A Courtin' Call

A Courtin' Call

Original Text
A Patch of Pansies (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1894): 66-67. Microtext Reading Room CIHM no. 29307. Robarts Library
HIM!
1He dressed hisself from top ter toe
2    To beat the lates' fash'n.
3He give his boots a extry glow,
4His dicky glistered like the snow,
5He slicked his hair exactly so,
6    An' all ter indicate "his pash'n."
7He tried his hull three ties afore --
8He kep' the one on that he wore.
HER!
9All afternoon she laid abed
10    To make her featturs brighter.
11She tried on ev'ry geoun she hed,
12She rasped her nails until she bled,
13A dozen times she frizzed her head
14    An' put on stuff to make her whiter,
15An' fussed till she' d 'a' cried, she said,
16But that 'ld make her eyes so red.
THEM!
17They sot together in the dark
18'Ithout a light, excep' their spark,
19An' neither could have told er guessed
20What way the t'other un was dressed!

Notes

1] ter: to. The poem's dialect imitates colloquial speech of early 20th-century American working people. Back to Line
3] extry: extra. Back to Line
4] dicky: a starched detachable shirtfront. Back to Line
7] hull: whole? Back to Line
12] rasped: filed. Back to Line
14] whiter: tanned faces betrayed outdoor work. Back to Line
15] she' d 'a': she would have. Back to Line
17] sot: sat. Back to Line
20] the t'other: redundant, literally "the the other," but dialectal. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1894
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 2000.
Rhyme
abaaabcc dedddeff gghh