worms fur bait.

They want the hammocks up or down,

     Or want the swing tree clumb;

I’m jest a sort uv butler sence

     The summer boarders come.

Semanthy’s bound to advertise,

     She got results galore;

When I git hungry now I go

     An’ lunch down in the store.

They make the aigs an’ garden sass,

     An’ milk an’ butter hum;

Home’s like a foreign mission sence

     The summer boarders come.

June 26, ‘09