ind,--
Like in some _hurry_, when they've sent
fer Sifers _quick_, you see,
To 'tend some sawmill-accident,
er picnic jamboree;

VI

Er when the lightnin' 's struck some hare-
brained harvest-hand; er in
Some 'tempt o' suicidin'--where
they'd ort to try ag'in!
I've _knowed_ Doc haul up from a trot
and talk a' hour er two
When railly he'd a-ort o' not
a-stopped fer "_Howdy-do!_"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

VII

And then, I've met him 'long the road,
_a-lopin'_,--starin' straight
Ahead,--and yit he never knowed
me when I hollered "_Yate,
Old Saddlebags!_" all hearty-like,
er "_Who you goin' to kill?_"
And he'd say nothin'--only hike
on faster, starin' still!

VIII

I'd bin insulted, many a time,
ef I jes wuzn't shore
Doc didn't mean a thing. And I'm
not tetchy any more
Sence that-air day, ef he'd a-jes
a-stopped to jaw with _me_,
They'd bin a little dorter less
in my own fambily!

IX

Times _now_, at home, when Sifers' name
comes up, I jes _let on_,
You know, 'at I think Doc's to _blame_,
the way he's bin and gone
And disapp'inted folks--'Ll-_jee_-mun-_nee_!
you'd ort to then
Jes hear my wife light into me--
"_ongratefulest o' men!_"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

X

'Mongst _all_ the women--mild er rough,
splendifferous er plain,
Er them _with_ sense, er not enough
to come in out the rain,--
Jes ever' shape and build and style
o' women, fat er slim--
They all like Doc, and got a smile
and pleasant word fer _him_!

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