Ground Hawg Day in Punkin Center

Uncle Josh

Ground Hawg Day at Punkin Center

(Cal Stewart, circa 1900)(Laugh when you see an 'H')



Waal, ‘long last spring ‘bout the fust of February,

We wuz all sottin ‘round Ezry Hoskin’s grucery store, an Cy Pettengill said,

Ezry, what’s this here story ‘bout ground hawg comin out an seein his shader,



an Ezry said, waal, Cy, if a ground hawg comes out an sees his shader,

He goes back inta the ground agin an stays thar 6 weeks longer, an

That’s a sign we’re gonna have 6 weeks more a’winter weather, but

If he don’t see his shader, he stays out, an that is a sign that winter is over, an Cy says



Well, Ezry, I guess we’re goin t’have 6 weeks more of winter weather,

I just come past Jabez Fisher’s butcher shop, an

He’s got the sausage hangin out an sun shinin on it,

An Ezry says, Well, Cy, what’s a sausage got t’do with it,

An Cy says, wall, that’s ground hawg ain’t it? (H)



Well, Jim Lawson says, let’s all go down t’the timber patch an

See if we can see a ground hawg, Well we all went down, there was,

Jim Lawson, Ezry Hoskins, Cy Pettingill, Reuben Hendricks, an

Me an Deacon Witherspoon.

Wall, we got down thar, we wuz settin on a rail fence

Chawin tobakker, whittlin, an lookin around, an all at once Jim says,



I seed one, he went in that hole right thar, an Jim got down, went over to th’hole an got down on his hands n’knees an Went t’lookin in thar, an

All t’once he jumped up, let a war whoop out of im an

Started a’runnin, an never stopped ‘till he got clar down t’the crick an

Jumped right inta the middle of it. (H)



Well, when we got down thar, all we could see o’Jim, was his ears and nose a stickin out, an Ezry says, Jim, what’s the matter of ya, have ya gone crazy?

an Jim says, Ezry, that wan’t no ground hawg, it wuz a skunk. (H)

Ezry says, well, it smelled like an automobile that went by , well



We got Jim out, got him some more clothes, an buried his old ones, an

Then we took him up to th’barn, locked him up an

Give’im his meals at the end of a pole. an Cy Pettingill remarked,

We might not have 6 weeks more of winter weather, but

T’would be about 6 weeks before Jim Lawson got out into society agin, (H)



Well, we used t’give Jim a dollar a Sunday t’sing in th’choir down to th’church, but now,They’re givin him a dollar every Sunday t’stay away, (H)