of the quip and chaff

That assailed his queer old mug through life

he had but a hearty laugh.

“Ho, ho”, he’d snort, “haw, haw”, he’d roar;

“that’s me, my friends, that’s me!

Now hain’t that the most skew-angled phiz

that ever ye chanced to see?”

And then he would tell us this little tale.

“’Twas one dark night”, said he,

“I was driving along in a piece of woods and