<h2><SPAN name="THE_RAGGEDY_MAN" id="THE_RAGGEDY_MAN"></SPAN>THE RAGGEDY MAN</h2>
<h3>BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY</h3>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">O the Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' he's the goodest man ever you saw!<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He comes to our house every day,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' he opens the shed—an' we all ist laugh<br/></span>
<span class="i0">When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' nen—ef our hired girl says he can—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Aint he a' awful good Raggedy Man?<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">W'y, The Raggedy Man—he's ist so good<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood;<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' nen he spades in our garden, too,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' does most things 'at <i>boys</i> can't do!—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He clumbed clean up in our big tree<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' shooked a' apple down fer me—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' nother'n, too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' nother'n, too, fer The Raggedy Man.—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Aint he a' awful kind Raggedy Man?<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes:<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers therselves!<br/></span><span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_644" id="Page_644"></SPAN></span>
<span class="i0">An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann!<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Aint he a funny old Raggedy Man?<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">The Raggedy Man—one time when he<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Wuz makin' a little bow-'n'-orry fer me,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Says "When <i>you're</i> big like your Pa is,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Air you go' to keep a fine store like his—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' be a rich merchunt—an' wear fine clothes?—<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Er what <i>air</i> you go' to be, goodness knows!"<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!—<br/></span>
<span class="i2">I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!"<br/></span>
<span class="i4">Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!<br/></span>
<span class='pagenum'><SPAN name="Page_645" id="Page_645"></SPAN></span></div>
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