Semi=weekly graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1895-1902, 1895-11-30
PENN-YAN BILL.
IBg Eugene Field.

by Eugene Field
IN gallus old Kentucky, whore the grass i
very blue,
Where the liquor IS the smoothest and the girls
fair and true,
Where the crop of begawd gentlemen is fun
of heart and sand
And the stock CT four time winners is the fin
est in the land,
Where the Democratic party in bourbon hardi-
hood
For more than half century unterrihed has
stood,
Where nod the black eyed susans to the pratt
tie of the ri1l-
Fhere-there befeH the wooing of Penn.Ya
Bill.
Down yonder in the cottage that is nesting in
the shade
Of the walnut trees that seem to love that
quiet little glade
Abides pretty maiden by the bonny name Of
Sue
As pretty as the black eyed flowers and quite
And lovers came there by the score. of every
age and kind,
But not one fthe story goesl was quite to SUI
sizes mind
Their sighs, their protestations and their
pleadings made her ill
Till all at once upon the scene hove Penn Yam
Bill.
He came from old Montana, and he rode
G broncho mare
ao had rather howd'y do and rough and
tumble air;
q Is.uad'4 We're Of buokskin and his coat of
20, stuff;
. u, sSvas drab of color, and its rim was
~ ettde enough
=, :. each leg a stalwart boot reached just
t iepabove the knee,
And in the belt about his waist his weapon
A rather strapping lover for our little Susie
still
She was his choice, and he was hers, was Penn
Yam Bill.
We wonder that the ivy seeks out the oalten
tree
s..hd twines aaer toii,ifiis round him, though
SCARED and gnarled he be.
We wonder that gentle girl, unused to world
ly cares,
Should choose a man whose life has been a
constant scrap with bears.
All, it's the nature Of the vine, and of the
maiden, too
So when the bold Montana boy came from his
lair to WOO
The fair Kentucky blossom felt all her heart
Responsive to the purring of Penn-Yan Bill.
He told her Of his cabin in the mountain far
away,
Of the oatanount that llowls by night, the
wolf that yawps by cay
He told her Of the grizzly with the automatic
jaw,
He told her of the Injun who etevours his vic
Tins raw;
OF the iawhawk with his tawdry crest and
whiskers in his throat,
OF the great goslAawfial sarpent and the Rocky
mountain goat.
A book as big as Shalnespoare's or as Webster's
you could fill
With the yarns that eInanated from Penn Van
Bill
I4o, as these nightly prodigies the weaterner
relates,
Her pretty mouth falls wide agape--her eyes
get big as platesi
And when he speaks of varmints that in the
Rockies grow,
She shuddered and she elings to him and tim
idly cries "oh"
And then says he, Dear Susie, III tell you
what to Co
You be my WIFE, and none Of these ere things
dare poster you'll"
And shei She answers, olinging close and
trembling yet, - wili."
And then ne gives her one Dig husa, does Penn
Van Bill.
Avaunt, ye poet lovers, with your wishy-
wnshy laysl
boQlish waysl
Ayaunt, ye smirking handles who air your
etiquette
Upon the gold your fathers worked SO long
and hard to getl
How empty is Your nothingness beside the
sturdy tales
Which mountaineers delight to tell Of border
hills and Wales
OF snakes that crawl, of beasts that yowl OF
birds tkat flap and triii
IN the Wild egregious altitude of Penn Van
Bill.
Why, over all those mountain peaks his honest
~ feet have trod