Wear and Tear

He set around in Stokes’s store

Until it seemed he must be sore.

An' yit he allus seemed to talk

How hard it wuz fur him to walk,

An’ often he wuz heard to say

How awful much he hed to pay

Fur shoes an’ rubbers, while he cust

The leather an’ the rubber trust.

“It does beat all,” he says to Stokes,

“How much it is a-costin’ folks

To shoe their feet; ef this keeps on

I’ll be a bankrupt soon, I swon!”

Then Stokes he says, “thet may be true,

I wouldn’t fret ef I wuz you

about the price uv shoes,” says he,

“The price uv cloth would worry me.”

An' then he asked Stokes what he meant

An' Stokes says to the idle gent:

“You wear your trousers on the seat

More than the shoes upon your feet.”

Jan. 14, 1911

Acc. by Judge

Pub. Mar. 11, 1911