Heliconundrums :: :: University of Virginia Library

Uncle Zekle came tu woo —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Huldy skeer'd tu buckle tu —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Heer'd him hawkin up the street;
Smiled ez apples wern't all sweet;
Pucker'd up her mouth tu meet,
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!

Uncle Zek peep'd thru the glaze —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
She show'd pooty in the blaze —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Peelin apples fast ez sin,
Hadn't time tu cry — Come in!
He fer parin wuz too thin!
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!

Uncle's skin wuz crinkled oak —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
And his v'ice a kinder croak —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!

Wen he dror his cheer and sot
Jest too near her she look'd hot:
Fire or blushes, which? he tho't.
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!

Uncle talk'd sum of his hogs —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Huldy heer'd the cracklin logs!
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Uncle kep in Bank, he sed:
Huldy wuz too young tu wed:
Wintry cold an old man's bed:
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!

Uncle Zek wuz here tu-night —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Sparkin in the chimbly light —
Ha, ha, the wooin o't!
Wut does Huldy in the snow?
“One more kiss before I go!”
Mind if Huldy answer No! —
That's our Vairmount wooin o't.

By this the punch was like to fail;
But Denis cried — A double gale!
And echoed all the cry.
A shadow o'er the pale Host pass'd,
A half-rebuke, his first, his last;—
He held his glass on high
And, waving it above his head,

Sang out, as his heart's blood were shed,
Whiskey and liberty!
Another bowl before you're gone —
Were his last words. And only one!
Our Hostess graciously appends:
Though seldom such a sheaf of friends
(She glanced around upon them all)
Comes with such will without a call.

And now the final punch was mix'd
And every glass refill'd.
Then Bull, supremely rising, fix'd
His hand upon his heart;
And — Ere we must depart,
(So spake he) little as I'm skill'd
In compliment, you will permit me say —
Of our good friend now sitting here before us
— Hip, hip, hooray!