SELECT POETRY. A MODEL AMERICAN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 229, 20 June 1872, Page 9

SELECT POETRY. A MODEL AMERICAN.

I was raised in the land where the sun don't set, And the men ain't crook-neck squashes ; I can see as fur as most IVe met, And know what almighty bosh isi I guess I rile when I see a snake, And I jedge a dog by his bark. I'm putty considerable wide-awake : So I do admire at my own mistake In the matter of Cunule Shark. The Cunnle he was the pride of the place, And his ways were most ainazin' ; The hair was singed from his cheeks and face With etarnal powder blazin' ; His skin was covered with red tatoo Like a tree with a streak'd-up bark , He'd been ripped and riddled till all was blue — You'd star' a spell if you heard a few Of the ways of Cunnle Shark. One eye was glass, and the other real, TTis cheeks were scared and bony, A bullet had blown away his heel, So he limped on an iron pony. For hands h'd only a thumb on his right, And nothin' else to remark ; With his left, I guess, he used to fight, And to see his style was a pleasant sight, For a cu'rous man was Shark. The Cunnle he had a hickory stick, All notches you couldn't number, For he took a knife and he made a nick When he sent a man to slumber ; He notched it neat as an almanack, Or a ledger kept by a clerk ; 'Twas " Blood and thunder ! stick slick ! crick crack !" And he wiped his tools, and turned his back To nick the slain, did Shark. His style in the street was a sight to see, And the way'd be cleared politely, And he'd chaw and swaggar and spit so free, With his eye glaring brightly. At the bar he'd stand and the paper read. As ready to bite as bark,And the folks would whisper, they would i ideerl, " Ah ! there's a man whose no punkin seed !" The pride o' the place was Shark. What had he done? Why, he'd fought and bled, And was ready Late and early ; He shot his own brother as dead as lead, On a pint of honour, fairly. He'd never flinch, and he paid his way, And he never drew in the dark ; He'd been known to sarse six men in a day — And sure as ever there rose a fray, Why, in went Cuunle Shark. Though the bullets were thick as hail, somehow He'd keep as fresh as a tulip, Then out he'd come -and wipe his brow, I And call for a sherry -julep. His life by a sort of charm was kept. And the smartest missed their mark, So when on the shady side he stept, To the other side creation crept. At the sight of Cunnle Shark. The Cunnle diank with his fsiends down here. And let 'eui p;iy for the liquor ? But his way with strangers was rayther queer, Sharper, I guess, and quicker. When a stranger entered, he'd rile a few, And his brow would wrinkle dark : "Stranger." he'd say, " I'll liquor with you !" And if the poor cuss said, " I'm derned if you do." Why, in went Cuunle Shaik. . j There was a man I— Just the sort o' grit . Yon don't raise out of Ameriky, Honest and ready, lickity split, For white man, nigger, or Cherokee ; And useful in bringing of Cain to book Wins thieves were beginning to lark ; And the Sheriff of Grizzly, R. S. Rooke, Was the only party that dared to look j In the ej*e of Cunnle Shark. Whenever the Sheriff had work on hand, And a deru'd deep case to tunnel, He'd load his persuaders and dress up grand, And send up town for the Cunnle ; Then off they'd slip, and the thieves pursue, And hunt 'em light and dark, And living or dead they'd nail the crew ; And drunk for a week they'd be, them two, The Sheriff aiul Ounule Shark. Now, when two men are particklar great, Of the sume proud flesh and feather, The same free siirth, by a kind of fate, Won't hold them both together. And it came about that these two fine cocks, All flitter, flutter, and squark, Began to fret in the same old box ; And each grew sarsier in Tiis' socks, The Sheriff and Cunnle Shark. Friends they had been and wal content ; But the best of weather grows windy. ■ And they saw the chaps wherever they went Look out by rights for the shindy ! To funk because chey were bosom friends - Would be to miss the mark, %And so, for to serve the public endg, ' To Oheriss' store each party wends, The Sheriff and Cunnle Shark. Wal, how it riz, and which side began. I know no more'n a nigger, But the Cunnle he clean ript up his man Before he could touch a trigger ; And R. S. Rooke, for a parting spell, tide this yer dying remark, innle, yur hand !" (then he flopp'd and fell), " Of all the game critters that's out o' hell The gamest is Cunnle Shark." So Cunnle Shark was left alone For our particklar glory, And he stalked about, and the place was his own, And was praised in song and story , And when the Sheriff had run his race, And been snuffed like any spark, It soon was settled in all the place That that the Sheriff's post, as an act of grace, Should go to Cunnle Shark.