And the taxes, unpaid, still appear on the book

Of the County Collector, Nathaniel U. Crook.

So I keep coming back, to my old Hoosier shack,

To inhale the sweet mildew of hay in the stack,

And to drink from the spring where the bull-frogs abound

That protect the young cowslips that grow all around.

Now the mortgage is due and the int'rest unpaid,

And I can't get a cent for the place, I'm afraid;

But I love to return here, at vacation time,

Just to revel again in the mud and the slime.