The Old Cane Mill By Nellie Gregg Tomlinson

"What's sorghum¹?" Don't you know sorghum?

My gran'son nigh sixteen,

Don't boys know nothin' nowadays?

Beats all I ever seen.

Why sorghum's the bulliest stuff

Wuz ever made ter eat.

You spread it thick on homemade bread;

It's most oncommon sweet.

"Come from?" Wall yer jist better bet

It don't come from no can.

Jus' b'iled down juice from sorghum cane²,

Straight I'way 'lasses bran'.

"What's cane?" It's some like corn, yer know,

An' topped with plumes³ o' seed.

Grows straight an' tall on yaller clay

That wouldn't grow a weed.

Long in September when 'twuz ripe,

The cane-patch battle field

Wuz charged by boys with wooden swords,

Good temper wuz their shield.

They stripped the stalks of all their leaves,

Then men, with steel knives keen

Slashed⁴ off the heads and cut the stalks

An' piled them straight an' clean.

The tops wuz saved ter feed the hens,

Likewise fer nex' year's seed.

The farmer allus has ter save

Against the futur's need.

The neighbors cum from miles erbout

An' fetched the cane ter mill.

They stacked it high betwixt two trees,

At Gran'dads, on the hill.

An' ol' hoss turned the cane mill sweep,

He led hisself erroun.

The stalks wuz fed inter⁵ the press,

From them the sap wuz groun'.

This juice run through a little trough

Ter pans beneath a shed;

There it wuz b'iled an' skimmed and b'iled,

Till it wuz thick an' red.

Then it wuz cooled an' put in bar'ls

An' toted off to town

While us kids got ter lick the pan,

Which job wuz dun up brown.

Gee⁶ whiz! but we did hev good times

At taffy pullin' bees.

We woun' the taffy roun' girls' necks—

Bob wuz the biggest tease.

Inside the furnace, on live coals,

We het cane stalks red hot,

Then hit 'em hard out on the groun'—

Yer oughter hear 'em pop!

Sometimes a barefoot boy would step

Inter the skimmin's hole,

Er pinch his fingers in the mill,

Er fall off from the pole.

When winter winds went whis'lin' through

The door an' winder cracks,

An' piled up snow wuz driftin'

Till yer couldn't see yer tracks,

Then we all drawed roun' the table

An' passed the buckwheat cakes,

Er mebbe it wuz good corn bread.

"What's sorghum?" Good lan' sakes.

Wall, son, yer hev my symperthy;

Yer've missed a lot, I swan.

Oh, sure yer dance an' joy-ride

Frum ev'nin' untel dawn,

Yer've football, skates an' golf ter he'p

The passin' time ter kill,

But give me mem'ry's boyhood days,

Erroun' the ol' cane mill.

1 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

2 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

3 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

4 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 inter   

v.埋葬

参考例句：

• They interred their dear comrade in the arms.他们埋葬了他们亲爱的战友。
• The man who died in that accident has been interred.在那次事故中死的那个人已经被埋葬了。

6 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！