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The Lost Auto

From The Topeka State Journal, December 8, 1913. By Roy K. Moulton.

Lying one day neath the auto,
    Sweating and soaked with oil;
I worked at a cranky engine
    And my only reward was toil.

I know not what I was saying,
    As I tinkered and wrenched and tore;
I doubt not ’twas something quite savage,
    It may be I even swore.

My patience gave out on that engine,
    With a hammer I hit it a thump
That jarred loose some thingamadinkus
    And started it up at a jump.

Before one could twinkle an eyelid,
    Before there was time for surprise,
That car tore away down the highway,
    And I lay glaring up at the skies.

I sprang up and madly I followed,
    But soon gave it up in disgust,
For that runaway car quickly vanished
    In a thick snorting cyclone of dust.

I sought it in byways and hedges,
    In highways and in busy streets;
And, though I made thorough inquiries,
    With never a trace did I meet.

Perhaps in some future existence,
    In worlds far beyond mortal’s ken,
I shall once more make search for that auto,
    But I doubt if I find it then.

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