The Little Jay Town, says Ed Vance Cook, Is only found in the story book. And every village that he has seen Is smart and dapper and new and clean, And the people revel in city dress With metropolitan worldliness; Well, most of what he has said is true But—Ed's forgotten a town or two. As long as you stick to the broad highway The towns are smart and the towns are gay, But follow the by-roads now and then And you'll find they are something else again; For back in the woods where the tree-frogs call The Little Jay Town ain't gone at all, The hayseeds linger, the rubes are thick And the average citizen's a hick. There shall you find as you wander in Suspenders held with a safety pin. The hickory shirt and the congress boots And thick old-fashioned black Sunday suits. There does the celluloid collar shine As it did in the season of ninety-nine. And the flannel petticoat holds its own And silken stockings are quite unknown. We're growing modern, and that's a fact, But here and there you will find intact The spot where the Little Jay Town survives, Where people peacefully live their lives, Grow up and marry and settle down Congenital hicks in a true jay town. No rube towns left? If Ed will come Along with me I will show him some. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO W.E.B. DUBOIS - SCHOLAR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON KING DAVID by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET GREEN SYMPHONY by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER ON EXPLORATION by JAMES GALVIN THE CANDLE INDOORS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 34. THE DARK GLASS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 79. THE MONOCHORD by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI INSOMNIA by EDITH MATILDA THOMAS ON SEEING THE SUN SHINE ... MY WINDOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE YEAR by LUCY AIKEN |