Yawcob Strauss and Other Poems/Mother's Doughnuts
MOTHER'S DOUGHNUTS.
El Dorado, 1851.
- I've jest bin down ter Thompson's, boys,
- 'N' feelin' kind o' blue,
- I thought I'd look in at " The Ranch,"
- Ter find out what wuz new,
- When I seen this sign a-hangin'
- On a shanty by the lake:
- "Here's vvhar yer gets yer doughnuts
- Like yer mother used ter make."
- I've seen a grizzly show his teeth;
- I've seen Kentucky Pete
- Draw out his shooter V advise
- A " tenderfoot" ter treat;
- But nuthin' ever tuk me down,
- 'N' made my benders shake,
- Like that sign about the doughnuts
- Like my mother used ter make.
- A sort o' mist shut out the ranch,
- 'N' standin' thar instead
- I seen an old white farm-house,
- With its doors all painted red.
- A whiff came through the open door—
- Wuz I sleepin' or awake?
- The smell wuz that of doughnuts
- Like my mother used ter make.
- The bees wuz hummin' round the porch
- Whar honeysuckles grew;
- A yellow dish of apple sass
- Wuz sittin' thar in view;
- 'N' on the table by the stove
- An old-time "johnny-cake,"
- 'N' a platter full of doughnuts
- Like my mother used ter make.
- A patient form I seemed ter see,
- In tidy dress of black;
- almost thought I heard the words,
- "When will my boy come back?"
- 'N' then—the old sign creaked;
- But now it wuz the boss who spake,
- " Here's whar yer gets yer doughnuts
- Like yer mother used ter make."
- Well, boys, that kind o' broke me up,
- 'N' ez I've "struck pay gravel,"
- I ruther think I'll pack my kit,
- Vamose the ranch, 'u' travel.
- I'll make the old folks jubilant,
- 'N', ef I don't mistake,
- I'll try some o' them doughnuts
- Like my mother used ter make.