Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3703, 6 November 1880, Page 1

Select Poetry.

HALF-WA* DOIN'S.

Belubbed fellow trabellers, in holdin' forth to-day, . I doesn't quote no special Terse for what I hM to say; , De sermon will b« bery short, an' dis here am ,te tex\ Dat halt-tray doin'e am no count for dis worl' or de nex\ Dm worl'dat we's a-libbin' in is like a ootten row, Whar ebery eullad gentleman hat got his line to hoe; An* ebery time a lazy nigga stops to take a rap, De gran ke*p on a groin' for to smudder gp theorap./ ' Wben^Mowa leoYdo Jew* aoroit de waters oh deaea, Dey hod to keep a-goia? jesk> m fas' as fas" . ..could be;" - - ..v '•'. - Do you s'pote dat they cud eber hat) succeeded in deir wish . . . An' reached de Promised Land at last, if dey had stopt to fish ? My fren's, dere waa a garden once, whar Adam libhed wid Ebe, : ■ Wid no ope ronn' to bodder dem, no neigh* bore for to.thieb, An' ebery day was Chria'mas, an dey got deir rations free, An' eberythiAg belonged to dem, 'cent an apple tree. Tou all know 'bout de stor/, how de nuke came sooopin' roun'— A stump tail, rusty mocassin, a-crawlin' on de groun'— ' How Ebe an' Adam ate de fruit, »n f went an hid deir face, ' Till de angal-oberseer he oum an' drohe dem off de place: 1 > Now s'pose that man an' 'oman hadn't 'tempted for to shirk, But had gone'on 'bout deir gardenin', an 'tended to deir work, Dey wudn'l habbin loifin 1 whar dey had no bus'nees to, An de debbil nebber'd got a chance to tell ■, - ' 'em .what to do. ■ „:.» ' ■-' - •• Sjp half-way doin's breddren! It'll nebber . { „do, I say! Go at your task, an' finish it, an' den's de time to play; For, eben if de crop is good, de rainil spoil de bolls, - • • - Unless you, keeps a>piokin* in de garden oh your souls. Keep a-plougbin* an' a-hoein' an' a'Scrapin' ob de rows, ; An' when de gtnnin's pber you can pay up what you owes; But if yon quits a»workin* ebery time.de ran is hot, ; De. Sheriff's going to lebby upon ereryting ■' you got, Wh&teber 'tis yeu'f ,'dribin' at, be wire an' •! l->t-- . '. ..: An' don't let nuthin' stop' yori, but jet' do what you'i'gwine to'do, ; " "' For when you see,a nigga foolln', den a»sure '« you'sborn, ' ' You's, goin' to "see' Tiim cornrn*^ out He small end ob dehorn! I thanks you for de 'tention you has gib dis afternoon, 1--V, Sister Williams wiU.oblige us-by a*r,Main' oh •" a tune,~ I see dat>Brudder Johnson's bout to pass aroun'de hat, An' don't Jet'« hab no half-way doin's when it oums to dat! . —Scribner's Monthly.