{"id":7185,"date":"2021-06-07T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=7185"},"modified":"2021-06-07T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T05:00:00","slug":"the-bench-legged-fyce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/the-bench-legged-fyce\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bench-Legged Fyce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From The Birmingham Age Herald, June 7, 1913<\/a>. By Eugene Field.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dictionary.com: feist, <\/strong>also fice, fyce<\/strong>. Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.<\/em> A small mongrel dog, especially one that is ill-tempered; cur; mutt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Speakin\u2019 of dorgs, my bench-legged fyce\n Hed most o' the virtues, an' nary a vice.\n Some folks called him Sooner, a name that arose,\n From his predisposition to chronic repose;\n But, rouse his ambition, he couldn't be beat\u2014\n Yer bet he got thar on all his four feet!\n \n Mos\u2019 dorgs hez some forte\u2014like huntin\u2019 an\u2019 such,\n But the sports o\u2019 the field didn\u2019t bother him much;\n Wuz just a plain dorg\u2019 an\u2019 contented to be\n On peaceable terms with the neighbors an\u2019 me;\n Used to fiddle an\u2019 squirm, and grunt, \u201cOh, how, nice!\"\n When I tickled the back of that bench-legged fyce!\n \n He wuz long in the bar\u2019l, like a fyce oughter be;\n His color wuz yaller as ever you see;\n His tail, curlin\u2019 upward, wuz long, loose, an\u2019 slim\u2014\n When he didn\u2019t wag it, why, the tail it wagged him!\n His legs wuz so crooked, my bench legged pup\n Wuz as tall settin\u2019 down as he wuz standin\u2019 up!\n \n He\u2019d lie by the stove of a night an\u2019 regret\n The various vittles an\u2019 things he had et;\n When a stranger, most like a tramp, come along,\n He\u2019d lift up his voice in significant song\u2014\n You wondered, by gum! how there ever wuz space\n In that bosom o\u2019 his\u2019n to hold so much bass!\n \n Of daytimes he\u2019d sneak to the road an\u2019 lie down,\n An\u2019 tackle the country dorgs comin' to town;\n By common consent he wuz boss in St. Joe,\n For what he took hold of he never let go!\n An\u2019 a dude that come courtin\u2019 our girl left a slice\n Of his white flannel suit with our bench-legged fyce!\n \n He wuz good to us kids\u2014when we pulled at his fur\n Or twisted his tail he would never demur;\n He seemed to enjoy all our play an\u2019 our chaff,\n For his tongue \u2019u\u2019d hang out an\u2019 he\u2019d laff an\u2019 he\u2019d laff;\n An\u2019 once, when the Hobart boy fell through the ice,\n He wuz drug clean ashore by that bench legged fyce!\n \n We all hev our choice, an\u2019 you, like the rest,\n Allow that the dorg which you\u2019ve got is the best!\n I wouldn\u2019t give much for the boy \u2019at grows up\n With no friendship subsistin\u2019 \u2019tween him an\u2019 a pup!\n When a fellow gits old\u2014I tell you its nice\n To think of his youth, and his bench legged fyce!\n \n To think of the springtime \u2019way back in St. Joe\u2014\n Of the peach trees abloom an\u2019 the daisies ablow;\n To think of the play in the medder an\u2019 grove,\n When little legs wrassled an\u2019 little hands strove;\n To think of the loyalty, valor, an\u2019 truth\n Of the friendships that hallow the season of youth!<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
 Speakin\u2019 of dorgs, my bench-legged fyce
\n Hed most o’ the virtues, an’ nary a vice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[119],"class_list":["post-7185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-birmingham-age-herald","tag-eugene-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}