Ef you don't know DOC SIFERS I'll jes argy, here and now, You've bin a mighty little while about here, anyhow! 'Cause Doc he's rid these roads and woods-- er _swum_ 'em, now and then-- And practised in this neighberhood sence hain't no tellin' when! II In radius o' fifteen mile'd, all p'ints o' compass round, No man er woman, chick er child, er team, on top o' ground, But knows _him_--yes, and got respects and likin' fer him, too, Fer all his so-to-speak dee-fects o' genius showin' through! III Some claims he's absent-minded; some has said they wuz afeard To take his powders when he come and dosed 'em out, and 'peared To have his mind on somepin' else-- like County Ditch, er some New way o' tannin' mussrat-pelts, er makin' butter come. [Illustration] IV He's cur'ous--they hain't no mistake about it!--but he's got Enough o' extry brains to make a _jury_--like as not. They's no _describin'_ Sifers,--fer, when all is said and done, He's jes _hisse'f Doc Sifers_--ner they hain't no other one! V Doc's allus sociable, polite, and 'greeable, you'll find-- Pervidin' ef you strike him right and nothin' on his mind,-- Like in some _hurry_, when they've sent fer Sifers _quick_, you see, To 'tend some sawmill-accident, er picnic jamboree; VI Er when the lightnin' 's struck some hare- brained harvest-hand; er in Some 'tempt o' suicidin'--where they'd ort to try ag'in! I've _knowed_ Doc haul up from a trot and talk a' hour er two When railly he'd a-ort o' not a-stopped fer "_Howdy-do!_" [Illustration] [Illustration] VII And then, I've met him 'long the road, _a-lopin'_,--starin' straight Ahead,--and yit he never knowed me when I hollered "_Yate, Old Saddlebags!_" all hearty-like, er "_Who you goin' to kill?_" And he'd say nothin'--only hike on faster, starin' still! VIII I'd bin insulted, many a time, ef I jes wuzn't shore Doc didn't mean a thing. And I'm not tetchy any more Sence that-air day, ef he'd a-jes a-stopped to jaw with _me_, They'd bin a little dorter less in my own fambily! IX Times _now_, at home, when Sifers' name comes up, I jes _let on_, You know, 'at I think Doc's to _blame_, the way he's bin and gone And disapp'inted folks--'Ll-_jee_-mun-_nee_! you'd ort to then Jes hear my wife light into me-- "_ongratefulest o' men!_" [Illustration] [Illustration] X