Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FATHER HUCKLEBERRY AND THE AEROPLANE, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FATHER HUCKLEBERRY AND THE AEROPLANE, by                    
First Line: Well, 'mandy, I got home alive
Last Line: And a little bigger load.
Subject(s): Clergy; Travel; West (u.s.); Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Journeys; Trips; Southwest; Pacific States


Well, 'Mandy, I got home alive,
But it's Providence, I guess,
For Baldy run the last two miles
Like the "Limited Express."

I knew he seemed to feel his oats,
And still could jump a fence,
But I supposed his fourteen years
Had given him some sense.

He got his Arab ginger up
At Mulkey's water trough,
And he's never liked that motor car
Since they took the horses off.

And then the wheels and auto-beels
Were a-paintin' up the town,
Till when I crossed them depot tracks
I couldn't hold him down.

I had that anxious feelin',
Like the dove in Noah's ark,
But I seemed to keep my bearin'
Till I passed that Goltra Park.

When suddently I heard a noise
That nearly struck me blind,
And saw a big new-fangled thing
With a whirl-a-gig behind.

'Twas like a Salem Easter hat,
With its double deck and riggin',
And its yards of wire and canvas
All a-jumpin' and a-jiggin'.

And settin' on the runnin' gear
A-trailin' o'er the trees,
Was a man a-ridin' on it
As happy as you please.

I thought some "Open River" craft
Had blown up from resistance,
And tried a-floatin' overland
To shorten up the distance.

It was puffin' at its engine,
And a-flappin' of its wings,
Like Old Nick himself was flyin'—
And a lot o' other things.

Then it kind o' dawned upon me,
Since it didn't touch the ground,
It must be Burkhart's air machine,
A-aviatin' 'round.

Of course, from force of habit,
I pulled and hollered, Whoa!
But it only made him hump himself,
And you ought to see him go!

The buckboard tetered back and forth
On a single wheel or two,
And only hit the highest bumps,
Like the scorchin' autos do.

His tail streamed like the comet's tail,
His ears were laid down tight—
Why, no one needs an air machine
When Baldy gets scared right.

So you can have Darius Green,
If you keep him out the road,
But I prefer the good old ground,
And a little bigger load.





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