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RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY




Other Books by
James Whitcomb Riley


    POEMS HERE AT HOME.
    NEGHBORLY POEMS.
    SKETCHES IN PROSE AND OCCASIONAL VERSES.
    AFTERWHILES.
    PIPES O' PAN (Prose and Verse).
    RHYMES OF CHILDHOOD.
    FLYING ISLANDS OF THE NIGHT.
    OLD-FASHIONED ROSES (English Edition).
    GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS.
    ARMAZINDY.
    A CHILD-WORLD.
    AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE.




[Illustration]



---------------------------
  RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS

  BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
---------------------------

    ILLUSTRATED
        BY
    C. M. RELYEA

[Illustration]

  PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO.
  NEW YORK M DCCC XC VII




  Copyright, 1897,
  BY THE CENTURY CO.

  Copyright, 1897,
  BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


THE DE VINNE PRESS.





TO

DR. FRANKLIN W. HAYS

    THE LOYAL CHUM OF MY LATEST YOUTH
    AND LIKE FRIEND AND COMRADE STILL
    WITH ALL GRATEFUL AFFECTION OF

THE AUTHOR.




    _We found him in that Far-away_
       _that yet to us seems near--_
    _We vagrants of but yesterday_
       _when idlest youth was here,--_
    _When lightest song and laziest mirth_
       _possessed us through and through,_
    _And all the dreamy summer-earth_
       _seemed drugged with morning dew:_

    _When our ambition scarce had shot_
       _a stalk or blade indeed:_
    _Yours,--choked as in the garden-spot_
       _you still deferred to "weed":_
    _Mine,--but a pipe half-cleared of pith--_
       _as now it flats and whines_
    _In sympathetic cadence with_
       _a hiccough in the lines._

    _Aye, even then--O timely hour!--_
       _the High Gods did confer_
    _In our behalf:--And, clothed in power,_
       _lo, came their Courier--_
    _Not winged with flame nor shod with wind,--_
       _but ambling down the pike_,
    _Horseback, with saddlebags behind,_
       _and guise all human-like._

    _And it was given us to see,_
       _beneath his rustic rind,_
    _A native force and mastery_
       _of such inspiring kind,_
    _That half unconsciously we made_
       _obeisance.--Smiling, thus_
    _His soul shone from his eyes and laid_
       _its glory over us._

       *       *       *       *       *

    _Though, faring still that Far-away_
       _that yet to us seems near,_
    _His form, through mists of yesterday,_
       _fades from the vision here,_
    _Forever as he rides, it is_
       _in retinue divine,--_
    _The hearts of all his time are his,_
       _with your hale heart and mine._


[Illustration]




RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY




[Illustration]




RUBAIYAT
OF
DOC SIFERS




  I

    Ef you don't know DOC SIFERS I'll
       jes argy, here and now,
    You've bin a mighty little while
       about here, anyhow!
    'Cause Doc he's rid these roads and woods--
       er _swum_ 'em, now and then--
    And practised in this neighberhood
       sence hain't no tellin' when!


  II

    In radius o' fifteen mile'd,
       all p'ints o' compass round,
    No man er woman, chick er child,
       er team, on top o' ground,
    But knows _him_--yes, and got respects
       and likin' fer him, too,
    Fer all his so-to-speak dee-fects
       o' genius showin' through!


  III

    Some claims he's absent-minded; some
       has said they wuz afeard
    To take his powders when he come
       and dosed 'em out, and 'peared
    To have his mind on somepin' else--
       like County Ditch, er some
    New way o' tannin' mussrat-pelts,
       er makin' butter come.


[Illustration]


  IV

    He's cur'ous--they hain't no mistake
       about it!--but he's got
    Enough o' extry brains to make
       a _jury_--like as not.
    They's no _describin'_ Sifers,--fer,
       when all is said and done,
    He's jes _hisse'f Doc Sifers_--ner
       they hain't no other one!


  V

    Doc's allus sociable, polite,
       and 'greeable, you'll find--
    Pervidin' ef you strike him right
       and nothin' on his mind,--
    Like in some _hurry_, when they've sent
       fer Sifers _quick_, you see,
    To 'tend some sawmill-accident,
       er picnic jamboree;


  VI

    Er when the lightnin''s struck some hare-
       brained harvest-hand; er in
    Some 'tempt o' suicidin'--where
       they'd ort to try ag'in!
    I've _knowed_ Doc haul up from a trot
       and talk a' hour er two
    When railly he'd a-ort o' not
       a-stopped fer "_Howdy-do!_"

[Illustration]


[Illustration]


  VII

    And then, I've met him 'long the road,
       _a-lopin'_,--starin' straight
    Ahead,--and yit he never knowed
       me when I hollered "_Yate,
    Old Saddlebags!_" all hearty-like,
       er "_Who you goin' to kill?_"
    And he'd say nothin'--only hike
       on faster, starin' still!


  VIII

    I'd bin insulted, many a time,
       ef I jes wuzn't shore
    Doc didn't mean a thing. And I'm
       not tetchy any more
    Sence that-air day, ef he'd a-jes
       a-stopped to jaw with _me_,
    They'd bin a little dorter less
       in my own fambily!


  IX

    Times _now_, at home, when Sifers' name
       comes up, I jes _let on_,
    You know, 'at I think Doc's to _blame_,
       the way he's bin and gone
    And disapp'inted folks--'Ll-_jee_-mun-_nee_!
       you'd ort to then
    Jes hear my wife light into me--
       "_ongratefulest o' men!_"


[Illustration]


[Illustration]


  X

    'Mongst _all_ the women--mild er rough,
       splendifferous er plain,
    Er them _with_ sense, er not enough
       to come in out the rain,--
    Jes ever' shape and build and style
       o' women, fat er slim--
    They all like Doc, and got a smile
       and pleasant word fer _him_!


  XI

    Ner hain't no horse I've ever saw
       but what'll neigh and try
    To sidle up to him, and paw,
       and sense him, ear-and-eye:
    Then jes a tetch o' Doc's old pa'm,
       to pat 'em, er to shove
    Along their nose--and they're as ca'm
       as any cooin' dove!


  XII

    And same with _dogs_,--take any breed,
       er strain, er pedigree,
    Er racial caste 'at can't concede
       no use fer you er me,--
    They'll putt all predju-dice aside
       in _Doc's_ case and go in
    Kahoots with him, as satisfied
       as he wuz kith-and-kin!


  XIII

    And Doc's a wonder, trainin' pets!--
       He's got a chicken-hawk,
    In kind o' half-cage, where he sets
       out in the gyarden-walk,
    And got that wild bird trained so tame,
       he'll loose him, and he'll fly
    Clean to the woods!--Doc calls his name--
       and he'll come, by-and-by!


[Illustration]


  XIV

    Some says no money down ud buy
       that bird o' Doc.--Ner no
    Inducement to the _bird_, says I,
       'at _he'd_ let _Sifers_ go!
    And Doc _he_ say 'at _he's_ content--
       long as a bird o' prey
    Kin 'bide _him_, it's a _compliment_,
       and takes it thataway.


  XV

    But, gittin' back to _docterin'_--all
       the sick and in distress,
    And old and pore, and weak and small,
       and lone and motherless,--
    I jes tell _you_ I 'preciate
       the man 'at's got the love
    To "go ye forth and ministrate!"
       as Scriptur' tells us of.


  XVI

    _Dull_ times, Doc jes _mi_anders round,
       in that old rig o' his:
    And hain't no tellin' where he's bound
       ner guessin' where he is;
    He'll drive, they tell, jes thataway
       fer maybe six er eight
    Days at a stretch; and neighbers say
       he's bin clean round the State.


  XVII

    He picked a' old tramp up, one trip,
       'bout eighty mile'd from here,
    And fetched him home and k-yored his
       hip, and kep' him 'bout a year;
    And feller said--in all _his_ ja'nts
       round this terreschul ball
    'At no man wuz a _circumstance_
       to _Doc_!--he topped 'em all!--


[Illustration]


  XVIII

    Said, bark o' trees's a' open book
       to Doc, and vines and moss
    He read like writin'--with a look
       knowed ever' dot and cross:
    Said, stars at night wuz jes as good
      's a compass: said, he s'pose
    You couldn't lose Doc in the woods
       the darkest night that blows!


  XIX

    Said, Doc'll tell you, purty clos't,
       by underbresh and plants,
    How fur off _warter_ is,--and'most
       perdict the sort o' chance
    You'll have o' findin' _fish_; and how
       they're liable to _bite_,
    And whether they're a-bitin' now,
       er only after night.


  XX

    And, whilse we're talkin' _fish_,--I mind
       they formed a fishin'-crowd
    (When folks _could_ fish 'thout gittin' _fined_,
       and seinin' wuz allowed!)
    O' leadin' citizens, you know,
       to go and seine "Old Blue"--
    But hadn't no big seine, and so--
       w'y, what wuz they to do?...


  XXI

    And Doc he say he thought 'at _he_
       could _knit_ a stitch er two--
    "Bring the _materials_ to me--
       'at's all I'm astin' you!"
    And down he sets--six weeks, i jing!
       and knits that seine plum done--
    Made corks too, brails and ever'thing--
       good as a boughten one!


[Illustration]


  XXII

    Doc's _public_ sperit--when the sick
      's not takin' _all_ his time
    And he's got _some_ fer politics--
       is simple yit sublime:--
    He'll _talk_ his _principles_--and they
       air _honest_;--but the sly
    Friend strikes him first, election-day,
       he'd 'commodate, er die!


  XXIII

    And yit, though Doc, as all men knows,
       is square straight up and down,
    That vote o' his is--well, I s'pose--
       the cheapest one in town;--
    A fact 'at's sad to verify,
       as could be done on oath--
    I've voted Doc myse'f--_And I
       was criminal fer both!_


  XXIV

    You kin corrupt the _ballot-box_--corrupt
       _yourse'f_, as well--
    Corrupt _some_ neighbers,--but
       old Doc's as oncorruptible
    As Holy Writ. So putt a pin
       right there!--Let _Sifers_ be,
    I jucks! he wouldn't vote agin
       his own worst inimy!


  XXV

    When Cynthy Eubanks laid so low
       with fever, and Doc Glenn
    Told Euby Cynth 'ud haf to go--
       they sends fer _Sifers_ then!...
    Doc sized the case: "She