So I jes' teks up my banjo, an' I plays a little chune,

An' you see dem haids come peepin' out to listen mighty soon.

Den my wife says, "Sich a pappy fu' to give you sich a fright!

Jes, you go to baid, an' leave him: say yo' prayers an' say good-night."

WHISTLING SAM

I has hyeahd o' people dancin' an' I 's hyeahd o' people singin'.

An' I 's been 'roun' lots of othahs dat could keep de banjo ringin';

But of all de whistlin' da'kies dat have lived an' died since Ham,

De whistlin'est I evah seed was ol' Ike Bates's Sam.

In de kitchen er de stable, in de fiel' er mowin' hay,