Iry and Billy Jo
Iry an’ Billy an’ Jo!—
Iry an’ Billy’s _the boys_,
An’ _Jo’s_ their _dog_, you know,—
Their pictures took all in a row.
Bet they kin kick up a noise—
Iry and Billy, the boys,
And that-air little dog Jo!
_Iry’s_ the one 'at stands
Up there a-lookin’ so mild
An’ meek—with his hat in his hands,
Like such a 'bediant child—
(_Sakes-alive_!)—An’ _Billy_ he sets
In the cheer an’ holds onto Jo an’ _sweats_
Hisse’f, a-lookin’ so good! Ho-ho!
Iry an’ Billy an’ Jo!
Yit the way them boys, you know,
Usen to jes turn in
An’ fight over that dog Jo
Wuz a burnin’-shame-an’-a-sin!—
Iry _he’d_ argy 'at, by gee-whizz!
That-air little Jo-dog wuz _his_!—
An’ Billy _he’d_ claim it wuzn’t so—
'Cause the dog wuz _his’n_!—An’ at it they’d go,
Nip-an’-tugg, tooth-an’-toenail, you know—
Iry an’ Billy an’ Jo!
But their Pa—(He wuz the marshal then)
He ‘tended-like ’at he _jerked 'em up_;
An’ got a jury o’ Brickyard men
An’ helt a _trial_ about the pup:
An’ _he_ says _he_ jes like to a-died
When the rest o’ us town-boys _testified_—
Regardin’, you know,
Iry an’ Billy an’ Jo.—
'Cause we all knowed, when _the Gypsies_ they
Camped down here by the crick last Fall,
They brung Jo with 'em, an’ give him away
To Iry an’ Billy fer nothin’ at all!—
So the jury fetched in the _verdick_ so
Jo he ain’t _neether_ o’ theirn fer _shore_—
He’s _both_ their dog, an’ jes no more!
An’ so
They’ve quit quarrelin’ long ago,
Iry an’ Billy an’ Jo.
