Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HAYING, VERMONT AND GINGER DRINK COORDINATED, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HAYING, VERMONT AND GINGER DRINK COORDINATED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: To know what dido drank, a scholar
Last Line: Vermont's great beverage, ginger drink.
Subject(s): Drinks & Drinking; Vermont; Water; Wine


TO know what Dido drank, a scholar
Would call a high historic aid,
And what goes through a Yankee's collar
Tells all about him and his trade;
To prove the truth of what I'm saying,
Away far back as I can think,
A farmer couldn't do his haying
Without the help of ginger drink.

It someway made a scythe edge keener,
It helped the boys to mow away;
It made the old bullrake rake cleaner,
It made the bumblebees less gay;
A little girl 'mid daisies straying,
With gingham dress and cheeks of pink,
Could make the slackers hump in haying
By packing out the ginger drink.

Some used to call it "sweetened water,"
Some called it "Mother Hubbard sling,"
Some took so much it made 'em hotter,
And some so much it made 'em sing;
The subject, though, that I'm portraying
With these few strokes of pen and ink
Is, that no man could do his haying
Unless he stood for ginger drink.

It wasn't made of noxious gases,
But good well water, cool and pure;
And good blackstrap Orleans molasses,
And ginger that was ginger sure;
And good old vinegar, displaying
That cidery taste that made you wink—
Oh! it was more than half of haying
To have good help and ginger drink.

Your cutterbar would get all gummy,
The pitman rod act quaint and queer,
And your new hand turn out a dummy
Unless the ginger jug was near;
It kept the tedder forks a-playing,
It speeded up the whetstone's clink—
You'd get in Dutch to go to haying
Un-reenforced by ginger drink.

You've no idea how wide its scope was,
How many different things 'twould do;
No other drink or drip or dope was
So universal, tried and true;
'Twas used by all, the proud, the praying—
It didn't put you on the blink—
It always touched the spot in haying,
Vermont's great beverage, Ginger Drink.





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