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James Whitcomb Riley - Noey`s Night-Piece
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"They ain`t much `tale` about it!" Noey said.--
"K`tawby grapes wuz gittin` good-n-red
I rickollect; and Tubb Kingry and me
`Ud kindo` browse round town, daytime, to see
What neighbers `peared to have the most to spare
`At wuz git-at-able and no dog there
When we come round to git `em, say `bout ten
O`clock at night when mostly old folks then
Wuz snorin` at each other like they yit
Helt some old grudge `at never slep` a bit.
Well, at the _Pars`nige_--ef ye`ll call to mind,--
They`s `bout the biggest grape-arber you`ll find
`Most anywheres.--And mostly there, we knowed
They wuz _k`tawbies_ thick as ever growed--
And more`n they`d _p`serve_.--Besides I`ve heerd
Ma say k`tawby-grape-p`serves jes `peared
A waste o` sugar, anyhow!--And so
My conscience stayed outside and lem me go
With Tubb, one night, the back-way, clean up through
That long black arber to the end next to
The house, where the k`tawbies, don`t you know,
Wuz thickest. And t`uz lucky we went _slow_,--
Fer jest as we wuz cropin` tords the gray-
End, like, of the old arber--heerd Tubb say
In a skeered whisper, `Hold up! They`s some one
Jes slippin` in here!--and _looks like a gun_
He`s carryin`!` I _golly!_ we both spread
Out flat aginst the ground!

                    "`What`s that?` Tubb said.--
And jest then--`_plink! plunk! plink!_` we heerd something
Under the back-porch-winder.--Then, i jing!
Of course we rickollected `bout the young
School-mam `at wuz a-boardin` there, and sung,
And played on the melodium in the choir.--
And she `uz `bout as purty to admire
As any girl in town!--the fac`s is, she
Jest _wuz_, them times, to a dead certainty,
The belle o` this-here bailywick!--But--Well,--
I`d best git back to what I`m tryin` to tell:--
It wuz some feller come to serenade
Miss Wetherell: And there he plunked and played
His old guitar, and sung, and kep` his eye
Set on her winder, blacker`n the sky!--
And black it _stayed_.--But mayby she wuz `way
From home, er wore out--bein` _Saturday!_

"It _seemed_ a good-`eal _longer_, but I _know_
He sung and plunked there half a` hour er so
Afore, it `peared like, he could ever git
His own free qualified consents to quit
And go off `bout his business. When he went
I bet you could a-bought him fer a cent!

"And now, behold ye all!--as Tubb and me
Wuz `bout to raise up,--right in front we see
A feller slippin` out the arber, square
Smack under that-air little winder where
The _other_ feller had been standin`.--And
The thing he wuz a-carryin` in his hand
Wuzn`t no _gun_ at all!--It wuz a _flute_,--
And _whoop-ee!_ how it did git up and toot
And chirp and warble, tel a mockin`-bird
`Ud dast to never let hisse`f be heerd
Ferever, after sich miracalous, high
Jim-cracks and grand skyrootics played there by
Yer Cousin Rufus!--Yes-sir; it wuz him!--
And what`s more,--all a-suddent that-air dim
Dark winder o` Miss Wetherell`s wuz lit
Up like a` oyshture-sign, and under it
We see him sort o` wet his lips and smile
Down `long his row o` dancin` fingers, while
He kindo` stiffened up and kinked his breath
And everlastin`ly jest blowed the peth
Out o` that-air old one-keyed flute o` his.
And, bless their hearts, that`s all the `tale` they is!"

And even as Noey closed, all radiantly
The unconscious hero of the history,
Returning, met a perfect driving storm
Of welcome--a reception strangely warm
And _unaccountable_, to _him_, although
Most _gratifying_,--and he told them so.
"I only urge," he said, "my right to be
Enlightened." And a voice said: "_Certainly:_--
During your absence we agreed that you
Should tell us all a story, old or new,
Just in the immediate happy frame of mind
We knew you would return in."

                    So, resigned,
The ready flutist tossed his hat aside--
Glanced at the children, smiled, and thus complied.
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