The Good, Old-Fashioned People

When we hear Uncle Sidney tell         About the long-ago      An' old, old friends he loved so well         When he was young - My-oh! -      Us childern all wish we'd 'a' bin         A-livin' then with Uncle, - so      We could a-kindo' happened in         On them old friends he used to know! -          The good, old-fashioned people -          The hale, hard-working people -          The kindly country people             'At Uncle used to know!      They was God's people, Uncle says,         An' gloried in His name,      An' worked, without no selfishness,         An' loved their neighbers same      As they was kin: An' when they biled         Their tree-molasses, in the Spring,      Er butchered in the Fall, they smiled         An' sheered with all jist ever'thing! -          The good, old-fashioned people -          The hale, hard-working people -          The kindly country people             'At Uncle used to know!      He tells about 'em, lots o' times,         Till we'd all ruther hear      About 'em than the Nurs'ry Rhymes         Er Fairies - mighty near! -      Only sometimes he stops so long         An' then talks on so low an' slow,      It's purt'-nigh sad as any song         To listen to him talkin' so          Of the good, old-fashioned people -          The hale, hard-working people -          The kindly country people             'At Uncle used to know!