Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers

XI

 
Ner hain't no horse I've ever saw but what'll neigh and try
To sidle up to him, and paw, and sense him, ear-and-eye:
Then jes a tetch o' Doc's old pa'm, to pat 'em, er to shove
Along their nose – and they're as ca'm as any cooin' dove!
 

XII

 
And same with dogs, – take any breed, er strain, er pedigree,
Er racial caste 'at can't concede no use fer you er me, —
They'll putt all predju-dice aside in Doc's case and go in
Kahoots with him, as satisfied as he wuz kith-and-kin!
 

XIII

 
And Doc's a wonder, trainin' pets! – He's got a chicken-hawk,
In kind o' half-cage, where he sets out in the gyarden-walk,
And got that wild bird trained so tame, he'll loose him, and he'll fly
Clean to the woods! – Doc calls his name – and he'll come, by-and-by!
 

XIV

 
Some says no money down ud buy that bird o' Doc. – Ner no
Inducement to the bird, says I, 'at he'd let Sifers go!
And Doc he say 'at he's content – long as a bird o' prey
Kin 'bide him, it's a compliment, and takes it thataway.
 

XV

 
But, gittin' back to docterin'– all the sick and in distress,
And old and pore, and weak and small, and lone and motherless, —
I jes tell you I 'preciate the man 'at 's got the love
To "go ye forth and ministrate!" as Scriptur' tells us of.
 

XVI

 
Dull times, Doc jes mianders round, in that old rig o' his:
And hain't no tellin' where he's bound ner guessin' where he is;
He'll drive, they tell, jes thataway fer maybe six er eight
Days at a stretch; and neighbers say he's bin clean round the State.
 

XVII

 
He picked a' old tramp up, one trip, 'bout eighty mile'd from here,
And fetched him home and k-yored his hip, and kep' him 'bout a year;
And feller said – in all his ja'nts round this terreschul ball
'At no man wuz a circumstance to Doc! – he topped 'em all! —
 

XVIII

 
Said, bark o' trees 's a' open book to Doc, and vines and moss
He read like writin' – with a look knowed ever' dot and cross:
Said, stars at night wuz jes as good 's a compass: said, he s'pose
You couldn't lose Doc in the woods the darkest night that blows!
 

XIX

 
Said, Doc'll tell you, purty clos't, by underbresh and plants,
How fur off warter is, – and 'most perdict the sort o' chance
You'll have o' findin' fish; and how they're liable to bite,
And whether they're a-bitin' now, er only after night.
 

XX

 
And, whilse we're talkin' fish, – I mind they formed a fishin'-crowd
(When folks could fish 'thout gittin' fined, and seinin' wuz allowed!)
O' leadin' citizens, you know, to go and seine "Old Blue" —
But hadn't no big seine, and so – w'y, what wuz they to do?..
 

XXI

 
And Doc he say he thought 'at he could knit a stitch er two —
"Bring the materials to me – 'at's all I'm astin' you!"
And down he sets – six weeks, i jing! and knits that seine plum done —
Made corks too, brails and ever'thing – good as a boughten one!
 

XXII

 
Doc's public sperit – when the sick 's not takin' all his time
And he's got some fer politics – is simple yit sublime: —
He'll talk his principles– and they air honest; – but the sly
Friend strikes him first, election-day, he'd 'commodate, er die!
 

XXIII

 
And yit, though Doc, as all men knows, is square straight up and down,
That vote o' his is – well, I s'pose – the cheapest one in town; —
A fact 'at's sad to verify, as could be done on oath —
I've voted Doc myse'f —And I was criminal fer both!
 

XXIV

 
You kin corrupt the ballot-box– corrupt yourse'f, as well —
Corrupt some neighbers, – but old Doc's as oncorruptible
As Holy Writ. So putt a pin right there! – Let Sifers be,
I jucks! he wouldn't vote agin his own worst inimy!
 

XXV

 
When Cynthy Eubanks laid so low with fever, and Doc Glenn
Told Euby Cynth 'ud haf to go – they sends fer Sifers then!..
Doc sized the case: "She's starved," says he, "fer warter– yes, and meat!
The treatment 'at she'll git from me 's all she kin drink and eat!"