Gems In Verse

By fiddle?- Well, I kind o' keep her handy, dont you know! Though I ain% so mach inclined to tromp the strings ami switch the bow As I was before the timber of my elbows got so dry, And my fingere was more limberlike and eaperish and spry; Tet I can plonk and plunk and plink. And tune her up and play. And jest lean back and laugh and wink At ev'ry rainy dayl My playin's only middlin' - tunes I picked up when a boyThe kind o' sort o' fiddlin' that the folks calta "cordaroy ;" "The Old Fat Gal" and "Rye Straw" and "My Sailyor's on tho Sea" Is the old cowtillions I "saw" when the ch'ice is left to me; And so I plunk and plonk and plink. And rosum up my bow, And play the tunes that makes you think The devil's in your toe! I was allus a romancin', do less boy, to teil the truth. A-flddlin', and a-dancin', aud a-wastin' of my youth, And a-actin' and a-cuttin' up all sorts o' silly pranks That wasn't worth a button of anybody's thanksl But they fce 11 me, when I ust to plink And plonk and plunk and play, My music seemed to havo the kink O' drivin' cares away I That's how this here oíd flddle's won my hartas indurin1 love! FTom the strings acrost her mlddle to the screechin' keys above- ITrom her "apern," over bridge, and to the ribbon round her throat, Bhe's a wooin', cooin' pigeon, singin' "Lov me" ev'ry notel And so I pat her neek and plink Her strings wita lovin' hands. And, list'nin' clos't, I sometimes tliink She kind o' understandsl