Felt somehow thru' its crown a pair Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, He kin' o' l'itered on the mat, An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk Ez though she wished him furder, An' on her apples kep' to work, Parin' away like murder. "You want to see my Pa, I s'pose? "Wal... no . . I come da signin'" "To see my Ma? She's sprinklin' clo'es Agin to-morrer's i'nin'." 48 52 56 60 64 68 To say why gals acts 'so or so, Or don't, 'ould be persumin'; Mebby to mean yes an' say no Comes nateral to women. 72 76 80 84 He stood a spell on one foot fust, He could n't ha' told ye nuther. Says he, "I'd better call agin;" Says she, "Think likely, Mister: " When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips, For she was jes' the quiet kind Like streams that keep a summer mind The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued Tell mother see how metters stood, Then her red come back like the tide An' all I know is they was cried James Russell Lowell. 1848. 1862. 88 92 96 WHICH I wish to remark- The heathen Chinee is peculiar, Which the same I would rise to explain. Ah Sin was his name; And I shall not deny In regard to the same What that name might imply; But his smile it was pensive and childlike, It was August the third, And quite soft was the skies; Which it might be inferred That Ah Sin was likewise; Yet he played it that day upon William And me in a way I despise. 12 18 Which we had a small game, And Ah Sin took a hand: It was Euchre. The same He did not understand; But he smiled, as he sat by the table, With the smile that was childlike and bland. Yet the cards they were stocked And my feelings were shocked At the state of Nye's sleeve, 24 Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers, And the same with intent to deceive. But the hands that were played By that heathen Chinee, And the points that he made, Were quite frightful to see,- 30 Till at last he put down a right bower, Which the same Nye had dealt unto me. 36 Then I looked up at Nye, And he gazed upon me; And he rose with a sigh, And said, "Can this be? We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor,”— And he went for that heathen Chinee. In the scene that ensued I did not take a hand, 42 But the floor it was strewed Like the leaves on the strand With the cards that Ah Sin had been hiding, He had twenty-four packs,- And we found on his nails, which were What is frequent in tapers,-that's wax. Which is why I remark, And my language is plain, And for tricks that are vain, The heathen Chinee is peculiar,— 54 Which the same I am free to maintain. 60 1870. Francis Bret Harte. THE ONE-HOSS-SHAY OR, THE DEACON'S MASTERPIECE A LOGICAL STORY HAVE you heard of the wonderful one-hoss-shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it-ah, but stay, |