Amos Green’s Hen Money

“I’ve got two dozen hens or more”

Said Amos Green in Stokes’s store,

“An’ I’ll be hanged ef I kin git

An aig out uv the hull blamed kit.

They laid into the summer, then

They molted, ev’ry bloomin’ hen;

An’ sence that time, confound the luck,

They haven’t laid a single cluck.

I’m plumb discouraged to the core,”

Said Amos Green in Stokes’s store.

“‘They’s money in keepin’ hens,’ they say,”

Said Amos in his dismal way,

“But I can’t see it, no sir-ee,

It’s allus money out fur me.

I’m buyin’ feed here in the store,

An’ allus buyin’ more an’ more;

They’re eatin’ off their heads, I say,

While I grow poorer ev’ry day.

‘They’s money made in hens,’” says he,

“Huh? P’raps they is, but not fur me!”

When Amos finished off his score

Abe Crockett quickly took the floor.

“They’s money keepin’ hens,” says he,

“An’ stacks uv money, yes sir-ee.”

Ame blustered up, but no avail –

Abe simply wouldn’t shorten sail.

“Thet sayin’s true ez true kin be,

They’s money keepin’ hens,” says he.

“Who makes it though, they do not tell –

It’s them who hez the feed to sell.”

Dec. 15, 1912