Explore "Squire Hawkins's Story" by James Whitcomb Riley on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I hain't no hand at tellin' tales, / Er spinnin' yarns, as the sailors say; / Someway o' 'nother, language fails / To slide fer me in the oily way / That LAWYERS has; and I wisht it would, / Fer I've got somepin' that I call good; / But bein' only a country squire, / I've learned to listen and admire, / Ruther preferrin' to be addressed / Than talk myse'f -- but I'll do my best: --
Old Jeff Thompson -- well, I'll say, / Was the clos'test man I ever saw! -- / Rich as cream, but the porest pay, / And the meanest man to work fer -- La!