Page 30 - Poetry-Country

A Sheaf of Farm Superstitions

A FAMILY WEAKNESS.

I would n’ be bound down
Believin’ signs and things
Like Uncle Jerry Finckleys air
Fer fifty cents. Can’t go anywhere,
Ner do a trick, unlest the signs is right.
When the peacocks sings
They stays at home from town
Fer fear of measles;
Hev a seprut sign fer dogs
A-howlin’, and mewlin’ cats,
An’ hoppin’ frogs,
An’ snaky weasels.
An’ when they see the bogie bats
A-huntin’ pixies by the light
Of jack-a-lamps,
They flunk and pray in sech a plight
It gives ‘em cramps.
Folks air short fer sense
Thet takes along thet way:
The’r lives makes more expense
Than all the profits pay.
Use reason—
Ther’! go slow,
You idiot! Don’t you know
Any more ‘n lug that hoe
In the house, a-temptin’ death?
I swan, you’ve scart my breath
Clean away. You plegged fool,
Little more’n you’ll jest go
An’ do some mischief with the tool.

THE CHARM.

To break the spell when bad signs come,
Go to the barn an’ jest take some—
Chaff up on the cockle screen,
An’ shake it slowly, like you’ve seen

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