How Mcdougal Topped The Score Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDECC FFGGEEHH IIFFJJKK FFLLMMAA NNJJOOPP QQRRQQSS RRTTUUVV EEWWJJOO XYZZA2A2AA B2B2NNJJCC| A peaceful spot is Piper's Flat The folk that live around | A |
| They keep themselves by keeping sheep and turning up the ground | A |
| But the climate is erratic and the consequences are | B |
| The struggle with the elements is everlasting war | C |
| We plough and sow and harrow then sit down and pray for rain | D |
| And then we get all flooded out and have to start again | E |
| But the folk are now rejoicing as they ne'er rejoiced before | C |
| For we've played Molongo cricket and M'Dougal topped the score | C |
| - | |
| Molongo had a head on it and challenged us to play | F |
| A single innings match for lunch the losing team to pay | F |
| We were not great guns at cricket but we couldn't well say No | G |
| So we all began to practise and we let the reaping go | G |
| We scoured the Flat for ten miles round to muster up our men | E |
| But when the list was totalled we could only number ten | E |
| Then up spoke big Tim Brady he was always slow to speak | H |
| And he said What price M'Dougal who lives down at Cooper's Creek | H |
| - | |
| So we sent for old M'Dougal and he stated in reply | I |
| That he'd never played at cricket but he'd half a mind to try | I |
| He couldn't come to practise he was getting in his hay | F |
| But he guessed he'd show the beggars from Molongo how to play | F |
| Now M'Dougal was a Scotchman and a canny one at that | J |
| So he started in to practise with a pailing for a bat | J |
| He got Mrs Mac to bowl him but she couldn't run at all | K |
| So he trained is sheep dog Pincher how to scout and fetch the ball | K |
| - | |
| Now Pincher was no puppy he was old and worn and grey | F |
| But he understood M'Dougal and accustomed to obey | F |
| When M'Dougal cried out Fetch it he would fetch it in a trice | L |
| But until the word was Drop it he would grip it like a vice | L |
| And each succeeding night they played until the light grew dim | M |
| Sometimes M'Dougal struck the ball and sometimes the ball struck him | M |
| Each time he struck the ball would plough a furrow in the ground | A |
| And when he missed the impetus would turn him three times round | A |
| - | |
| The fatal day at length arrived the day that was to see | N |
| Molongo bite the dust or Piper's Flat knocked up a tree | N |
| Molongo's captain won the toss and sent his men to bat | J |
| And they gave some leather hunting to the men from Piper's Flat | J |
| When the ball sped where M'Dougal stood firm planted in his track | O |
| He shut his eyes and turned him round and stopped it with his back | O |
| The highest score was twenty two the total sixty six | P |
| When Brady sent a yorker down which scattered Johnson's sticks | P |
| - | |
| Then Piper's Flat went in to bat for glory and renown | Q |
| But like the grass before the scythe our wickets tumbled down | Q |
| Nine wickets down for seventeen with fifty more to win | R |
| Our captain heaved a heavy sigh and sent M'Dougal in | R |
| Ten pounds to one you'll lose it cried a barracker from town | Q |
| But M'Dougal said I'll tak' it mon and planked the money down | Q |
| Then he girded up his moleskins in a self reliant style | S |
| Threw off his hat and boots and faced the bowler with a smile | S |
| - | |
| He held the bat the wrong side out and Johnson with a grin | R |
| Stepped lightly to the bowling crease and sent a wobbler in | R |
| M'Dougal spooned it softly back and Johnson waited there | T |
| But M'Dougal crying Fetch it started running like a hare | T |
| Molongo shouted Victory He's out as sure as eggs | U |
| When Pinched started through the crowd and ran through Johnson's legs | U |
| He seized the ball like lightning then he ran behind a log | V |
| An M'Dougal kept on running while Molongo chased the dog | V |
| - | |
| They chased him up they chased him down they chased him round and then | E |
| He darted through a slip rail as the scorer shouted Ten | E |
| M'Dougal puffed Molongo swore excitement was intense | W |
| As the scorer marked down twenty Pincher cleared a barbed wire fence | W |
| Let us head him shrieked Molongo Brain the mongrel with a bat | J |
| Run it out Good old M'Dougal yelled the men of Piper's Flat | J |
| And M'Dougal kept on jogging and then Pincher doubled back | O |
| And the scorer counted Forty as they raced across the track | O |
| - | |
| M'Dougal's legs were going fast Molongo's breath was gone | X |
| But still Molongo chased the dog M'Dougal struggled on | Y |
| When the scorer shouted Fifty then they knew the chase would cease | Z |
| And M'Dougal gasped out Drop it as he dropped within his crease | Z |
| Then Pincher dropped the ball and as instinctively he knew | A2 |
| Discretion was the wiser plan he disappeared from view | A2 |
| And as Molongo's beaten men exhausted lay around | A |
| We raised M'Dougal shoulder high and bore him from the ground | A |
| - | |
| We bore him to M'Ginniss's where lunch was ready laid | B2 |
| And filled him up with whisky punch for which Molongo paid | B2 |
| We drank his health in bumpers and we cheered him three times three | N |
| And when Molongo got its breath Molongo joined the spree | N |
| And the critics say they never saw a cricket match like that | J |
| When M'Dougal broke the record in the game at Piper's Flat | J |
| And the folks were jubilating as they never did before | C |
| For we played Molongo cricket and M'Dougal topped the score | C |
Thomas E. Spencer
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