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Title: Rubáiyát of Doc Sifers

Author: James Whitcomb Riley

Illustrator: C. M. Relyea

Release date: June 22, 2010 [eBook #32944]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUBÁIYÁT OF DOC SIFERS ***

RUBÁIYÁT OF DOC SIFERS

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

POEMS HERE AT HOME.

NEGHBORLY POEMS.

SKETCHES IN PROSE AND OCCASIONAL VERSES.

AFTERWHILES.

PIPES O' PAN (Prose and Verse).

RHYMES OF CHILDHOOD.

FLYING ISLANDS OF THE NIGHT.

OLD-FASHIONED ROSES (English Edition).

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS.

ARMAZINDY.

A CHILD-WORLD.

AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE.

RUBÁIYÁT OF DOC SIFERS

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

ILLUSTRATED

BY

C. M. RELYEA

PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO.

NEW YORK M DCCC XC VII

Copyright, 1897,

BY THE CENTURY CO.

Copyright, 1897,

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

THE DE VINNE PRESS.

TO

DR. FRANKLIN W. HAYS

THE LOYAL CHUM OF MY LATEST YOUTH

AND LIKE FRIEND AND COMRADE STILL

WITH ALL GRATEFUL AFFECTION OF

THE AUTHOR.

We found him in that far-away that yet to us seems near—

We vagrants of but yesterday when idlest youth was here,—

When lightest song and laziest mirth possessed us through and through,

And all the dreamy summer-earth seemed drugged with morning dew:

When our ambition scarce had shot a stalk or blade indeed:

Yours,—choked as in the garden-spot you still deferred to "weed":

Mine,—but a pipe half-cleared of pith—as now it flats and whines

In sympathetic cadence with a hiccough in the lines.

Aye, even then—o timely hour!—the high gods did confer

In our behalf:—and, clothed in power, lo, came their courier—

Not winged with flame nor shod with wind,—but ambling down the pike,

Horseback, with saddlebags behind, and guise all human-like.

And it was given us to see, beneath his rustic rind,

A native force and mastery of such inspiring kind,

That half unconsciously we made obeisance.—smiling, thus

His soul shone from his eyes and laid its glory over us.

· · · · · ·

Though, faring still that far-away that yet to us seems near,

His form, through mists of yesterday, fades from the vision here,

Forever as he rides, it is in retinue divine,—

The hearts of all his time are his, with your hale heart and mine.

RUBÁIYÁT

OF

DOC SIFERS

I

Ef you don't know DOC SIFERS I'll jes argy, here and now,

You've bin a mighty little while about here, anyhow!

'Cause Doc he's rid these roads and woods—er swum 'em, now and then—

And practised in this neighberhood sence hain't no tellin' when!

II

In radius o' fifteen mile'd, all p'ints o' compass round,

No man er woman, chick er child, er team, on top o' ground,

But knows him—yes, and got respects and likin' fer him, too,

Fer all his so-to-speak dee-fects o' genius showin' through!

III

Some claims he's absent-minded; some has said they wuz afeard

To take his powders when he come and dosed 'em out, and 'peared

To have his mind on somepin' else—like County Ditch, er some

New way o' tannin' mussrat-pelts, er makin' butter come.

IV

He's cur'ous—they hain't no mistake about it!—but he's got

Enough o' extry brains to make a jury—like as not.

They's no describin' Sifers,—fer, when all is said and done,

He's jes hisse'f Doc Sifers—ner they hain't no other one!

V

Doc's allus sociable, polite, and 'greeable, you'll find—

Pervidin' ef you strike him right and nothin' on his mind,—

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!"

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!"

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 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!"

XXVI

He orders Euby then to split some wood, and take and build

A fire in kitchen-stove, and git a young spring-chicken killed;

And jes whirled in and th'owed his hat and coat there on the bed,

And warshed his hands and sailed in that-air kitchen, Euby said,

XXVII

And biled that chicken-broth, and got that dinner—all complete

And clean and crisp and good and hot as mortal ever eat!

And Cynth and Euby both'll say 'at Doc'll git as good

Meals-vittles up, jes any day, as any woman could!

XXVIII

Time Sister Abbick tuk so bad with striffen o' the lung,

P'tracted Meetin', where she had jes shouted, prayed and sung

All winter long, through snow and thaw,—when Sifers come, says he:

"No, M'lissy; don't poke out your raw and cloven tongue at me!—

XXIX

"I know, without no symptoms but them injarubber-shoes

You promised me to never putt a fool-foot in ner use

At purril o' your life!" he said. "And I won't save you now,

Onless—here on your dyin' bed—you consecrate your vow!"

XXX

Without a-claimin' any creed, Doc's rail religious views

Nobody knows—ner got no need o' knowin' whilse he choose

To be heerd not of man, ner raise no loud, vainglorious prayers

In crowded marts, er public ways, er—i jucks, anywheres!—

XXXI

'Less 'n it is away deep down in his own heart, at night,

Facin' the storm, when all the town's a-sleepin' snug and tight—

Him splashin' hence from scenes o' pride and sloth and gilded show,

To some pore sufferer's bedside o' anguish, don't you know!

XXXII

Er maybe dead o' winter—makes no odds to Doc,—he's got

To face the weather ef it takes the hide off! 'cause he'll not

Lie out o' goin' and p'tend he's sick hisse'f—like some

'At I could name 'at folks might send fer and they'd never come!

XXXIII

Like pore Phin Hoover—when he goes to that last dance o' his!

That Chris'mus when his feet wuz froze—and Doc saved all they is

Left of 'em—"'Nough," as Phin say now, "to track me by, and be

A advertisement, anyhow, o' what Doc's done fer me!—

XXXIV

"When he come—knife-and-saw"—Phin say, "I knowed, ef I'd the spunk,

'At Doc 'ud fix me up some way, ef nothin' but my trunk

Wuz left, he'd fasten casters in, and have me, spick-and-span,

A-skootin' round the streets ag'in as spry as any man!"

XXXV

Doc sees a patient's got to quit—he'll ease him down serene

As dozin' off to sleep, and yit not dope him with mor-pheen.—

He won't tell what—jes 'lows 'at he has "airn't the right to sing

'O grave, where is thy victery! O death, where is thy sting!'"

XXXVI

And, mind ye now!—it's not in scoff and scorn, by long degree,

'At Doc gits things like that-un off: it's jes his shority

And total faith in Life to Come,—w'y, "from that Land o' Bliss,"

He says, "we'll haf to chuckle some, a-lookin' back at this!"

XXXVII

And, still in p'int, I mind, one night o' 'nitiation at

Some secert lodge, 'at Doc set right down on 'em, square and flat,

When they mixed up some Scriptur' and wuz funnin'-like—w'y, he

Lit in 'em with a rep'imand 'at ripped 'em, A to Z!

XXXVIII

And onc't—when gineral loafin'-place wuz old Shoe-Shop—and all

The gang 'ud git in there and brace their backs ag'inst the wall

And settle questions that had went onsettled long enough,—

Like "wuz no Heav'n—ner no torment"—jes talkin' awful rough!

XXXIX

There wuz Sloke Haines and old Ike Knight and Coonrod Simmes—all three

Ag'inst the Bible and the Light, and scoutin' Deity.

"Science," says Ike, "it dimonstrates—it takes nobody's word—

Scriptur' er not,—it 'vestigates ef sich things could occurred!"

XL

Well, Doc he heerd this,—he'd drapped in a minute, fer to git

A tore-off heel pegged on agin,—and, as he stood on it

And stomped and grinned, he says to Ike, "I s'pose now, purty soon

Some lightnin'-bug, indignant-like, 'll ''vestigate' the moon!...

XLI

"No, Ike," says Doc, "this world hain't saw no brains like yourn and mine

With sense enough to grasp a law 'at takes a brain divine.—

I've bared the thoughts of brains in doubt, and felt their finest pulse,—

And mortal brains jes won't turn out omnipotent results!"

XLII

And Doc he's got respects to spare the rich as well as pore—

Says he, "I'd turn no millionaire onsheltered from my door."—

Says he, "What's wealth to him in quest o' honest friends to back

And love him fer hisse'f?—not jes because he's made his jack!"

XLIII

And childern.—Childern? Lawzy-day! Doc worships 'em!—You call

Round at his house and ast 'em!—they're a-swarmin' there—that's all!—

They're in his Lib'ry—in best room—in kitchen—fur and near,—

In office too, and, I p'sume, his operatin'-cheer!

XLIV

You know they's men 'at bees won't sting?—They's plaguey few,—but Doc

He's one o' them.—And same, i jing! with childern;—they jes flock

Round Sifers natchurl!—in his lap, and in his pockets, too,

And in his old fur mitts and cap, and heart as warm and true!

XLV

It's cur'ous, too,—'cause Doc hain't got no childern of his own—

'Ceptin' the ones he's tuk and brought up, 'at's bin left alone.

And orphans when their father died, er mother,—and Doc he

Has he'pped their dyin' satisfied.—"The child shall live with me

XLVI

"And Winniferd, my wife," he'd say, and stop right there, and cle'r

His th'oat, and go on thinkin' way some mother-hearts down here

Can't never feel their own babe's face a-pressin' 'em, ner make

Their naked breasts a restin'-place fer any baby's sake.

XLVII

Doc's Lib'ry—as he calls it,—well, they's ha'f-a-dozen she'ves

Jam-full o' books—I couldn't tell how many—count yourse'ves!

One whole she'f's Works on Medicine! and most the rest's about

First Settlement, and Indians in here,—'fore we driv 'em out.—

XLVIII

And Plutarch's Lives—and life also o' Dan'el Boone, and this-

Here Mungo Park, and Adam Poe—jes all the lives they is!

And Doc's got all the novels out,—by Scott and Dickison

And Cooper.—And, I make no doubt, he's read 'em ever' one!

XLIX

Onc't, in his office, settin' there, with crowd o' eight er nine

Old neighbers with the time to spare, and Doc a-feelin' fine,

A man rid up from Rollins, jes fer Doc to write him out

Some blame p'scription—done, I guess, in minute, nigh about.—

L

And I says, "Doc, you 'pear so spry, jes write me that recei't

You have fer bein' happy by,—fer that 'u'd shorely beat

Your medicine!" says I.—And quick as s'cat! Doc turned and writ

And handed me: "Go he'p the sick, and putt your heart in it."

LI

And then, "A-talkin' furder 'bout that line o' thought," says he,

"Ef we'll jes do the work cut out and give' to you and me,

We'll lack no joy, ner appetite, ner all we'd ort to eat,

And sleep like childern ever' night—as puore and ca'm and sweet."

LII

Doc has bin 'cused o' offishness and lack o' talkin' free

And extry friendly; but he says, "I'm 'feard o' talk," says he,—

"I've got," he says, "a natchurl turn fer talkin' fit to kill.—

The best and hardest thing to learn is trick o' keepin' still."

LIII

Doc kin smoke, and I s'pose he might drink licker—jes fer fun.

He says, "You smoke, you drink all right; but I don't—neether one"—

Says, "I like whiskey—'good old rye'—but like it in its place,

Like that-air warter in your eye, er nose there on your face."

LIV

Doc's bound to have his joke! The day he got that off on me

I jes had sold a load o' hay at "Scofield's Livery,"

And tolled Doc in the shed they kep' the hears't in, where I'd hid

The stuff 'at got me "out o' step," as Sifers said it did.

LV

Doc hain't, to say, no "rollin' stone," and yit he hain't no hand

Fer 'cumulatin'.—Home's his own, and scrap o' farmin'-land—

Enough to keep him out the way when folks is tuk down sick

The suddentest—'most any day they want him 'special quick.

LVI

And yit Doc loves his practice; ner don't, wilful, want to slight

No call—no matter who—how fur away—er day er night.—

He loves his work—he loves his friends—June, Winter, Fall, and Spring:

His lovin'—facts is—never ends; he loves jes ever'thing....

LVII

'Cept—keepin' books. He never sets down no accounts.—He hates,

The worst of all, collectin' debts—the worst, the more he waits.—

I've knowed him, when at last he had to dun a man, to end

By makin' him a loan—and mad he hadn't more to lend.

LVIII

When Pence's Drug Store ust to be in full blast, they wuz some

Doc's patients got things frekantly there, charged to him, i gum!—

Doc run a bill there, don't you know, and allus when he squared,

He never questioned nothin',—so he had his feelin's spared.

LIX

Now sich as that, I hold and claim, hain't 'scusable—it's not

Perfessional!—It's jes a shame 'at Doc hisse'f hain't got

No better business-sense! That's why lots 'd respect him more,

And not give him the clean go-by fer other doctors. Shore!

LX

This-here Doc Glenn, fer instance; er this little jack-leg Hall;—

They're business—folks respects 'em fer their business more 'n all

They ever knowed, er ever will, 'bout medicine.—Yit they

Collect their money, k-yore er kill.—They're business, anyway!

LXI

You ast Jake Dunn;—he's worked it out in figgers.—He kin show

Stastistics how Doc's airnt about three fortunes in a row,—

Ever' ten-year' hand-runnin' straight—three of 'em—thirty year'

'At Jake kin count and 'lucidate o' Sifers' practice here.

LXII

Yit—"Praise the Lord," says Doc, "we've got our little home!" says he—

"(It's railly Winniferd's, but what she owns, she sheers with me.)

We' got our little gyarden-spot, and peach- and apple-trees,

And stable, too, and chicken-lot, and eighteen hive' o' bees."

LXIII

You call it anything you please, but it's witchcraft—the power

'At Sifers has o' handlin' bees!—He'll watch 'em by the hour—

Mix right amongst 'em, mad and hot and swarmin'!—yit they won't

Sting him, er want to—'pear to not,—at least I know they don't.

LXIV

With me and bees they's no p'tense o' social-bility—

A dad-burn bee 'u'd climb a fence to git a whack at me!

I s'pose no thing 'at's got a sting is railly satisfied

It's sharp enough, ontel, i jing! he's honed it on my hide!

LXV

And Doc he's allus had a knack inventin' things.—Dee-vised

A windlass wound its own se'f back as it run down: and s'prised

Their new hired girl with clothes-line, too, and clothes-pins, all in one:

Purt'-nigh all left fer her to do wuz git her primpin' done!

LXVI

And onc't, I mind, in airly Spring, and tappin' sugar-trees,

Doc made a dad-burn little thing to sharpen spiles with—these-

Here wood'-spouts 'at the peth's punched out, and driv' in where they bore

The auger-holes. He sharpened 'bout a million spiles er more!

LXVII

And Doc's the first man ever swung a bucket on a tree

Instid o' troughs; and first man brung grained sugar—so's 'at he

Could use it fer his coffee, and fer cookin', don't you know.—

Folks come clean up from Pleasantland 'fore they'd believe it, though!

LXVIII

And all Doc's stable-doors onlocks and locks theirse'ves—and gates

The same way;—all rigged up like clocks, with pulleys, wheels, and weights,—

So, 's Doc says, "drivin' out, er in, they'll open; and they'll then,

All quiet-like, shet up ag'in like little gentlemen!"

LXIX

And Doc 'ud made a mighty good detective.—Neighbers all

Will testify to that—er could, ef they wuz legal call:

His theories on any crime is worth your listenin' to.—

And he has hit 'em, many a time, 'long 'fore established true.

LXX

At this young druggist Wenfield Pence's trial fer his life,

On primy faishy evidence o' pizonin' his wife,

Doc's testimony saved and cle'red and 'quitted him and freed

Him so 's he never even 'peared cog-nizant of the deed!

LXXI

The facts wuz—Sifers testified,—at inquest he had found

The stummick showed the woman died o' pizon, but had downed

The dos't herse'f,—because amount and cost o' drug imployed

No druggist would, on no account, a-lavished and distroyed!

LXXII

Doc tracked a blame-don burgler down, and nailed the scamp, to boot,

But told him ef he'd leave the town he wouldn't prosecute.

He traced him by a tied-up thumb-print in fresh putty, where

Doc glazed it. Jes that's how he come to track him to his lair!

LXXIII

Doc's jes a leetle too inclined, some thinks, to overlook

The criminal and vicious kind we'd ort to bring to book

And punish, 'thout no extry show o' sympathizin', where

They hain't showed none fer us, you know. But he takes issue there:

LXXIV

Doc argies 'at "The Red-eyed Law," as he says, "ort to learn

To lay a mighty leenient paw on deeds o' sich concern

As only the Good Bein' knows the wherefore of, and spreads

His hands above accused and sows His mercies on their heads."

LXXV

Doc even holds 'at murder hain't no crime we got a right

To hang a man fer—claims it's taint o' lunacy, er quite.—

"Hold sich a man responsibul fer murder," Doc says,—"then,

When he's hung, where's the rope to pull them sound-mind jurymen?

LXXVI

"It's in a nutshell—all kin see," says Doc,—"it's cle'r the Law's

As ap' to err as you er me, and kill without a cause:

The man most innocent o' sin I've saw, er 'spect to see,

Wuz servin' a life-sentence in the penitentchury."

LXXVII

And Doc's a whole hand at a fire!—directin' how and where

To set your ladders, low er higher, and what first duties air,—

Like formin' warter-bucket-line; and best man in the town

To chop holes in old roofs, and mine defective chimblies down:

LXXVIII

Er durin' any public crowd, mass-meetin', er big day,

Where ladies ortn't be allowed, as I've heerd Sifers say,—

When they's a suddent rush somewhere, it's Doc's voice, ca'm and cle'r,

Says, "Fall back, men, and give her air!— that's all she's faintin' fer."

LXXIX

The sorriest I ever feel fer Doc is when some show

Er circus comes to town and he'll not git a chance to go.

'Cause he jes natchurly delights in circuses—clean down

From tumblers, in their spangled tights, to trick-mule and Old Clown.

LXXX

And ever'body knows it, too, how Doc is, thataway!...

I mind a circus onc't come through—wuz there myse'f that day.—

Ringmaster cracked his whip, you know, to start the ridin'—when

In runs Old Clown and hollers "Whoa!—Ladies and gentlemen

LXXXI

"Of this vast audience, I fain would make inquiry cle'r,

And learn, find out, and ascertain—Is Doctor Sifers here?"

And when some fool-voice bellers down: "He is! He's settin' in

Full view o' ye!" "Then," says the Clown, "the circus may begin!"

LXXXII

Doc's got a temper; but, he says, he's learnt it which is boss,

Yit has to watch it, more er less.... I never seen him cross

But onc't, enough to make him swear;—milch-cow stepped on his toe,

And Doc ripped out "I doggies!"—There's the only case I know.

LXXXIII

Doc says that's what your temper's fer—to hold back out o' view,

And learn it never to occur on out ahead o' you.—

"You lead the way," says Sifers—"git your temper back in line—

And furdest back the best, ef it's as mean a one as mine!"

LXXXIV

He hates contentions—can't abide a wrangle er dispute

O' any kind; and he 'ull slide out of a crowd and skoot

Up some back-alley 'fore he'll stand and listen to a furse

When ary one's got upper-hand and t' other one's got worse.

LXXXV

Doc says: "I 'spise, when pore and weak and awk'ard talkers fails,

To see it's them with hardest cheek and loudest mouth prevails.—

A' all-one-sided quarr'l'll make me biased, mighty near,—

'Cause ginerly the side I take's the one I never hear."

LXXXVI

What 'peals to Doc the most and best is "seein' folks agreed,

And takin' ekal interest and universal heed

O' ever'body else's words and idies—same as we

Wuz glad and chirpy as the birds—jes as we'd ort to be!"

LXXXVII

And paterotic! Like to git Doc started, full and fair,

About the war, and why 't 'uz fit, and what wuz 'complished there;

"And who wuz wrong," says Doc, "er right, 't 'uz waste o' blood and tears,

All prophesied in Black and White fer years and years and years!"

LXXXVIII

And then he'll likely kind o' tetch on old John Brown, and dwell

On what his warnin's wuz; and ketch his breath and cough, and tell

On down to Lincoln's death. And then—well, he jes chokes and quits

With "I must go now, gentlemen!" and grabs his hat, and gits!

LXXXIX

Doc's own war-rickord wuzn't won so much in line o' fight

As line o' work and nussin' done the wownded, day and night.—

His wuz the hand, through dark and dawn, 'at bound their wownds, and laid

As soft as their own mother's on their forreds when they prayed....

XC

His wuz the face they saw the first—all dim, but smilin' bright,

As they come to and knowed the worst, yit saw the old Red-White-

And-Blue where Doc had fixed it where they'd see it wavin' still,

Out through the open tent-flap there, er 'cros't the winder-sill.

XCI

And some's a-limpin' round here yit—a-waitin' Last Review,—

'U'd give the pensions 'at they git, and pawn their crutches, too,

To he'p Doc out, ef he wuz pressed financial'—same as he

Has allus he'pped them when distressed—ner never tuk a fee.

XCII

Doc never wuz much hand to pay attention to p'tence

And fuss-and-feathers and display in men o' prominence:

"A railly great man," Sifers 'lows, "is not the out'ard dressed—

All uniform, salutes and bows, and swellin' out his chest.

XCIII

"I met a great man onc't," Doc says, "and shuk his hand," says he,

"And he come 'bout in one, I guess, o' disapp'intin' me—

He talked so common-like, and brought his mind so cle'r in view

And simple-like, I purt'-nigh thought, 'I'm best man o' the two!'"

XCIV

Yes-sir! Doc's got convictions and old-fashioned kind o' ways

And idies 'bout this glorious Land o' Freedom; and he'll raise

His hat clean off, no matter where, jes ever' time he sees

The Stars and Stripes a-floatin' there and flappin' in the breeze.

XCV

And tunes like old "Red, White and Blue" 'll fairly drive him wild,

Played on the brass band, marchin' through the streets! Jes like a child

I've saw that man, his smile jes set, all kind o' pale and white,

Bare-headed, and his eyes all wet, yit dancin' with delight!

XCVI

And yit, that very man we see all trimbly, pale and wann,

Give him a case o' surgery, we'll see another man!—

We'll do the trimblin' then, and we'll git white around the gills—

He'll show us nerve o' nerves, and he 'ull show us skill o' skills!

XCVII

Then you could toot your horns and beat your drums and bang your guns,

And wave your flags and march the street, and charge, all Freedom's sons!—

And Sifers then, I bet my hat, 'u'd never flinch a hair,

But, stiddy-handed, 'tend to that pore patient layin' there.

XCVIII

And Sifers' eye's as stiddy as that hand o' his!—He'll shoot

A' old-style rifle, like he has, and smallest bore, to boot,

With any fancy rifles made to-day, er expert shot

'At works at shootin' like a trade—and all some of 'em's got!

XCIX

Let 'em go right out in the woods with Doc, and leave their "traps"

And blame glass-balls and queensware-goods, and see how Sifers draps

A squirrel out the tallest tree.—And 'fore he fires he'll say

Jes where he'll hit him—yes, sir-ee! And he's hit thataway!

C

Let 'em go out with him, i jucks! with fishin'-pole and gun,—

And ekal chances, fish and ducks, and take the rain, er sun,

Jes as it pours, er as it blinds the eye-sight; then, I guess,

'At they'd acknowledge, in their minds, their disadvantages.

CI

And yit he'd be the last man out to flop his wings and crow

Insultin'-like, and strut about above his fallen foe!—

No-sir! the hand 'at tuk the wind out o' their sails 'ud be

The very first they grabbed, and grinned to feel sich sympathy.

CII

Doc gits off now and then and takes a huntin'-trip somewhere

'Bout Kankakee, up 'mongst the lakes—sometimes'll drift round there

In his canoe a week er two; then paddle clean on back

By way o' old Wabash and Blue, with fish—all he kin pack,—

CIII

And wild ducks—some with feathers on 'em yit, and stuffed with grass.

And neighbers—all knows he's bin gone—comes round and gits a bass—

A great big double-breasted "rock," er "black," er maybe pair

Half fills a' ordinary crock.... Doc's fish'll give out there

CIV

Long 'fore his ducks!—But folks'll smile and blandish him, and make

Him tell and tell things!—all the while enjoy 'em jes fer sake

O' pleasin' him; and then turn in and la'nch him from the start

A-tellin' all the things ag'in they railly know by heart.

CV

He's jes a child, 's what Sifers is! And-sir, I'd ruther see

That happy, childish face o' his, and puore simplicity,

Than any shape er style er plan o' mortals otherwise—

With perfect faith in God and man a-shinin' in his eyes.

TAMÁM.

Transcriber's Note:

All variations in spelling, inconsistent hyphenation and spelling have been retained as they appear in the original text.

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Table of Contents

RUBÁIYÁT OF DOC SIFERS BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

RUBÁIYÁT OF DOC SIFERS BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

ILLUSTRATED BY C. M. RELYEA

PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK M DCCC XC VII

Copyright, 1897, By The Century Co. Copyright, 1897, By James Whitcomb Riley

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