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Rudyard Kipling - Mulholland`s Contract
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	The fear was on the cattle, for the gale was on the sea,
	An` the pens broke up on the lower deck an` let the creatures free —
	An` the lights went out on the lower deck, an` no one near but me.

	I had been singin` to them to keep `em quiet there,
	For the lower deck is the dangerousest, requirin` constant care,
	An` give to me as the strongest man, though used to drink and swear.

	I see my chance was certain of bein` horned or trod,
	For the lower deck was packed with steers thicker`n peas in a pod,
	An` more pens broke at every roll — so I made a Contract with God.

	An` by the terms of the Contract, as I have read the same,
	If He got me to port alive I would exalt His Name,
	An` praise His Holy Majesty till further orders came.

	He saved me from the cattle an` He saved me from the sea,
	For they found me `tween two drownded ones where the roll had landed me —
	An` a four-inch crack on top of my head, as crazy as could be.

	But that were done by a stanchion, an` not by a bullock at all,
	An` I lay still for seven weeks convalessing of the fall,
	An` readin` the shiny Scripture texts in the Seaman`s Hospital.

	An` I spoke to God of our Contract, an` He says to my prayer:
	"I never puts on My ministers no more than they can bear.
	So back you go to the cattle-boats an` preach My Gospel there.

	"For human life is chancy at any kind of trade,
	But most of all, as well you know, when the steers are mad-afraid;
	So you go back to the cattle-boats an` preach `em as I`ve said.

	"They must quit drinkin` an` swearin`, they mustn`t knife on a blow,
	They must quit gamblin` their wages, and you must preach it so;
	For now those boats are more like Hell than anything else I know."

	I didn`t want to do it, for I knew what I should get,
	An` I wanted to preach Religion, handsome an` out of the wet,
	But the Word of the Lord were lain on me, an` I done what I was set.

	I have been smit an` bruised, as warned would be the case,
	An` turned my cheek to the smiter exactly as Scripture says;
	But following that, I knocked him down an` led him up to Grace.

	An` we have preaching on Sundays whenever the sea is calm,
	An` I use no knife or pistol an` I never take no harm,
	For the Lord abideth back of me to guide my fighting arm.

	An` I sign for four-pound-ten a month and save the money clear,
	An` I am in charge of the lower deck, an` I never lose a steer;
	An` I believe in Almighty God an` preach His Gospel here.

	The skippers say I`m crazy, but I can prove `em wrong,
	For I am in charge of the lower deck with all that doth belong —
	~Which they would not give to a lunatic, and the competition so strong!~
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