Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=413312" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Old Spense</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">You've seen his place, I reckon, friend?<br>'Twas rather kind ov tryin'.<br>The way he made the dollars fly,<br>Such gimcrack things a-buyin'--<br>He spent a big share ov a fortin'<br>On pesky things that went a snortin'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And hollerin' over all the fields,<br>And ploughin' ev'ry furrow;<br>We sort ov felt discouraged, for<br>Spense wusn't one to borrow;<br>An' wus--the old chap wouldn't lend<br>A cent's wuth to his dearest friend!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Good land! the neighbours seed to wunst<br>Them snortin', screamin' notions<br>Wus jest enough tew drown the yearth<br>In wrath, like roarin' oceans,<br>'An' guess'd the Lord would give old Spense<br>Blue fits for fightin' Pruvidence!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Spense wus thet harden'd; when the yearth<br>Wus like a bak'd pertater;<br>Instead ov prayin' hard fur rain,<br>He fetched an irrigator.<br>'The wicked flourish like green bays!'<br>Sed folks for comfort in them days.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I will allow his place was grand<br>With not a stump upon it,<br>The loam wus jest as rich an' black<br>Es school ma'am's velvet bunnit;<br>But tho' he flourish'd, folks all know'd<br>What spiritooal ear-marks he show'd.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Spense had a notion in his mind,<br>Ef some poor human grapples<br>With pesky worms thet eat his vines,<br>An' spile his summer apples,<br>It don't seem enny kind ov sense<br>Tew call that 'cheekin' Pruvidence!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' ef a chap on Sabbath sees<br>A thunder cloud a-strayin'<br>Above his fresh cut clover an'<br>Gets down tew steddy prayin',<br>An' tries tew shew the Lord's mistake,<br>Instead ov tacklin' tew his rake,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He ain't got enny kind ov show<br>Tew talk ov chast'ning trials;<br>When thet thar thunder cloud lets down<br>It's sixty billion vials;<br>No! when it looks tew rain on hay,<br>First take yer rake an' then yer pray!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense was one 'ov them thar chaps<br>Thet in this life of tussle<br>An' rough-an'-tumble, sort ov set<br>A mighty store on muscle;<br>B'liev'd in hustlin' in the crop,<br>An' prayin' on the last load top!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' yet he hed his p'ints--his heart<br>Wus builded sort ov spacious;<br>An' solid--ev'ry beam an' plank,<br>An', Stranger, now, veracious.<br>A wore-out hoss he never shot,<br>But turn'd him in the clover lot!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I've seed up tew the meetin' house;<br>The winkin' an' the nudgin',<br>When preacher sed, 'No doubt that Dives<br>Been drefful mean an' grudgin';<br>Tew church work seal'd his awful fate<br>Whar thar ain't no foolin' with the gate!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I mind the preacher met old Spense,<br>Beneath the maples laggin',<br>The day was hot, an' he'd a pile<br>Ov 'cetrees in his waggin';<br>A sack of flour, a hansum hog,<br>Sum butter and his terrier dog.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Preacher, he halted up his hoss,<br>Ask'd for Miss Spense an' Deely,<br>Tew limber up his tongue a mite,<br>And sez right slick an' mealy:<br>'Brother, I really want tew know<br>Hev you got religion? Samson, whoa!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense, he bit a noble chaw,<br>An' sort ov meditated;<br>Samson he nibbl'd at the grass,<br>An' preacher smil'd and waited;<br>Ye'd see it writ upon his face--<br>'I've got Spense in a tightsome place!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The old man curl'd his whip-lash round<br>An alto-vic'd muskitter,<br>Preacher, sort ov triumphant, strok'd<br>His ornary old critter.<br>Spense p'ints tew flour, an' hog, an' jar,<br>Sez he, 'I've got religion thar!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Them's goin' down tew Spinkses place,<br>Whar old man Spinks is stayin';<br>The bank he dealt at bust last month,<br>An' folks is mostly sayin':<br>Him bein' ag'd, an' poor, an' sick,<br>They'll put him in the poor-house slick!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'But no, they don't! Not while I own<br>The name ov Jedediah;<br>Yer movin'? How's yer gran'ma Green,<br>An' yer cousin, Ann Maria?<br>Boss, air they? Yas, sirree, I dar<br>Tew say, I've got religion thar!'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Preacher, he in his stirrups riz,<br>His visage kind ov cheerin';<br>An' keerful look'd along the road,<br>Over sugarbush an' clearin';<br>Thar wa'n't a deacon within sight;<br>Sez he, 'My brother, guess you're right.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'You keep your waggon Zionward,<br>With that religion on it;<br>I calculate we'll meet'--jest here<br>A caliker sun bonnet,<br>On a sister's head, cum round the Jog,<br>An' preacher dispars'd like mornin' fog!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One day a kind ov judgment come,<br>The lightnin'-rod conductor<br>Got broke--the fluid struck his aunt,<br>An' in the root-house chuck'd her.<br>It laid her up for quite a while,<br>An' the judgment made the neighbors smile.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense he swore a mighty swar,<br>He didn't mince nor chew it;<br>For when he spoke, 'most usual,<br>It had a backbone tew it.<br>He sed he'd find a healthy plan<br>Tew square things with the agent man,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Who'd sold him thet thar useless rod<br>To put upon his roofin';<br>An' ef he found him round the place,<br>He'd send the scamp a-hoofin'.<br>'You sort ov understand my sense?'<br>'Yes, pa,'--said pooty Deely Spense.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Yes, pa,' sez she, es mild es milk<br>Tew thet thar strong oration,<br>An' when a woman acts like _that_--<br>It's bin my observation--<br>(An' reckin that you'll find it sound)<br>She means tew turn creation round,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' fix the univarse the way<br>She sort ov feels the notion.<br>So Deely let the old man rave,<br>Nor kick'd up no commotion;<br>Tho' thet cute agent man an' she<br>Were know'd es steady company.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He'd chance around when Spense was out,<br>A feller sort o' airy;<br>An' poke around free's the wind,<br>With Deely in the dairy.<br>(Old Spense hed got a patent churn,<br>Thet gev the Church a drefful turn).</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I am a married man myself,<br>More sot on steddy plowin',<br>An' cuttin' rails, than praisin' gals,<br>Yet honestly allowin'--<br>A man must be main hard tew please<br>Thet didn't freeze tew Deely's cheese.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I reckon tho' old Spense hed sign'd<br>With Satan queer law papers,<br>He'd fill'd that dairy up chock full<br>Of them thar patent capers.<br>Preacher once took fur sermon text--<br>'Rebellious patent vats.--What next?'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I've kind of stray'd from thet thar scare<br>That cum on Spense--tho', reely,<br>I'll allus hold it was a shine<br>Of thet thar pooty Deely:<br>Thar's them es holds thro' thin an' thick,<br>'Twas a friendly visit from Old Nick.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Es time went on, old Spense he seem'd<br>More sot on patent capers;<br>So he went right off tew fetch a thing<br>He'd read ov in the papers.<br>'Twas a moony night in airly June,<br>The Whip-poor-wills wus all in tune;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Katydids wus callin' clar,<br>The fire bugs was glowin',<br>The smell ov clover fill'd the air.<br>Thet day old Spense'd bin mowin'--<br>With a mower yellin' drefful screams,<br>Like them skreeks we hear in nightmare dreams.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Miss Spense wus in the keepin'-room,<br>O'erlookin' last yar's cherries;<br>The Help wus settin' on the bench,<br>A-hullin' airly berries;<br>The hir'd man sot on the step,<br>An' chaw'd, an' watch'd the crickets lep.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Not one ov them thar folks thet thought<br>Ov Deely in the dairy:<br>The Help thought on the hir'd man,<br>An' he ov Martin's Mary;<br>Miss Spense she ponder'd thet she'd found<br>Crush'd sugar'd riz a cent a pound.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I guess hed you an' I bin thar,<br>A peepin' thro' the shutter<br>Ov thet thar dairy, we'd a swore<br>Old Spense's cheese an' butter<br>Wus gilded, from the manner thet<br>Deely she smil'd on pan an' vat.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Agent he had chanc'd around,<br>In evenin's peaceful shadder;<br>He'd glimps'd Spense an' his tarrier go<br>Across the new-mown medder--<br>To'ard Crampville--so he shew'd his sense,<br>By slidin' o'er the garden fence,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' kind of unassumin' glode,<br>Beneath the bendin' branches,<br>Tew the dairy door whar Deely watch'd--<br>A-twitterin' an' anxious.<br>It didn't suit Miss Deely's plan<br>Her pa should catch that Agent man.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I kind ov mind them days I went<br>With Betsy Ann a-sparking'.<br>Time hed a'drefful sneakin way<br>Ov passin' without markin'<br>A single blaze upon a post,<br>An' walkin' noiseless es a ghost!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I guess thet Adam found it thus,<br>Afore he hed to grapple<br>With thet conundrum Satan rais'd<br>About the blam'd old apple;<br>He found Time sort ov smart tew pass<br>Afore Eve took tew apple sass.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thar ain't no changes cum about<br>Sence them old days in Eden,<br>Except thet lovers take a spell<br>Of mighty hearty feedin'.<br>Now Adam makes his Eve rejice<br>By orderin' up a lemon ice.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He ain't got enny kind ov show<br>To hear the merry pealins'<br>Of them thar weddin' bells, unless<br>He kind ov stirs her feelins'--<br>By treatin' her tew ginger pop,<br>An' pilin' peanuts in a-top.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thet Agent man know'd how to run<br>The business real handy;<br>An' him an' Deely sot an' laugh'd,<br>An' scrunch'd a pile o' candy;<br>An' talk'd about the singin' skule--<br>An' stars--an' Spense's kickin' mule--</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' other elevatin' facts<br>In Skyence an' in Natur.<br>An' Time, es I wus sayin', glode<br>Past, like a champion skater,--<br>When--Thunder! round the orchard fence.<br>Come thet thar tarrier dog an' Spense,</div><div style="margin:10px 0">An' made straight for the dairy door.<br>Thar's times in most experrence,<br>We feel how trooly wise 'twould be<br>To make a rapid clearance;<br>Nor wait tew practice them thar rules<br>We larn tew city dancin' skules.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Agent es a gen'ral plan<br>Wus polish'd es the handles<br>Ov my old plough; an' slick an' smooth<br>Es Betsey's tallow candles.<br>But when he see'd old Spense--wal, neow,<br>He acted homely es a ceow!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">His manners wusn't in the grain,<br>His wool wus sorter shoddy;<br>His courage wus a poorish sort,<br>It hadn't got no body.<br>An' when he see'd old Spense, he shook<br>Es ef he'd see'd his gran'ma's spook.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Deely she wrung her pooty hands,<br>She felt her heart a-turnin'<br>Es poor es milk when all the cream<br>Is taken off fur churnin'.<br>When all to once her eyes fell pat<br>Upon old Spense's patent vat!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Agent took no sort ov stock<br>Thet time in etiquettin;<br>It would hev made a punkin laugh<br>Tew see his style of gettin'!<br>In thet thar empty vat he slid,<br>An' Deely shet the hefty lid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense wus smilin' jest es clar<br>Es stars in the big 'Dipper';<br>An' Deely made believe tew hum<br>'Old Hundred' gay an' chipper,<br>But thinkin' what a tightsome squeeze<br>The vat wus fur the Agent's knees.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense he sed, 'I guess, my gal,<br>'Ye've been a sort ov dreamin';<br>'I see ye haven't set the pans,<br>'Nor turn'd the mornin's cream in;<br>'Now ain't ye spry? Now, darn my hat<br>'Ef the milk's run inter thet thar vat.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thar's times one's feelin's swell like bread<br>In summer-time a-risin',<br>An' Deely's heart swole in a way<br>Wus mightily surprising<br>When Spense gripp'd one ov them thar pans<br>Ov yaller cream in his big han's!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The moon glode underneath a cloud,<br>The breeze sigh'd loud an' airy;<br>The pans they faintlike glimmer'd on<br>The white walls ov the dairy.<br>Deely she trembl'd like an ash,<br>An' lean'd agin the old churn dash.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'Tarnation darksome,' growl'd old Spense,<br>Arf liftin' up the cover--<br>He turn'd the pan ov cream quite spry<br>On Deely's Agent lover.<br>Good sakes alive! a curdlin' skreek<br>From thet thar Agent man did break!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All drippin' white he ros'd tew view.<br>His curly locks a-flowin'<br>With clotted cream, an' in the dusk,<br>His eyes with terror glowin'.<br>He made one spring--'tis certain, reely,<br>He never sed 'Good night' tew Deely.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense he riz up from the ground,<br>An' with a kind ov wonder,<br>He look'd inter thet patent vat,<br>An' simply sed, 'By thunder'!<br>Then look'd at Deely hard, and sed,<br>'The milk will sop clar thro' his hed'!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Folks look'd right solemn when they heard<br>The hull ov thet thar story,<br>An' sed, 'It might be plainly seen<br>Twas clar agin the glory<br>Of Pruvidence to use a vat<br>Thet Satan in had boldly sat'!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They shook their heads when Spense declar'd<br>'Twas Deely's beau in hidin';<br>They guess'd they know'd a thing or two,<br>An' wasn't so confidin':--<br>'Twas the 'Devourin' Lion' cum<br>Tew ask old Spense testep down hum!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Old Spense he kinder spil'd the thing<br>Fur thet thar congregation,<br>By holdin' on tew life in spite<br>Ov Satan's invitation;<br>An' hurts thar feelin's ev'ry Spring,<br>Buyin' some pesky patent thing.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Agent man slid out next day,<br>To peddle round young Hyson;<br>And Deely fur a fortnight thought<br>Ov drinkin' sum rat pison;<br>Didn't put no papers in her har;<br>An' din'd out ov the pickle jar.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Then at Aunt Hesby's sewin' bee<br>She met a slick young feller,<br>With a city partin' tew his har<br>An' a city umbereller.<br>He see'd her hum thet night, an' he<br>Is now her steddy company!</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Isabella+Valancy+Crawford">Isabella Valancy Crawford</a><div class=q>
<img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share">
<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=413312" data-title="Old Spense de Isabella Valancy Crawford" data-description="You've seen his place, I reckon, friend?
'Twas rather kind ov tryin'.
The way he made the dollars fly,
Such gimcrack things a-buyin'--
He spent a big share ov a fortin'
On pesky things that went a snortin'

And hollerin' over all the fields,
And p..."></div>
</div>
</div>