Nature Sonnets (By the Village Poet)

Pa sent me out to milk the cow last night

     An’ so I took the pail an’ went along,

     An’ sung upon the way a little song,

An’ said, “So Boss,” an’ I was real polite,

Then took ahold the way I thought was right.

     She switched her tail around my neck “kerswatt”,

     An’ kicked the pail off to a distant spot,

An’ I run back to father in a fright.

I told him how she kicked the milkin’ pail

     An' smacked it up against the stable gate;

He give me such a look it made me quail

     An’ then he blowed me up a fearful rate.

“When you set down to milk a cow,” he said,

“Don’t try to milk her heels, you puddin’head!”

Dec. 3, 1912