New Century Speaker and Writer: Being a Standard Work on Composition and Oratory - Henry Davenport Northrop

Her air applied so close and hard that every wheel must slide.

Thar’s a wife and two kids down the line, whose sole dependence wuz Bill,

Who little thought when he came home he’d be brought cold and still;

But tell them, tho’ Bill was rough by natur’ and somewhat so by name,

That thar’s a better land for men like him, and he died clear grit just the same.

My friend the Cricket and I

Once sat by the fireside talking;