Page 266 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

(Hard work, too,) to earn yer livin’
Blackin' boots for honest tin,

llo w that tumble crippled of you,
So’a you couldn’t hyper much—
Joe, it hurted when I seen you
Fur tht; first time with your crutch.
“ Rut/' I says, "he's laid&up now, mum,
’ Pears to weaken every d ay; ”
Joe, she up and went to cuttin’—
That's the ho tv of this bokay.

Say ! It seems to me, ole feller,
You is quite yourself to-night;
Kind o' chirk— it’s been a fortnit
Sence yer eyes has been so bright.
Better? Well, J m glad to hear it!
Yes, they’re mighty pretty, Joe.
Smellin' of ’em’s made you happy?
Well, I thought it would, you know!

Never see the country, did you ?
Flowers growin' everywhere!
Some time when your better, joey,
Mebbe I kin take you there.
Flowers in heaven ? ' M— 1 spose so;
Dunno much about it, though;
Ain't as fly as wot I might be
On them topics, little Joe.

But I've heard it hinted somewheres
That in heaven's golden gates
Things is everkutm’ cheerful—
B’lieve that’s wot the Bible states.
Likewise, there folks don’t git hungry;