Tiltup Time

It’s tiltup ttime on Lizzard Crick,

     The ice is good and strong;

The blacksmith’s shop and Stokes’ store

     Have lost their daily throng.

Hen Billings, Abe and Uncle Ez,

     And all the squatter corps,

Are down in “Pick’rel Bend” these days,

     Where tiltups hold the floor.

Jed Martin said along last fall,

     “The signs are comin’ good;

There’ll be enough uv fish this year

     For Gungy’s multitud.”

So when the crick was strong enough

     The fisher folk men were there;

And “Pick’rel Bend” was covered o’er

     With tiltups and to spare.

Under the lee of Ackley hill

     A roaring fire leaps high;

With toes and fingers thawing out,

     And mittens hung to dry.

And, seated on the friendly logs,

     The yarns of bygone years

Are poured with solemn Gungy skill

     Into our youthful ears!

Tiltups are bobbing up and down,

     Red flags flap in the breeze;

Stout hearts don’t mind the wintry winds

     In busy days like these.

Ah, tiltups time on Lizzard Crick,

     With story, song and joke,

May nothing ever come between

     You and good Gungy folk!

    

Dec. 31, 1916