The crazy old Vinegar Man is dead! He never had missed a day before! Somebody went to his tumble-down shed, by the Haunted House, and forced the door. There in the litter of his pungent pans, the murky mess of his mixing place, -- Deep, sticky spiders and empty cans -- with the same old frown on his sour old face. "Vinegar-Vinegar-Vinegar Man! Face-us-and-chase-us-and-catch-if-you-can! Pepper for a tongue! Pickle for a nose! Stick a pin in him and vinegar flows! Glare-at-us-swear-at-us-catch-if-you-can! Ketch-up-and-chow-chow-and-Vinegar-Man!" Nothing but recipes and worthless junk; greasy old records of paid and due; But, down in the depths of a battered trunk, a queer, quaint valentine torn in two -- Red hearts and arrows, and silver lace, and a prim, dim, ladylike script that said -- (Oh, Vinegar Man, with the sour old face!) -- "With dearest love, from Ellen to Ned!" "Steal-us-and-peel-us-and-drown-us-in-brine! He pickles his heart in" -- @3a valentine!@1 "Vinegar for blood! Pepper for his tongue! Stick a pin in him and" -- @3once he was young!@1 "Glare-at-us-swear-at-us-catch-if-you-can!" -- "With dearest love" -- to the Vinegar Man! Dingy little books of profit and loss (died about Saturday, so they say) And a queer, quaint valentine, torn across . . . torn, but it never was thrown away! "With dearest love from Ellen to Ned" -- "Old Pepper Tongue! Pickles his heart in brine!" The Vinegar Man is a long time dead: he died when he tore his valentine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRYSTAL GAZER by SARA TEASDALE AN INTERVIEW WITH MILES STANDISH by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL LILIES: 11. 'I NEED THEE' by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) A WINTER TWILIGHT by ARLO BATES |