The Gungy Kitchen Dance

O, the Gungy kitchen dances

     With the fiddle singin; loud,

With the prompter vainly callin’

     To the gay, unruly crowd!

O, the swift bewitchin’ music

     When it gits into your heel;

O, the Gungy kitchen dances

     An’ the ol’ Virginny Reel!

                                 I.

O, Gungywamp in winter time is neither dull nor slow!

We do not care a picayune fur ice or drifted snow;

Our barns are stocked with cattle which we hitch into a line

An’ break the road all over town until they travel fine.

In Gungy town folks do not sit around the stove all day,

An’ wait for summer days to come as folks are prone to say;

We’re up an’ doin’ ev’ry time when there are things to do,

An’ do the toastin’ uv our shins when all the work is through.

                                 II.

The grangers hev their meetin’ jest ez reg’lar ez a clock;

Religion here in Gungywamp ez solid ez a rock.

The prayer meetin’s Friday night an’ other services

Are held in turn no matter what the winter weather is.

Donation party once a year, “surprises” by the score,

An’ quiltin’ bees, an’ candy pulls an’ nights at Stokes’s store;

O, there is plenty goin’ on, to suit the great an’ small,

But Gungy kitchen dances they are liveliest uv all!

O, the Gungy kitchen dances

     With the tread uv lively feet!

O, the roguish Gungy maidens

     With their faces round an’ sweet!

O, the music uv the fiddle

     As it answers to the bow;

When he cries, “saloot yer pardners!”

     An’ the dancers forward go.

                                 III.

They come for miles an’ miles around, they’d never miss a chance

To tread the light fantastic uv a Gungy kitchen dance;

Young couples old, old couples young, o’er miles uv glist’ning snow,

Drawn by the hautin’ music uv ol’ Sloky’s fiddle bow.

It’s “Forward Four!” an’ “Right an’ Left”, an’ “Balance Partners All!”

Side couples do the same thing o’er an” “Chessay Round the Hall!”

It’s “Balance Corners!” “Ladies Chain!” “Swing Pardners where you be!”

An’ “Ladies Chain Back Home Again”, an’ “Balance All,” says he.

                                 IV.

There ain’t no hangin’ backwards when ol’ Sloky gives the call;

They’re anxious for the dancin’ an’ they “form on one an’ all”.

Wall flowers here in Gungy they are skurce ez skurce kin be,

No sparkin’ in the corners for the lovers, no sir-ee!

Then the apples an’ the cider, an’ the Gungy punkin pie!

We always hev refreshments frum the larder handy by.

We dance another figger ere we break up for the night,

We swing our lively pardners an’ we do the thing up right!

O, the Gungy kitchen dances!

     May they never cease to be;

May they never be transplanted

     By the modern fillergree.

O, the glance uv roguish maidens

     Light uv toe an’ light uv heel;

O, the music uv the fiddle,

     An’ the ol’ “Virginny Reel”!

Dec. 28, 1912