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Archiver > VERMONT > 1999-05 > 0925677502


From: "Jackie M. Botala" <>
Subject: [VERMONT-L] more old papers...
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 13:38:22 -0700


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Old Farmer B

Old Farmer B is the stingiest man,
He keeps all he gets and gets all he can;
The nighebors all say he's the stingier man
Than anyone else in town.

In addition to his pigs and sows
He keeps some very fine calves and cows,
He makes no butter but sends all his milk
Straight to the city--

What do these city folks know about milk
They are better judges of cloth, tea and silk.
If I'm not found out then where is the sin?
So the sparkling water I'll pour in.

He was just in the midst of a rousing snore
.......
When a midnight voice with a hasty breath
Said, "Your best cow, neighbor, is choking to death."

He clipped off the end of the rousing snore
And bounded out on the bedroom floor
And the midnight voice was heard no more.

He pulled on his clothes, he knew not how,
For his thoughts were with the choking cow,
He flew to the barn like a frightend deer,
For his stingy soul was filled with fear.

Looking around by the lantern light
He found his cows and calves all right.
"I'd give a time," said Farmer B
"To know who played that trick on me."

The meaning the next morning he soon found out
For a stone was driven in the old pump spout.

Yes, the meaning of it all at last was plain
And the midnight voice he heard agian
As he pumped away with a hasty breath,
"Your best cow, neighbor, is choking to death."

He goes to church and rents a pew
But the dimes he gives to the Lord are few.

According to the though of those times, cleanliness was akin
to Godliness, and thrift was somewhere between the two,
and a man with some propriety charge his son:

Get money, son, get money.
Get it honestly if you can, but get it.

(Contributed by Amos J. Eaton, South Royalton

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