"Give Us Your Hand, Mr. Lawyer: How Do You Do To-Day?"
You drew up that paper--I s'pose you want your pay.Don't cut down your figures; make it an X or a V;For that 'ere written agreement was just the makin' of me.
Goin' home that evenin' I tell you I was blue,Thinkin' of all my troubles, and what I was goin' to do;And if my hosses hadn't been the steadiest team alive,They'd 've tipped me over, certain, for I couldn't see where to drive.
No--for I was laborin' under a heavy load;No--for I was travelin' an entirely different road;For I was a-tracin' over the path of our lives ag'in,And seein' where we missed the way, and where we might have been.
And many a corner we'd turned that just to a quarrel led,When I ought to 've held my temper, and driven straight ahead;And the more I thought it over the more these memories came,And the more I struck the opinion that I was the most to blame.
And things I had long forgotten kept risin' in my mind,Of little matters betwixt us, where Betsey was good and kind;And these things flashed all through me, as you know thingssometimes willWhen a feller's alone in the darkness, and every thing is still.
"But," says I, "we're too far along to take another track,And when I put my hand to the plow I do not oft turn back;And 'tain't an uncommon thing now for couples to smash in two;"And so I set my teeth together, and vowed I'd see it through.
When I come in sight o' the house 'twas some'at in the night,And just as I turned a hill-top I see the kitchen light;
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- smash v. t.
- To break in pieces by violence; to dash to pieces; to crush. [Cf. Sw. smisk a blow, stroke, smiska to strike, dial. Sw. smaske to kiss with a noise, and E. smack a loud kiss, a slap.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Give Us Your Hand, Mr. Lawyer: How Do You Do To-Day?" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Farm Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #9500; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Will Carleton, "Give Us Your Hand, Mr. Lawyer: How Do You Do To-Day?", in Farm Ballads (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9500, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/carleton-farm-ballads/give-us-your-hand-mr-lawyer-how-do-you-do-to-day.html, id L23256.
Form and metre
"Give Us Your Hand, Mr. Lawyer: How Do You Do To-Day?" is 26 lines in 7 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 77% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 71%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -AA pay · vA · meA
- 2 AABB blueA · doA · aliveB · driveB
- 3 AA-- loadA · roadA · ag'in · been
- 4 AABB ledA · aheadA · cameB · blameB
- 5 AA-BB mindA · kindA · things · willB · stillB
- 6 AABB trackA · backA · twoB · throughB
- 7 AA nightA · lightA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| You drew up that paper--I s'pose you want your pay. | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Don't cut down your figures; make it an X or a V; | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| For that 'ere written agreement was just the makin' of me. | 15 | ···/˘˘/˘···/˘·· |
| Goin' home that evenin' I tell you I was blue, | 13 | /˘··········· |
| Thinkin' of all my troubles, and what I was goin' to do; | 15 | /˘···/˘····/˘·· |
| And if my hosses hadn't been the steadiest team alive, | 14 | ···/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| They'd 've tipped me over, certain, for I couldn't see where to drive. | 16 | ······/˘··/˘···· |
| No--for I was laborin' under a heavy load; | 13 | ··········/˘· |
| No--for I was travelin' an entirely different road; | 16 | ········˘/˘˘/˘˘· |
| For I was a-tracin' over the path of our lives ag'in, | 16 | ···········/˘·˘/ |
| And seein' where we missed the way, and where we might have been. | 13 | ············· |
| And many a corner we'd turned that just to a quarrel led, | 15 | ·/˘·/˘······/˘· |
| When I ought to 've held my temper, and driven straight ahead; | 15 | ·······/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| And the more I thought it over the more these memories came, | 15 | ···········/˘˘· |
| And the more I struck the opinion that I was the most to blame. | 16 | ······˘/˘······· |
| And things I had long forgotten kept risin' in my mind, | 14 | ·····˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Of little matters betwixt us, where Betsey was good and kind; | 15 | ·/˘/˘˘/··/˘···· |
| And these things flashed all through me, as you know things | 11 | ··········· |
| sometimes will | 3 | ˘/· |
| When a feller's alone in the darkness, and every thing is still. | 17 | ··/˘˘/··/˘·/˘˘··· |
| "But," says I, "we're too far along to take another track, | 14 | ······˘/··˘/˘· |
| And when I put my hand to the plow I do not oft turn back; | 15 | ··············· |
| And 'tain't an uncommon thing now for couples to smash in two;" | 15 | ···˘/˘···/˘···· |
| And so I set my teeth together, and vowed I'd see it through. | 15 | ······˘/˘······ |
| When I come in sight o' the house 'twas some'at in the night, | 14 | ·············· |
| And just as I turned a hill-top I see the kitchen light; | 14 | ···········/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.