Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-05-17
CAMPFIRE STORIES.
~LANkY jim DIDN'T sKEER."


~'LANKY jim DIDN'T SKEER."
Long an lanlty, sich was Jim,
Groener than young persimmon,
Eyes with sort o. skeery glim,
Bashfuller n most o. wimmen;
Jined us ut the stnrtin' out,
Come in homespun to be mustered
Just long, green country lout,
Sort o. shy, an easy flustered.
Whom he come to camp that day,
Lchdl but how us fellers jeered IN,
An the grecny skunk away,
Like as If our treatment skeered i'm;
But the Colonel swore i'm in.
An In uniform we rigged i'm,
An with sort o. sneerin' grin
On his brave appearance twigged i'm
L was reckoned MS the tough
OF our company, an used ter
Play some tricks exceedin' rough
On the awlSard country rooster;
But he never lost his grip
On his temper fur minute
Let each slur give i'm slip
Like thar was no insult In IL.
Thought we'd have stack o. fun
Wen we TUX i'm out to drill i'm,
Fur OIL Sargent Burlington
Hinted thnt he'd nearly kill i'm;
But the varmint rarned the moves
In manner most surprlsin'-
Seemed 10 slide along the grooves
o the manual as slick us pizen.
From the mornin' rcveille
Clnr till tnDS almost uncpaSin'.
That poor devil heard from me
In way beyond all reason.
Never let the least chance pass
Fur 10 aggervate the fcller,
But the green. clod-hoppin' ass
Tux 1t all without beller.
When at last the orders come
Fur our regiments advancin',
Squeal o. flfc an roll O. drum
Sot each soldiers heart dancin'.
on VIC went towards the South
On the stenm.cars jest kitin'.
Every feller with his mouth
Doin' lots future fightin'.
Wal, few days travel found
Our big regiment n standin'
On the comm battle-ground
Known to fame as Pittsburgh Landin'.
ht WuS Dluttu III bllt duNduCt,
Though we'd never yit smelt powder,
But that very circumstance
Made us howl fur fight the louder.
Wen the shells and bullets come
Round our dodgln' heads a-fyin',
An we saw the faces dumb
or the mnnglcd dead an dyin'.
All the fun o'soldierin'
Left us in holy minute,
An we very plainly seen
The reality that's in 1t.
aOfentimes we'd said wat fun
1t d be in time O. battle,
Fur to see OIL Lanly run
Wen the guns begin to rattle;
But want TO state right here,
To remark 1t incidental,
That the feller didn't skeer
Worth cussed continental.
aSkeer? Not much-he was ahead
Every time we charged the cusses,
Cool an s,iddy, like he'd led
Men through dozens o. sich muses..
Held his ground in bulldog way,
Caught tho Ginerar attention,
An on dress parade mex day
Special orders give m mention.
Said rs how fur bravery
Which the Gincral had noted,
An fur gallant conduct he
TO II Sargent was promoted.
Ssi2 right over us as thought
Mighty little of OIL Llnky,
An, OF course, some OF us got
Purity tolerable cranky.
Thought IL was 'tarnal shame
That the Gneral d shove us
To the rear. an put his name
In authority above us.
1 was hot, and you kin bet
That run i'm more'n used ter,
But my comrades seemed to get
Sort o social with the rooster.
Wal Ihain't much more to say,
'Cept that when the war was ended,
An We got back home one day,
An Il big reception tended,
No one seemed TO notice me
He'd the eyes OF all beholders;
was was Private Tom McGee--
Jim had eagles on his shoulders.
Captain Jack Crawford, in National Tribun