Or else it’s just some Yankee notion, dressed

In rough-and-ready “Uncle Dudley” phrase;

Some honest thought we common folks suggest,

—Some tricksy mem’ry-flash from boyhood’s

days.

I cannot polish off this stilted rhyme

With all these homely notions in my brain.

A sonnet, sir, would stick me every time;

Let’s have a chat ’bout common things in

Maine.