Classic Poem

I'M a-feelin' ruther sad,
Fer a father proud and glad
As I am — my only child
Home, and all so rickonciled!
Feel so strange-like, and don't know
What the mischief ails me so!
'Stid o' bad, I ort to be
Feelin' good pertickerly —
Yes, and extry thankful, too,
'Cause my nearest kith-and-kin,
My Elviry's schoolin' 's through,
And I' got her home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me!

Same as ef her mother'd been
Livin', I have done my best
By the girl, and watchfulest;
Nussed her — keerful' as I could —
From a baby, day and night, —
Drawin' on the neighberhood
And the women-folks as light
As needsessity 'ud 'low —
'Cept in " teethin', " onc't, and fight
Through black-measles. Don't know now
How we ever saved the child!
Doc he'd give her up, and said,
As I stood there by the bed
Sort o' foolin' with her hair
On the hot, wet pillar there,
" Wuz no use! " — And at them-air
Very words she waked and smiled —
Yes, and knowed me. And that's where
I broke down, and simply jes'
Bellered like a boy — I guess! —
Women claim I did, but I
Allus helt I didn't cry,
But wuz laughin', — and I wuz , —
Men don't cry like women does!
Well, right then and there I felt
'T'uz her mother's doin's, and,
Jes' like to myse'f, I knelt
Whisperin', " I understand. " . . .
So I've raised her, you might say,
Stric'ly in the narrer way
'At her mother walked therein —
Not so quite religiously,
Yit still strivin'-like to do
Ever'thing a father could
Do he knowed the mother would
Ef she'd lived — And now all's through
And I' got her home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me!

And I' been so lonesome, too,
Here o' late, especially, —
" Old Aunt Abigail, " you know,
Ain't no company; — and so
Jes' the hired hand, you see —
Jonas — like a relative
More — sence he come here to live
With us, nigh ten year' ago.
Still he don't count much, you know,
In the way o' company —
Lonesome, 'peared-like, 'most as me!
So, as I say, I' been so
Special lonesome-like and blue,
With Elviry, like she's been,
'Way so much, last two or three
Year' — But now she's home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me!

Driv in fer her yisterday,
Me and Jonas — gay and spry, —
We jes' cut up, all the way! —
Yes, and sung! — tel, blame it! I
Keyed my voice up 'bout as high
As when — days 'at I wuz young —
" Buckwheat-notes " wuz all they sung.
Jonas bantered me, and 'greed
To sing one 'at town-folks sing
Down at Split Stump 'er High-Low —
Some new " ballet, " said, 'at he'd
Learnt — about " The Grape-vine Swing. "
And when he quit, I begun
To chune up my voice and run
Through the what's-called " scales " and " do-
Sol-me-fa's " I ust to know —
Then let loose old favor ite one,
" Hunters o' Kentucky! " My!
Tel I thought the boy would die!
And we both laughed — Yes, and still
Heerd more laughin', top the hill;
Fer we'd missed Elviry's train,
And she'd lit out 'crost the fields, —
Dewdrops dancin' at her heels,
And cut up old Smoots's lane
So's to meet us. And there in
Shadder o' the chinkypin,
With a danglin' dogwood-bough
Bloomin' 'bove her — See her now! —
Sunshine sort o' flickerin' down
And a kind o' laughin' all
Round her new red parasol,
Tryin' to git at her! — well — like
I jumped out and showed 'em how —
Yes, and jes' the place to strike
That-air mouth o' hern — as sweet
As the blossoms breshed her brow
Er sweet-williams round her feet —
White and blushy, too, as she
" Howdied " up to Jonas, and
Jieuked her head, and waved her hand.
" Hey! " says I, as she bounced in
The spring-wagon, reachin' back
To give me a lift, " whoop-ee! "
I-says-ee, " you're home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me! "

Lord! how wild she wuz, and glad,
Gittin' home! — and things she had
To inquire about, and talk —
Plowin', plantin', and the stock —
News o' neighberhood; and how
Wuz the Deem-girls doin' now,
Sence that-air young chicken-hawk
They was " tamin' " soared away
With their settin'-hen, one day? —
(Said she'd got Mame's postal-card
'Bout it, very day 'at she
Started home from Bethany.)
How wuz produce — eggs, and lard? —
Er wuz stores still claimin' " hard
Times, " as usual? And, says she,
Troubled-like, " How's Deedie — say?
Sence pore child e-loped away
And got back, and goin' to 'ply
Fer school-license by and by —
And where's 'Lijy workin' at?
And how's " Aunt" and " Uncle Jake"?
How wuz " Old Maje" — and the cat?
And wuz Marthy's baby fat
As his " Humpty-Dumpty" ma? —
Sweetest thing she ever saw! —
Must run 'crost and see her, too,
Soon as she turned in and got
Supper fer us — smokin'-hot —
And the " dishes" all wuz through. — "
Sich a supper! W'y, I set
There and et, and et, and et! —
Jes' et on, tel Jonas he
Pushed his chair back, laughed, and says,
" I could walk his log! " and we
All laughed then, tel 'Viry she
Lit the lamp — and I give in! —
Riz and kissed her: " Heaven bless
You! " says I — " you're home ag'in —
Same old dimple in your chin,
Same white apern, " I-says-ee,
" Same sweet girl, and good to see
As your mother ust to be, —
And I' got you home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me! "

I turns then to go on by her
Through the door — and see her eyes
Both wuz swimmin', and she tries
To say somepin' — can't — and so
Grabs and hugs and lets me go.
Noticed Aunty'd made a fire
In the settin'-room and gone
Back where her p'serves wuz on
Bilin' in the kitchen. I
Went out on the porch and set,
Thinkin'-like. And by and by
Heerd Elviry, soft and low,
At the organ, kind o' go
A mi-anderin' up and down
With her fingers 'mongst the keys —
" Vacant Chair " and " Old Camp-Groun'. " . . .
Dusk was moist-like, with a breeze
Lazin' round the locus' trees —
Heerd the hosses champin', and
Jonas feedin', and the hogs —
Yes, and katydids and frogs —
And a tree-toad, somers. Heerd
Also whipperwills. — My land! —
All so mournful ever'where —
Them out here, and her in there, —
'Most like 'tendin' services!
Anyway , I must 'a' jes'
Kind o' drapped asleep, I guess;
'Cause when Jonas must 'a' passed
Me, a-comin' in, I knowed
Nothin' of it — yit it seemed
Sort o' like I kind o' dreamed
'Bout him, too, a-slippin' in,
And a-watchin' back to see
Ef I wuz asleep, and then
Passin' in where 'Viry wuz;
And where I declare it does
'Pear to me I heerd him say,
Wild and glad and whisperin' —
'Peared-like heerd him say, says-ee,
" Ah! I' got you home ag'in —
Home ag'in with me! "