From The Wit and Humor of America, edited by Marshall P. Wilder, Volume IV, New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls and Company, 1911; pp. 643-644.

THE RAGGEDY MAN

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

O the Raggedy Man! He works for Pa;
An’ he’s the goodest man ever you saw!
He comes to our house every day,
An’ waters the horses, an’ feeds ’em hay;
An’ he opens the shed — a’ we all ist laugh
When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;
An’ nen — ef our hired girl says he can —
He milks the cow fer ’Lizabuth Ann. —
     Ain he a’ awful good Raggedy Man?
          Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!


     W’y, The Raggedy Man — he’s ist so good
He split’s the kindlin’ an’ chops the wood;
An’ nen he sapdes in our garden, too,
An’ does most things ’at boys can’t do! —
He clumbed clean up in our big tree
An’ shooked a’ apple down fer me —
An’ nother’n, too, fer ’Lizabuth Ann —
An’ nother’n, too, fer The Raggedy Man. —
     Ain he a’ awful kind Raggedy Man?
          Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!


An’ The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes
An’ tells ’em, ef I be good, sometimes:
Knows ’bout Giunts, an’ Grifuns, an’ Elves,
An’ the Squidgicum-Squees’ at swallers therselves!
644 An’, wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,
He showed me the hole ’at the Wunks is got,
’At lives ’way deep in the ground, an’ can
Turn into me, er ’Lizabuth Ann!
     Ain he a funny old Raggedy Man?
          Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!


The Raggedy Man — one time when he
Wuz makin’ a little bow-’n’-orry fer me,
Says “When you’re big like your Pa is,
Air you go’ to keep a fine store like his —
An’ be a rich merchunt — an’ wear fine clothes? —
Er what air you go’ to be, goodness knows!”
An’ nen he laughed at’Lizabuth Ann,
An’ I says “’M go’ to be a Raggedy Man! —
     I’m ist go’ to be a nice Raggedy Man!”
          Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!