Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse

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Title: Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse
Author: Joseph C. Lincoln
Release Date: February 28, 2004 [EBook #11351]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
? START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPE COD BALLADS, AND OTHER VERSE ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Joshua Hutchinson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
[Illustration: "He's a hero born and bred,?but it hasn't swelled his head."]
Cape Cod Ballads
and Other Verse
By
Joseph C. Lincoln
With Drawings by Edward W. Kemble
1902
To My Wife
This book is affectionately dedicated
Preface
A friend has objected to the title of this book?on the ground that, as many of the characters?and scenes described are to be found in almost?any coast village of the United States, the title might,?with equal fitness, be "New Jersey Ballads," or "Long?Island Ballads," or something similar.
The answer to this is, simply, that while "School-committee Men" and "Village Oracles" are, doubtless,?pretty much alike throughout Yankeedom, the?particular specimens here dealt with were individuals?whom the author knew in his boyhood "down on the?Cape." So, "Cape Cod Ballads" it is.
The verses in this collection originally appeared in?_Harper's Weekly, The Youth's Companion, The Saturday?Evening Post, Puck, Types, The League of American?Wheelmen Bulletin_, and the publications of the American?Press Association. Thanks are due to the editors?of these periodicals for their courteous permission?to reprint.
J.C.L.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
LIST OF DRAWINGS
THE COD-FISHER
THE SONG OF THE SEA
THE WIND'S SONG
THE LIFE-SAVER
"THE EVENIN' HYMN"
THE MEADOW ROAD
THE BULLFROG SERENADE
SUNDAY AFTERNOONS
THE OLD DAGUERREOTYPES
THE BEST SPARE ROOM
THE OLD CARRYALL
OUR FIRST FIRE-CRACKERS
WHEN NATHAN LED THE CHOIR
HEZEKIAH'S ART
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL PICNIC
"AUNT 'MANDY"
THE STORY-BOOK BOY
THE SCHOOL-COMMITTEE MAN
WASTED ENERGY
WHEN THE MINISTER COMES TO TEA
"YAP"
THE MINISTER'S WIFE
THE VILLAGE ORACLE
THE TIN PEDDLER
"SARY EMMA'S PHOTYGRAPHS"
WHEN PAPA's SICK
THE BALLAD OF MCCARTY'S TROMBONE
SUSAN VAN DOOZEN
SISTER SIMMONS
"THE FIFT' WARD J'INT DEBATE"
HIS NEW BROTHER
CIRCLE DAY
SERMON TIME
"TAKIN' BOARDERS"
A COLLEGE TRAINING
A CRUSHED HERO
A THANKSGIVING DREAM
O'REILLY'S BILLY-GOAT
THE CUCKOO CLOCK
THE POPULAR SONG
MATILDY'S BEAU
"SISTER'S BEST FELLER"
"THE WIDDER CLARK"
FRIDAY EVENING MEETINGS
THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER
MY OLD GRAY NAG
THROUGH THE FOG
THE BALLADE OF THE DREAM-SHIP
LIFE'S PATHS
THE MAYFLOWER
MAY MEMORIES
BIRDS'-NESTING TIME
THE OLD SWORD ON THE WALL
NINETY-EIGHT IN THE SHADE
SUMMER NIGHTS AT GRANDPA'S
GRANDFATHER'S "SUMMER SWEETS"
MIDSUMMER
"SEPTEMBER MORNIN'S"
NOVEMBER'S COME
THE WINTER NIGHTS AT HOME
"THE LITTLE FELLER'S STOCKIN'"
THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
THE CROAKER
THE OLD-FASHIONED GARDEN
THE LIGHT-KEEPER
THE LITTLE OLD HOUSE BY THE SHORE
WHEN THE TIDE GOES OUT
THE WATCHERS
"THE REG'LAR ARMY MAN"
FIREMAN O'RAFFERTY
LITTLE BARE FEET
A RAINY DAY
THE HAND-ORGAN BALL
"JIM"
IN MOTHER'S ROOM
SUNSET-LAND
THE SURF ALONG THE SHORE
AT EVENTIDE
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
LIST OF DRAWINGS
THE LIFE-SAVER,?"He's a hero born and bred, but it hasn't?swelled his head."
THE BULLFROG SERENADE,?"With the big green-coated leader's double-bass."
THE OLD DAGUERREOTYPES,?"Grandpa's collar a show."
OUR FIRST FIRE-CRACKERS,?"Do yer 'member how yer fired 'em, slow and?careful, one by one?"
HEZEKIAH'S ART,?"I swan, he did look like a daisy!"
THE SCHOOL-COMMITTEE MAN,?"'And with--ahem--er--as I said before.'"
WHEN THE MINISTER COMES TO TEA,?"He sets and says it's lovely."
THE VILLAGE ORACLE,?"'Well now, I vum! I know, by gum!?I'm right because I be!'"
THE BALLAD OF MCCARTY'S TROMBONE,?"'By--Killarney's--lakes--and--fells,?Toot--tetoot toot--toot--toot--dells!'"
His NEW BROTHER,?"Why'd they buy a baby brother,?When they know I'd good deal ruther?Have a dog?"
A COLLEGE TRAINING,?"'That was jolly, Guv'nor, now we'll practice every day.'"
A THANKSGIVING DREAM,?"He stood up on his drumsticks."
THE POPULAR SONG,?"The washwoman sings it all wrong."
MATILDY'S BEAU,?"I recollect I spent an hour a-tyin' my cravat."
MY OLD GRAY NAG,?"He ain't the sort that the big-bugs sport"
MAY MEMORIES,?"Oh, the lazy days of boyhood, when the?world was fair and new!"
NINETY-EIGHT IN THE SHADE,?"Collar kerflummoxed all over my neck."
NOVEMBER'S COME,?"Hey, you swelled-up turkey feller!"
THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER,?"The Grasshopper wore his summer clothes,?And stood there kicking his frozen toes."
THE LIGHT-KEEPER,?"It seems ter me that's all there is:?jest do your duty right."
"THE REG'LAR ARMY MAN,"?"They ain't no tears shed over him?When he goes off ter war."
A RAINY DAY,?"'Settin' 'round and dreamin'."
"JIM,"?"Seem to see her tucked in bed,?With the kitten's furry head?Peekin' out."
CAPE COD BALLADS
THE COD-FISHER
Where leap the long Atlantic swells?In foam-streaked stretch of hill and dale,?Where shrill the north-wind demon yells,?And flings the spindrift down the gale;?Where, beaten 'gainst the bending mast,?The frozen raindrop clings and cleaves,?With steadfast front for calm or blast?His battered schooner rocks and heaves.
_To same the gain, to some the loss,?To each the chance, the risk, the fight:?For men must die that men may live--?Lord, may we steer our course aright._.
The dripping deck beneath him reels,?The flooded scuppers spout the brine;?He heeds them not, he only feels?The tugging of a tightened line.
The grim white sea-fog o'er him throws?Its clammy curtain, damp and cold;?He minds it not--his work he knows,?'T is but to fill an empty hold.
Oft, driven through the night's blind wrack,?He feels the dread berg's ghastly breath,?Or hears draw nigh through walls of black?A throbbing engine chanting death;?But with a calm, unwrinkled brow?He fronts them, grim and undismayed,?For storm and ice and liner's bow--?These are but chances of the trade.
Yet well he