When he “went on” some papers to help his

son Bill

Who was all tangled up in a dowel-stock mill.

Now Bill was a quitter, and therefore one day

Those notes became due and his dad had to pay.

So he slapped on a mortgage and then buckled

down

To pay up the int’rest and keep off the town.

Oh, that mortgage, it clung like a sheep-tick in

wool,