Submitted By: Glenn Harvey in remembrance of his father.
A Bit of Bailin Wire
Harry
H. Harvey
You
can talk
about the hairpin
And its wide and
varied fame,
And
of the
female ingenuity in
Handling of the
same.
But,
for plain
and fancy genius nod
The bird that I
admire,
Is
a tough old
Phenix hombre
With a piece of
Balin Wire.
You
can go from
Phenix to Roanoke
Or by roadway to
the gap.
Stop
at Aspen,
Climb to Brookneal,
Wander all
around the map.
Go
by rail or
trail or roadway
Where and far as
you desire,
But
there is no
place you can go
And not find
Balin Wire.
You
will see it
on the trucks
And lumber or in
the mill.
It’s
used for
nearly everything
That’s used in
these hills.
If
a feller
cracks a singletree
Or louses up a
tire,
Or
splits a
toung or breaks a spring,
He grabs a piece
of Bailin Wire.
On
harness it
can substitute
For lugs and run
to the bit,
You
can twist it
with scores of tools,
And weave a bunk
with it.
As
a mule whip
its authority
Is severe and
dire.
And
there has
been some rustlers
In the hills got
hung with Bailin Wire.
It
will take the
place of nails
Or make a handle
for a pail
And
you can
anchor up your pants with it
In case your
suspenders fail.
And
it’s good
for hundreds of other
Things if you
enquire,
And
Phenix would
not have been settled yet
Except for Bailin Wire.
Other Poems by Harry H. Harvey and A Salute to the USS Maine