Squire Hawkins's Story Poem Rhyme Scheme

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James Whitcomb Riley

Squire Hawkins's Story Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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I hain't no hand at tellin' tales	A
Er spinnin' yarns as the sailors say	B
Someway o' 'nother language fails	A
To slide fer me in the oily way	B
That LAWYERS has and I wisht it would	C
Fer I've got somepin' that I call good	C
But bein' only a country squire	D
I've learned to listen and admire	D
Ruther preferrin' to be addressed	E
Than talk myse'f but I'll do my best	E
	-
Old Jeff Thompson well I'll say	B
Was the clos'test man I ever saw	F
Rich as cream but the porest pay	B
And the meanest man to work fer La	G
I've knowed that man to work one 'hand'	E
Fer little er nothin' you understand	E
From four o'clock in the morning light	E
Tel eight and nine o'clock at night	E
And then find fault with his appetite	E
He'd drive all over the neighberhood	E
To miss the place where a toll gate stood	E
And slip in town by some old road	E
That no two men in the county knowed	E
With a jag o' wood and a sack o' wheat	E
That wouldn't burn and you couldn't eat	E
And the trades he'd make 'll I jest de clare	H
Was enough to make a preacher swear	H
And then he'd hitch and hang about	E
Tel the lights in the toll gate was blowed out	E
And then the turnpike he'd turn in	I
And sneak his way back home ag'in	I
	-
Some folks hint and I make no doubt	E
That that's what wore his old wife out	E
Toilin' away from day to day	E
And year to year through heat and cold	E
Uncomplainin' the same old way	E
The martyrs died in the days of old	E
And a clingin' too as the martyrs done	J
To one fixed faith and her ONLY one	J
Little Patience the sweetest child	E
That ever wept unrickonciled	E
Er felt the pain and the ache and sting	K
That only a mother's death can bring	K
	-
Patience Thompson I think that name	L
Must 'a' come from a power above	M
Fer it seemed to fit her jest the same	L
As a GAITER would er a fine kid glove	M
And to see that girl with all the care	H
Of the household on her I de clare	H
It was OUDACIOUS the work she'd do	E
And the thousand plans that she'd putt through	E
	-
And sing like a medder lark all day long	N
And drowned her cares in the joys o' song	N
And LAUGH sometimes tel the farmer's 'hand '	-
Away fur off in the fields would stand	E
A listenin' with the plow half drawn	O
Tel the coaxin' echoes called him on	P
And the furries seemed in his dreamy eyes	Q
Like foot paths a leadin' to Paradise	R
As off through the hazy atmosphere	S
The call fer dinner reached his ear	T
	-
Now LOVE'S as cunnin'a little thing	K
As a hummin' bird upon the wing	K
And as liable to poke his nose	U
Jest where folks would least suppose	U
And more'n likely build his nest	E
Right in the heart you'd leave unguessed	E
And live and thrive at your expense	V
At least that's MY experience	W
And old Jeff Thompson often thought	E
In his se'fish way that the quiet John	P
Was a stiddy chap as a farm hand OUGHT	E
To always be fer the airliest dawn	O
Found John busy and 'EASY ' too	E
Whenever his wages would fall due	E
To sum him up with a final touch	X
He EAT so little and WORKED so much	X
That old Jeff laughed to hisse'f and said	E
'He makes ME money and airns his bread	E
	-
But John fer all of his quietude	E
Would sometimes drap a word er so	Y
That none but PATIENCE understood	E
And none but her was MEANT to know	Y
Maybe at meal times John would say	E
As the sugar bowl come down his way	E
'Thanky no MY coffee's sweet	E
Enough fer ME ' with sich conceit	E
SHE'D know at once without no doubt	E
HE meant because she poured it out	E
And smile and blush and all sich stuff	Z
And ast ef it was 'STRONG enough '	-
And git the answer neat and trim	A2
'It COULDN'T be too 'strong' fer HIM '	-
	-
And so things went fer 'bout a year	S
Tel John at last found pluck to go	Y
And pour his tale in the old man's ear	T
And ef it had been HOT LEAD I know	Y
It couldn't 'a' raised a louder fuss	B2
Ner 'a' riled the old man's temper wuss	B2
He jest LIT in and cussed and swore	C2
And lunged and rared and ripped and tore	C2
And told John jest to leave his door	C2
And not to darken it no more	C2
But Patience cried with eyes all wet	E
'Remember John and don't ferget	E
WHATEVER comes I love you yet '	-
But the old man thought in his se'fish way	E
'I'll see her married rich some day	E
And THAT ' thinks he 'is money fer ME	D2
And my will's LAW as it ought to be '	-
	-
So when in the course of a month er so	Y
A WIDOWER with a farm er two	E
Comes to Jeff's w'y the folks you know	Y
Had to TALK as the folks'll do	E
It was the talk of the neighberhood	E
PATIENCE and JOHN and THEIR affairs	E2
And this old chap with a few gray hairs	E2
Had 'cut John out ' it was understood	E
And some folks reckoned 'Patience too	E
Knowed what SHE was a goin' to do	E
It was LIKE her la indeed	E
All she loved was DOLLARS and CENTS	F2
Like old JEFF and they saw no need	E
Fer JOHN to pine at HER negligence '	-
	-
But others said in a KINDER way	E
They missed the songs she used to sing	K
They missed the smiles that used to play	E
Over her face and the laughin' ring	K
Of her glad voice that EVERYthing	K
Of her OLD se'f seemed dead and gone	O
And this was the ghost that they gazed on	P
	-
Tel finally it was noised about	E
There was a WEDDIN' soon to be	D2
Down at Jeff's and the 'cat was out'	E
Shore enough 'Ll the JEE MUN NEE	D2
It RILED me when John told me so	Y
Fer I WAS A FRIEND O' JOHN'S you know	Y
And his trimblin' voice jest broke in two	E
As a feller's voice'll sometimes do	E
And I says says I 'Ef I know my biz	G2
And I think I know what JESTICE is	G2
I've read SOME law and I'd advise	Q
A man like you to wipe his eyes	Q
And square his jaws and start AGIN	H2
FER JESTICE IS A GOIN' TO WIN '	-
And it wasn't long tel his eyes had cleared	E
As blue as the skies and the sun appeared	E
In the shape of a good old fashioned smile	I2
That I hadn't seen fer a long long while	I2
	-
So we talked on fer a' hour er more	C2
And sunned ourselves in the open door	C2
Tel a hoss and buggy down the road	E
Come a drivin' up that I guess John KNOWED	E
Fer he winked and says 'I'll dessappear	C2
THEY'D smell a mice ef they saw ME here '	-
And he thumbed his nose at the old gray mare	C2
And hid hisse'f in the house somewhere	C2
	-
Well The rig drove up and I raised my head	E
As old Jeff hollered to me and said	E
That 'him and his old friend there had come	J2
To see ef the squire was at home '	-
I told 'em 'I was and I AIMED to be	D2
At every chance of a weddin' fee '	-
And then I laughed and they laughed too	E
Fer that was the object they had in view	E
'Would I be on hands at eight that night '	-
They ast and 's I 'You're mighty right	E
I'LL be on hand ' And then I BU'ST	E
Out a laughin' my very wu'st	E
And so did they as they wheeled away	E
And drove to'rds town in a cloud o' dust	E
Then I shet the door and me and John	P
Laughed and LAUGHED and jest LAUGHED on	P
Tel Mother drapped her specs and BY	K2
JEEWHILLIKERS I thought she'd DIE	K2
And she couldn't 'a' told I'll bet my hat	E
What on earth she was laughin' at	E
	-
But all o' the fun o' the tale hain't done	J
Fer a drizzlin' rain had jest begun	J
And a havin' 'bout four mile' to ride	E
I jest concluded I'd better light	E
Out fer Jeff's and save my hide	E
Fer IT WAS A GOIN' TO STORM THAT NIGHT	E
So we went down to the barn and John	P
Saddled my beast and I got on	P
And he told me somepin' to not ferget	E
And when I left he was LAUGHIN' yet	E
	-
And 'proachin' on to my journey's end	E
The great big draps o' the rain come down	L2
And the thunder growled in a way to lend	E
An awful look to the lowerin' frown	L2
The dull sky wore and the lightnin' glanced	E
Tel my old mare jest MORE'N pranced	E
And tossed her head and bugged her eyes	Q
To about four times their natchurl size	Q
As the big black lips of the clouds 'ud drap	B
Out some oath of a thunderclap	B
And threaten on in an undertone	M2
That chilled a feller clean to the bone	M2
	-
But I struck shelter soon enough	Z
To save myse'f And the house was jammed	E
With the women folks and the weddin'stuff	Z
A great long table fairly CRAMMED	E
With	N2