{"id":9657,"date":"2020-12-20T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poetry.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=20"},"modified":"2020-12-20T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T01:00:00","slug":"a-strenuous-courtship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/a-strenuous-courtship\/","title":{"rendered":"A Strenuous Courtship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><em>From The Topeka State Journal, December 20, 1912. By Roy K. Moulton.<\/em>\n \n\n Hank annexed a motorcycle\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Of the chugging, snorting kind,\n Then he went and called for Sadie\n &nbsp; &nbsp; And she clambered on behind.\n \n Through the city street they snorted\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Forty-seven miles an hour,\n Scaring people, dogs, and horses,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Always crowding on more power.\n \n Sadie wrapped both arms around him\n &nbsp; &nbsp; And she hung on for dear life,\n Faster, faster, cutting through the\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Atmosphere just like a knife.\n \n Jolting, jarring, popping, snapping,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Like the fourth day of July,\n On the wings of John D.\u2019s petrol\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Did our Hank and Sadie fly.\n \n Hank he hollered: \u201cHonest, Sadie,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Ain\u2019t it what you might call bliss?\n \u2019Tis a cinch, my little lady,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; I could ride through life like this.\u201d\n \n \u201cThere ain\u2019t nuthin\u2019 to prevent it,\u201d\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Screamed our Sadie in his ear,\n But the motor was so noisy,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Hank could not exactly hear.\n \n Seven times did Sadie scream and\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Try to make him understand;\n Finally he got her answer\n &nbsp; &nbsp; And he blushed to beat the band.\n \n Then he turned around to kiss her.\n &nbsp; &nbsp; \u2019Tis a foolish thing to do\n When you\u2019re on a bumpy highway,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; And you\u2019re hitting fifty-two.\n \n Some time later they were rescued,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; They were hanging in a tree;\n Sadie, she was bruised and shaken,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Hank had just a busted knee.\n \n In the hospital they married,\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Showing that they still had spunk,\n Then he sold the motorcycle\n &nbsp; &nbsp; To a man who dealt in junk.\n \n That was many moths ago and\n &nbsp; &nbsp; Now on cycles they don\u2019t ride.\n But they run a horseless carriage\n &nbsp; &nbsp; With a cherub tucked inside.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Hank annexed a motorcycle<br \/>\n     Of the chugging, snorting kind,<br \/>\n Then he went and called for Sadie<br \/>\n     And she clambered on behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,21],"tags":[267],"class_list":["post-9657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-topeka-state-journal","tag-roy-k-moulton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9657","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=9657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}