Explore "As my Uncle Used to Say" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I've thought a power on men and things, / As my uncle ust to say, -- / And ef folks don't work as they pray, i jings!
W'y, they ain't no use to pray!
Ef you want somepin', and jes dead-set / A-pleadin' fer it with both eyes wet, / And _tears_ won't bring it, w'y, you try _sweat_, / As my uncle ust to say.
They's some don't know their A, B, Cs, / As my uncle ust to say, / And yit don't waste no candle-grease, / Ner whistle their lives away!
But ef they can't write no book, ner rhyme / No ringin' song fer to last all time, / They can blaze the way fer the march sublime, / As my uncle ust to say.
Whoever's Foreman of all things here, / As my uncle ust to say, / He knows each job 'at we 're best fit fer, / And our round-up, night and day: / And a-sizin' _His_ work, east and west, / And north and south, and worst and best / I ain't got nothin' to suggest, / As my uncle ust to say.