[Illustration]




[Illustration]

THINKIN' BACK


I've ben thinkin' back, of late,
S'prisin'!--And I'm here to state
I'm suspicious it's a sign
Of _age_, maybe, or decline
Of my faculties,--and yit
I'm not _feelin'_ old a bit--
Any more than sixty-four
Ain't no _young_ man any more!

Thinkin' back's a thing 'at grows
On a feller, I suppose--
Older 'at he gits, i jack,
More he keeps a-thinkin' back!
Old as old men git to be,
Er as middle-aged as me,
Folks'll find us, eye and mind
Fixed on what we've left behind--
Rehabilitatin'-like
Them old times we used to hike
Out barefooted fer the crick,