Translation of a letter from a tenant of Mrs. Van Kleeck to that lady, dated January 9, 1787 <br /> <br /> <br />My very good landlady, Mistress Van Kleeck, <br />(For the tears that o'erwhelm me I scarcely can speak) <br />I know that I promis'd you hogs two or three <br />(But who knows his destiny? Certain not me!) <br />That I promis'd three hogs I don't mean to deny <br />(I can prove that I had five or six upon sty.) <br />Three hogs did I say? Three sows I say then <br />'Pon honour I ne'er had a male upon pen. <br /> <br />Well Madam, the long and the short of the clatter <br />For mumbling & mincing will not better the matter; <br />And murder and truth, my dear mammy wd say <br />By some means or other forever saw day; <br />And Daddy himself, as we chop'd in the wood, <br />Would often observe that lying wasn't good. <br />Tell truth, my sweet fellow, no matter who feels it, <br />It ne'er can do hurt to the man who reveals it. <br />But stop! While my Daddy and Mammy's the subject <br />I am running aside the original object -- <br />The sows, my sweet madam, the sows I repeat, <br />Which you and your household expected to eat, <br />Instead of attending their corn and their swill <br />Gave way to an ugly he-sow's wicked will. <br />When 'twill end your good ladyship need not be told, <br />For Nature is still as she hath been of old, <br />And when he cries YES mortal may not cry NO - <br />So Madam, farewell, with my holliday bow.<br /><br />Henry Livingston Jr.<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-tenant-of-mrs-van-kleeck/
