When we hear Uncle Sidney tell <br />About the long-ago <br />An' old, old friends he loved so well <br />When _he_ was young--My-oh!-- <br />Us childern all wish _we'd 'a'_ bin <br />A-livin' then with Uncle,--so <br />We could a-kindo' happened in <br />On them old friends he used to know!-- <br />The good, old-fashioned people-- <br />The hale, hard-working people-- <br />The kindly country people <br />'At Uncle used to know! <br /> <br />They was God's people, Uncle says, <br />An' gloried in His name, <br />An' worked, without no selfishness, <br />An' loved their neighbers same <br />As they was kin: An' when they biled <br />Their tree-molasses, in the Spring, <br />Er butchered in the Fall, they smiled <br />An' sheered with all jist ever'thing!-- <br /> <br />The good, old-fashioned people-- <br />The hale, hard-working people-- <br />The kindly country people <br />'At Uncle used to know! <br /> <br />He tells about 'em, lots o' times, <br />Till we'd all ruther hear <br />About 'em than the Nurs'ry Rhymes <br />Er Fairies--mighty near!-- <br />Only sometimes he stops so long <br />An' then talks on so low an' slow, <br />It's purt'-nigh sad as any song <br />To listen to him talkin' so <br />Of the good, old-fashioned people-- <br />The hale, hard-working people-- <br />The kindly country people <br />'At Uncle used to know!<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-good-old-fashioned-people/
