Robert Kirklan Kernighan

25 April 1854 – 3 November 1926 / Ontario

Glory Hallelujerum Jones

' How Didy git that name? you ask :'
The speaker sat on the herring cask :
He oped his knife and whittled a stick

u He got that name when the woods wuz thick ;
When roads wuz scurse and swamps wuz wide,
An the big grey wolves knew where to hide.
He toddled away from home, he did,
One day when he wuz a little kid ;
The fields he passed, the creek he crossed,
An Glory Hallelujerum Jones wuz lost !

' They blew the horn, an the neighbors kem,
An they brought their muskets 'long with them ;
Ole man Jones wuz all on the jump ;
He climbed on top of an ole pine stump.
He said : ' When the cedars ye enter in
Shout ' Glory Hallelujerum,' loud 's ye kin ;
It 's his favorite hymn that poor little coon
Will answer ye quick when he hears that toon.
Shout while yer seekin my blue-eyed boy,
Shout, ' Glory Hallelujerum, glory Hallelujerum-
Glory Hallelujerum, ahoy!''

' So they lit thur torches an all sot out,
An down in thur woods they gev er shout :

' Glory Hallelujerum !'
The song went swelling up in the dark,
Ho ! Glory Hallelujerum, hark !
An ole man Jones he led thur crowd,
An now an then he 'd holler out loud :
* Do n't fire yer guns, you 'll frighten thur boy ;
Sing glory Hallelujerum, glory Hallelujerum
Glory Hallelujerum, ahoy !'

' The moon wuz dark an the stars wuz hid
Pritty hard luck for thur little kid ;
But the neighbors sang in the darksome brush

Gul lory Hallelujerum ! hush !'
The woman folks cried in their clearings dark,

Glory Hallelujerum ! hark !'
Every art they did employ
To scar thur wolves an fin that boy ;
His father kissed his last new toy
With Glory Hallelujerum, glory Hallelujerum
Glory Hallelujerum, ahoy!'

At last a cheer burst thro the night,

Gul lory Hallelujerum !
The torches blazed in a circle of light,

Gul lory Hallelujerum !
Thur he sot as spry as a frog,
An cool an content as a knot on a log !
Fer that little kid wuz full of sand ;
He wuz singing away to beat the band

Glory Hallelujerum!'
Lost?' says he (it's whut he sed),
want a wolf to draw my sled !
Yiv frightened the Injuns with that hoorah ;
I wanted a scalp to give ter maw!'
Then the forest rocked with a song of joy,
An Jones he yelled, es he hugged his boy,
Gul lory Hallelujerum, glory Hallelujerum
Gul lory Hallelujerum, ahoy!''
192 Total read