The following poem, written by Mrs. Margith Jackson Meis and her
father, Clinton Jackson of Stillwater, Minn., will be of interest
to all of you. Mrs. Meis says, ‘All of the people referred to
in ‘The Song of the Steam Engineer’ are real as are the
incidents.’ She hopes the people mentioned will get a
‘kick’ out of reading it and that it will prove to be
‘Although I am a member of the ‘weaker'(!) sex, I
certainly do get a thrill out of running our steam engines together
with Dad. Believe me, it was a lot of hard work scraping the dirt
and grease off, cleaning, and painting them and getting them in
tip-top running condition, but we both agree it was worth the
effort. My favorite is the Avery Undermounted, which is the
smoothest running little (although it is anything but little!)
‘honey’ ever. It is truly a ‘lady’s’ engine
because of its handling ease.’
(Can be sung to the tune of ‘The Martins and the Coys’
by Weems and Cameron)
Gather ’round me children and I’ll tell
a story
Of Wisconsin in the days of long ago.
When a man could make a living
Without robbin’ or a-thievin’.
In the days when steam engines were
all the go.
Oh, the Jacksons and the Moys,
They were old-time thresher boys;
And to get the golden grain out of the
straw,
They would get up in the morning
Long before the cock was crowing
Blow the whistle though it was agin
the law.
They would get their crews together in
the mornin’
Filled them up with flapjacks and
potato pie,
Hooked the horses to the wagons
To get started without braggin’
Was the hope of ev’ry honest thresher
guy.
Oh, Gil Johnson and his boys
Thought that they could make some
noise
So he organized a good steam engine
show,
Got a-hold of an old Huber
And an engineer named Stuber,
Then they steamed it up and really let
‘er go!
