dle-in'" was done--
When the harvest of my summers mounted up to twenty-one--
I was ridin' home with Mary at the closin' o' the day--
A-chawin' straws and thinkin', in a lover's lazy way!

And Mary's cheeks was burnin' like the sunset down the lane:
I noticed she was thinkin', too, and ast her to explain
Well--when she turned and _kissed_ me, _with her arm around me--law_!
I'd a bigger load o' heaven than I had a load o' straw!

I don't p'tend to learnin', but I'll tell you what's a fac',
They's a mighty truthful sayin' somers in a almanack--
Er _somers_--'bout "puore happiness"--perhaps some folks'll laugh
At the idy--"only lastin' jest two seconds and a half."--

But its jest as true as preachin'!--fer that was a sister's kiss,
And a sister's lovin' confidence a-tellin' to me this:--
"_She_ was happy, _bein' promised to the son o' farmer Brown_."--
And my feelin's struck a pardnership with sunset and went down!

I don't know how I acted--I don't know _what_ I said,
Fer my heart seemed jest a-turnin' to an ice-cold lump o' lead;
And the hosses kind o' glimmered before me in the road,
And the lines fell from my fingers--and that was all I knowed--

Fer--well, I don't know how long--They's a dim rememberence
Of a sound o' snortin' bosses, and a stake-and-ridered fence
A-whizzin' past, and wheat-sheaves a-dancin' in the air,
And Mary screamin' "Murder!" and a-runnin' up to where

_I_ was layin' by the roadside, and the wagon upside down
A-leanin' on the gate-post, with the wheels a whirlin' round!
And I tried to raise and meet her, but I couldn't, with a vague
Sort o' notion comin' to me that I had a broken leg.

Well, the women nussed me through it; but many a time I'd sigh
As I'd keep a-gittin' better instid o' goin' to die,
And wonder what was left _me_ worth livin' fer below,
When the girl I loved was married to another, don't you know!

And my thoughts was as rebellious as the folks was good and kind
When Brown and Mary married--Railly must a-been my _mind_
Was kindo' out o' kilter!--fer I hated Brown, you see,
Worse'n _pizen_--and the feller whittled crutches out fer _me_--

And done a thousand little ac's o' kindness and respec'--
And me a-wishin' all the time that I could break his neck!
My relief was like a mourner's when the funeral is done
When they moved to Illinois in the Fall o' Forty-one.

Then I went to work in air