William Griffith

From “Woodwinds”

Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about.—Mark Twain.

JOHN BARLEYCORN he said the town

Was half a knave and half a clown,

Nor saner than the law allowed:

With all its stiff restraints and prim

Observances, the place, he vowed,

Had too much starch in it for him;

And kept itself upon the jump

To whip the devil round the stump.

That crooked souls and crooked knees

Distinguished men from walking trees,

Was sagely then and there agreed:

But, bent on laughing them to scorn,

Mad John, denying them a creed,

Resolved to stray amid the corn,

And eavesdropping from stalk to stalk,

To hear some goblin money talk.

And, peeping from behind a bee,

He fell into a reverie,

Beholding them so smugly housed;

And pondered what would happen had

Some sudden thunder been aroused!

Thinking of which the silly lad

Collapsed beside a brawling brook,

And laughed until the welkin shook.