e hese'f, he was on de lan'nin',
Ready for ketchin' de rope we t'row.

An' oh! de girl use to mak' us crazy--
For many a fine girl Pierre has got--
Right on de jomp too--never lazy,
But Sophie 's de fines' wan of de lot.

Me--I was only a comon feller,
An' love--wall! jus' lak de leetle calf,
An' it's true, I 'm sure, w'at dey offen tell her,
I 'm de uglies' man on boar' de raf'.

But Sophie 's so nice an' good shese'f too,
De uglies' man upon all de worl'
Forget hees face an' forget hese'f too,
T'ree minute affer he see dat girl--

An' dat 's de reason de chance is better,
For you must n't be t'ink of you'se'f at all,
But t'ink of de girl if you want to get her,
An' so we 're marry upon de fall.

An' purty soon den dey all get started,
For marryin' fever come so strong
W'en de firse wan go, dat dey 're broken-hearted
An' tak' mos' anyt'ing come along.

So Joe Belair, w'en hees house is buil' dere,
He go down de reever wit' Eugenie,
An' place I settle on top de hill dere,
De ole man geev' it to Sophie an' me.

An' along dey come, wan foller de oder,
Dozen o' girl--not a boy at all--
Never a girl tak' affer de moder,
But all lak de fader, beeg an' small--

A dozen o' girl, of course, no wonder
A few of dem look lak me--sapree!
But w'en dey 're comin' dat way, ba tonder!
She 's jus' a leetle too moche for me.

An' Joe Belair, he was down below me,
Funny t'ing too, he is ketch also,
Ev'ryt'ing girl--how it come dunno--me--
But dey 're all lak de familee Baribeau--

Growin' up purty de sam' de moder--
An' soon as dey know it along de shore
De boys stop comin', an' never bodder
For snub de raf' on ma place no more--

So w'at is de chance ma girl she 's gettin',
Don't care w'ere I look, none at all I see,
No use, I s'pose, kipin' on a-frettin',
Dough it's very hard case poor man lak me.

W'at 'll I do for bring dem here,--me?
Can't be blowin' dem to de moon--
Or buil' a dam on de reever near me
For fear we 're sure to be drownin' soon.

To-night I can hear hees darn ole fiddle,
Playin' away on Joe Belair--
Can hear heem holler, "Pass down de middle
An' dance on your partner over dere."

[Illustration: "To-night I can hear hees darn ole fiddle,
Playin' away on Joe Belair."]

Pleasan' t'ing too, for to smell de w'isky