“Ugh!” the old men all responded

From their seats beneath the pine-trees.

And whene’er a youth or maiden

Found a crooked ear in husking,

Found a maize-ear in the husking

Blighted, mildewed, or misshapen,

Then they laughed and sang together,

Crept and limped about the cornfields,

Mimicked in their gait and gestures

Some old man, bent almost double,