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Riley Farm-Rhymes

by James Whitcomb Riley

Pages
about 33
Category
Literature & Fiction
Language
English
Reading time
36 min at 250 wpm
Start readingThe whole book, as cards or one word at a time. 20 min at 450 wpm in Read mode.

From the opening

The deadnin' and the thicket's jes' a b'ilin' full o' June, From the rattle o' the cricket, to the yaller-hammer's tune; And the catbird in the bottom and the sap-suck on the snag, Seems's ef they cain't--od-rot-'em!--jes' do nothin' else but brag!

There' music in the twitter o' the bluebird and the jay, And that sassy little critter jes' a-peckin' all the day; There' music in the "flicker," and there' music in the thrush, And there' music in the snicker o' the chipmunk in the brush!--

There' music all around me!--And I go back--in a dream Sweeter yit than ever found me fast asleep:--And, in the stream That used to split the medder wher' the dandylions growed, I stand knee-deep, and redder than the sunset down the road.

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock, And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock, And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens, And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence; O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best, With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest, As he leaves the house, bare-headed, and goes out to feed the stock, When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here-- Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees, And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees; But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock-- When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

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