Little Mack
This talk about the journalists that run the East is bosh,We've got a Western editor that's little, but, O gosh!He lives here in Mizzoora where the people are so setIn ante-bellum notions that they vote for Jackson yet;But the paper he is running makes the rusty fossils swear,--The smartest, likeliest paper that is printed anywhere!And, best of all, the paragraphs are pointed as a tack,And that's because they emanateFrom little Mack.
In architecture he is what you'd call a chunky man,As if he'd been constructed on the summer cottage plan;He has a nose like Bonaparte; and round his mobile mouthLies all the sensuous languor of the children of the South;His dealings with reporters who affect a weekly bustHave given to his violet eyes a shadow of distrust;In glorious abandon his brown hair wanders backFrom the grand Websterian foreheadOf little Mack.
No matter what the item is, if there's an item in it,You bet your life he's on to it and nips it in a minute!From multifarious nations, countries, monarchies, and lands,From Afric's sunny fountains and India's coral strands,From Greenland's icy mountains and Siloam's shady rills,He gathers in his telegrams, and Houser pays the bills;What though there be a dearth of news, he has a happy knackOf scraping up a lot of scoops,Does little Mack.
And learning? Well he knows the folks of every tribe and ageThat ever played a part upon this fleeting human stage;His intellectual system's so extensive and so greedyThat, when it comes to records, he's a walkin' cyclopedy;For having studied (and digested) all the books a-goin',It stands to reason he must know about all's worth a-knowin'!So when a politician with a record's on the track,We're apt to hear some historyFrom little Mack.
And when a fellow-journalist is broke and needs a twenty,Who's allus ready to whack up a portion of his plenty?Who's allus got a wallet that's as full of sordid gainAs his heart is full of kindness and his head is full of brain?Whose bowels of compassion will in-va-ri-a-bly moveTheir owner to those courtesies which plainly, surely proveThat he's the kind of person that never does go backOn a fellow that's in trouble?Why, little Mack!
I've heard 'em tell of Dana, and of Bonner, and of Reid,Of Johnnie Cockerill, who, I'll own, is very smart indeed;Yet I don't care what their renown or influence may be,One metropolitan exchange is quite enough for me!So keep your Danas, Bonners, Reids, your Cockerills, and the rest,The woods is full of better men all through this woolly West;For all that sleek, pretentious, Eastern editorial packWe wouldn't swap the shadow ofOur little Mack!
Words in this poem 15
- bosh n.
- Figure; outline; show. [Cf. G. posse joke, trifle; It. bozzo a rough stone, bozzetto a rough sketch, s-bozzo a rough draught, sketch.]
- emanate v. i.
- To issue forth from a source; to flow out from more or less constantly; as, fragrance emanates from flowers. [L. emanare, emanatum, to emanate; e out + manare to flow, prob. for madnare, and akin to madere to be wet, drip, madidus wet, drenched, drunk, Gr. mad to boil, ]
- chunky a.
- Short and thick. [U. S.] Kane.
- sensuous a.
- Of or pertaining to the senses, or sensible objects; addressing the senses; suggesting pictures or images of sense.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- multifarious a.
- Having multiplicity; having great diversity or variety; of various kinds; diversified; made up of many differing parts; manifold. [L. multifarius; multus much, many. Cf. Bifarious.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- dearth n.
- Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.]
- knack v. i.
- To crack; to make a sharp, abrupt noise to chink. [Obs. or Prov. [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. G. knacken to break, Dan. knage to crack, and E. knock.]
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- whack v. t.
- To strike; to beat; to give a heavy or resounding blow to; to thrash; to make with whacks. [Cf. Thwack.]
- sordid a.
- Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
- swap v. t.
- To strike; -- with off. [OE. swappen to strike; cf. E. to strike a bargain; perh. akin to E. sweep. Cf. Swap a blow, Swap, v. i.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Little Mack is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Little Book of Western Verse, Project Gutenberg ebook #9606; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Little Mack, in A Little Book of Western Verse (1889), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9606, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-western-verse/little-mack.html, id L24631.
Form and metre
Little Mack is 54 lines in 6 stanzas of 9 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 63% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 AABBCCD-D boshA · goshA · setB · yetB · swearC · anywhereC · tackD · emanate · mackD
- 2 AABBCCD-D manA · planA · mouthB · southB · bustC · distrustC · backD · forehead · mackD
- 3 AABBCCD-D itA · minuteA · landsB · strandsB · rillsC · billsC · knackD · scoops · mackD
- 4 AABB--C-C ageA · stageA · greedyB · cyclopedyB · goin · knowin · trackC · history · mackC
- 5 AABBCCD-D twentyA · plentyA · gainB · brainB · moveC · proveC · backD · trouble · mackD
- 6 AABBCCD-D reidA · indeedA · beB · meB · restC · westC · packD · of · mackD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This talk about the journalists that run the East is bosh, | 14 | ·····/˘˘······ |
| We've got a Western editor that's little, but, O gosh! | 14 | ···/˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| He lives here in Mizzoora where the people are so set | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| In ante-bellum notions that they vote for Jackson yet; | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘····/˘· |
| But the paper he is running makes the rusty fossils swear,-- | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The smartest, likeliest paper that is printed anywhere! | 14 | ·/˘/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And, best of all, the paragraphs are pointed as a tack, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| And that's because they emanate | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From little Mack. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| In architecture he is what you'd call a chunky man, | 14 | ·/˘·˘······/˘· |
| As if he'd been constructed on the summer cottage plan; | 14 | ····˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| He has a nose like Bonaparte; and round his mobile mouth | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| Lies all the sensuous languor of the children of the South; | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| His dealings with reporters who affect a weekly bust | 14 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| Have given to his violet eyes a shadow of distrust; | 14 | ·/··/˘˘··/··˘/ |
| In glorious abandon his brown hair wanders back | 13 | ·/˘˘˘/˘···/˘· |
| From the grand Websterian forehead | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of little Mack. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| No matter what the item is, if there's an item in it, | 15 | ·/˘··/˘····/˘·· |
| You bet your life he's on to it and nips it in a minute! | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| From multifarious nations, countries, monarchies, and lands, | 14 | ·····/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| From Afric's sunny fountains and India's coral strands, | 14 | ···/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| From Greenland's icy mountains and Siloam's shady rills, | 13 | ·/˘/˘/˘···/˘· |
| He gathers in his telegrams, and Houser pays the bills; | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| What though there be a dearth of news, he has a happy knack | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Of scraping up a lot of scoops, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Does little Mack. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And learning? Well he knows the folks of every tribe and age | 14 | ·/˘······/˘··· |
| That ever played a part upon this fleeting human stage; | 14 | ·/˘······/˘/˘· |
| His intellectual system's so extensive and so greedy | 15 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/˘··/˘ |
| That, when it comes to records, he's a walkin' cyclopedy; | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘···· |
| For having studied (and digested) all the books a-goin', | 15 | ·/˘/˘·/·˘····/˘ |
| It stands to reason he must know about all's worth a-knowin'! | 15 | ···/˘·········· |
| So when a politician with a record's on the track, | 14 | ····˘/˘··/˘··· |
| We're apt to hear some history | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| From little Mack. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And when a fellow-journalist is broke and needs a twenty, | 15 | ···/˘/˘˘·····/˘ |
| Who's allus ready to whack up a portion of his plenty? | 15 | ···/˘····/˘··/˘ |
| Who's allus got a wallet that's as full of sordid gain | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| As his heart is full of kindness and his head is full of brain? | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Whose bowels of compassion will in-va-ri-a-bly move | 14 | ·/˘·˘/˘······· |
| Their owner to those courtesies which plainly, surely prove | 14 | ·/˘··/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| That he's the kind of person that never does go back | 13 | ·····/˘·/˘··· |
| On a fellow that's in trouble? | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Why, little Mack! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I've heard 'em tell of Dana, and of Bonner, and of Reid, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| Of Johnnie Cockerill, who, I'll own, is very smart indeed; | 15 | ·/˘/˘·····/˘·˘/ |
| Yet I don't care what their renown or influence may be, | 14 | ······˘/·/˘˘·· |
| One metropolitan exchange is quite enough for me! | 14 | ··˘/˘˘˘/··˘/·· |
| So keep your Danas, Bonners, Reids, your Cockerills, and the rest, | 15 | ···/˘/˘··/˘···· |
| The woods is full of better men all through this woolly West; | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| For all that sleek, pretentious, Eastern editorial pack | 14 | ····˘/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| We wouldn't swap the shadow of | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Our little Mack! | 5 | /˘/˘· |
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.