Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse   By: Joseph Crosby Lincoln (1870-1944)

Cape Cod Ballads

and Other Verse

By

Joseph C. Lincoln

With Drawings by Edward W. Kemble

1902

To My Wife

This book is affectionately dedicated

Preface

A friend has objected to the title of this book on the ground that, as many of the characters and scenes described are to be found in almost any coast village of the United States, the title might, with equal fitness, be "New Jersey Ballads," or "Long Island Ballads," or something similar.

The answer to this is, simply, that while "School committee Men" and "Village Oracles" are, doubtless, pretty much alike throughout Yankeedom, the particular specimens here dealt with were individuals whom the author knew in his boyhood "down on the Cape." So, "Cape Cod Ballads" it is.

The verses in this collection originally appeared in Harper's Weekly, The Youth's Companion, The Saturday Evening Post, Puck, Types, The League of American Wheelmen Bulletin , and the publications of the American Press Association. Thanks are due to the editors of these periodicals for their courteous permission to reprint.

J.C.L.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

LIST OF DRAWINGS

THE COD FISHER

THE SONG OF THE SEA

THE WIND'S SONG

THE LIFE SAVER

"THE EVENIN' HYMN"

THE MEADOW ROAD

THE BULLFROG SERENADE

SUNDAY AFTERNOONS

THE OLD DAGUERREOTYPES

THE BEST SPARE ROOM

THE OLD CARRYALL

OUR FIRST FIRE CRACKERS

WHEN NATHAN LED THE CHOIR

HEZEKIAH'S ART

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL PICNIC

"AUNT 'MANDY"

THE STORY BOOK BOY

THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MAN

WASTED ENERGY

WHEN THE MINISTER COMES TO TEA

"YAP"

THE MINISTER'S WIFE

THE VILLAGE ORACLE

THE TIN PEDDLER

"SARY EMMA'S PHOTYGRAPHS"

WHEN PAPA's SICK

THE BALLAD OF MCCARTY'S TROMBONE

SUSAN VAN DOOZEN

SISTER SIMMONS

"THE FIFT' WARD J'INT DEBATE"

HIS NEW BROTHER

CIRCLE DAY

SERMON TIME

"TAKIN' BOARDERS"

A COLLEGE TRAINING

A CRUSHED HERO

A THANKSGIVING DREAM

O'REILLY'S BILLY GOAT

THE CUCKOO CLOCK

THE POPULAR SONG

MATILDY'S BEAU

"SISTER'S BEST FELLER"

"THE WIDDER CLARK"

FRIDAY EVENING MEETINGS

THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER

MY OLD GRAY NAG

THROUGH THE FOG

THE BALLADE OF THE DREAM SHIP

LIFE'S PATHS

THE MAYFLOWER

MAY MEMORIES

BIRDS' NESTING TIME

THE OLD SWORD ON THE WALL

NINETY EIGHT IN THE SHADE

SUMMER NIGHTS AT GRANDPA'S

GRANDFATHER'S "SUMMER SWEETS"

MIDSUMMER

"SEPTEMBER MORNIN'S"

NOVEMBER'S COME

THE WINTER NIGHTS AT HOME

"THE LITTLE FELLER'S STOCKIN'"

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

THE CROAKER

THE OLD FASHIONED GARDEN

THE LIGHT KEEPER

THE LITTLE OLD HOUSE BY THE SHORE

WHEN THE TIDE GOES OUT

THE WATCHERS

"THE REG'LAR ARMY MAN"

FIREMAN O'RAFFERTY

LITTLE BARE FEET

A RAINY DAY

THE HAND ORGAN BALL

"JIM"

IN MOTHER'S ROOM

SUNSET LAND

THE SURF ALONG THE SHORE

AT EVENTIDE

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

LIST OF DRAWINGS

THE LIFE SAVER, "He's a hero born and bred, but it hasn't swelled his head."

THE BULLFROG SERENADE, "With the big green coated leader's double bass."

THE OLD DAGUERREOTYPES, "Grandpa's collar a show."

OUR FIRST FIRE CRACKERS, "Do yer 'member how yer fired 'em, slow and careful, one by one?"

HEZEKIAH'S ART, "I swan, he did look like a daisy!"

THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE MAN, "'And with ahem er as I said before.'"

WHEN THE MINISTER COMES TO TEA, "He sets and says it's lovely."

THE VILLAGE ORACLE, "'Well now, I vum! I know, by gum! I'm right because I be !'"

THE BALLAD OF MCCARTY'S TROMBONE, "'By Killarney's lakes and fells, Toot tetoot toot toot toot dells!'"

His NEW BROTHER, "Why'd they buy a baby brother, When they know I'd good deal ruther Have a dog?"

A COLLEGE TRAINING, "'That was jolly, Guv'nor, now we'll practice every day.'"

A THANKSGIVING DREAM, "He stood up on his drumsticks."

THE POPULAR SONG, "The washwoman sings it all wrong."

MATILDY'S BEAU, "I recollect I spent an hour a tyin' my cravat."

MY OLD GRAY NAG, "He ain't the sort that the big bugs sport"

MAY MEMORIES, "Oh, the lazy days of boyhood, when the world was fair and new!"