Ben Burlap bragged about his barn with every man he see;
He said it wuz the finest barn that any barn could be.
Sez he, "The worl' is full er barns; but still I calkerlate
There ain't no barn like Burlap's barn, an' hain't been up to date."
An' w'en yer saw a wild-eyed man who raised consid'ble rumpus,
An' waved an' flapped his arms aroun' to all p'ints of the compass,
An' swished his whisker in the wind, an' spun a half-day yarn,
You'd know it wuz Ben Burlap, sure, expoundin' on his barn.
An' I went down to see his barn; he hung on so like sin,
One day I tol' my wife I guessed I'd go an' take it in.
'Twuz jest ez good ez Jim hed said, ez fine ez it could be;
It beat all barns I ever see, or ever 'spect to see.
W'en I come out, sez I to Jim , "What's that small buildin' there,
That kinder wobbly lookin' thing, that tumbledown affair?
It looks so ricketty an' weak, 'tain't fit to hol' a mouse."
"Oh, yes, "sez Jim, "it's fuller mice; that ar hut is my house."
