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The Delectable Ballad Of The Waller Lot

by Eugene Field

Up yonder in Buena Park

There is a famous spot,

In legend and in history

Yclept the Waller Lot.

There children play in daytime

And lovers stroll by dark,

For 't is the goodliest trysting-place

In all Buena Park.

Once on a time that beauteous maid,

Sweet little Sissy Knott,

Took out her pretty doll to walk

Within the Waller Lot.

While thus she fared, from Ravenswood

Came Injuns o'er the plain,

And seized upon that beauteous maid

And rent her doll in twain.

Oh, 't was a piteous thing to hear

Her lamentations wild;

She tore her golden curls and cried:

"My child! My child! My child!"

Alas, what cared those Injun chiefs

How bitterly wailed she?

They never had been mothers,

And they could not hope to be!

"Have done with tears," they rudely quoth,

And then they bound her hands;

For they proposed to take her off

To distant border lands.

But, joy! from Mr. Eddy's barn

Doth Willie Clow behold

The sight that makes his hair rise up

And all his blood run cold.

He put his fingers in his mouth

And whistled long and clear,

And presently a goodly horde

Of cow-boys did appear.

Cried Willie Clow: "My comrades bold,

Haste to the Waller Lot,

And rescue from that Injun band

Our charming Sissy Knott!"

"Spare neither Injun buck nor squaw,

But smite them hide and hair!

Spare neither sex nor age nor size,

And no condition spare!"

Then sped that cow-boy band away,

Full of revengeful wrath,

And Kendall Evans rode ahead

Upon a hickory lath.

And next came gallant Dady Field

And Willie's brother Kent,

The Eddy boys and Robbie James,

On murderous purpose bent.

For they were much beholden to

That maid - in sooth, the lot

Were very, very much in love

With charming Sissy Knott.

What wonder? She was beauty's queen,

And good beyond compare;

Moreover, it was known she was

Her wealthy father's heir!

Now when the Injuns saw that band

They trembled with affright,

And yet they thought the cheapest thing

To do was stay and fight.

So sturdily they stood their ground,

Nor would their prisoner yield,

Despite the wrath of Willie Clow

And gallant Dady Field.

Oh, never fiercer battle raged

Upon the Waller Lot,

And never blood more freely flowed

Than flowed for Sissy Knott!

An Injun chief of monstrous size

Got Kendall Evans down,

And Robbie James was soon o'erthrown

By one of great renown.

And Dady Field was sorely done,

And Willie Clow was hurt,

And all that gallant cow-boy band

Lay wallowing in the dirt.

But still they strove with might and main

Till all the Waller Lot

Was strewn with hair and gouts of gore -

All, all for Sissy Knott!

Then cried the maiden in despair:

"Alas, I sadly fear

The battle and my hopes are lost,

Unless some help appear!"

Lo, as she spoke, she saw afar

The rescuer looming up -

The pride of all Buena Park,

Clow's famous yellow pup!

"Now, sick'em, Don," the maiden cried,

"Now, sick'em, Don!" cried she;

Obedient Don at once complied -

As ordered, so did he.

He sicked'em all so passing well

That, overcome by fright,

The Indian horde gave up the fray

And safety sought in flight.

They ran and ran and ran and ran

O'er valley, plain, and hill;

And if they are not walking now,

Why, then, they're running still.

The cow-boys rose up from the dust

With faces black and blue;

"Remember, beauteous maid," said they,

"We've bled and died for you!"

"And though we suffer grievously,

We gladly hail the lot

That brings us toils and pains and wounds

For charming Sissy Knott!"

But Sissy Knott still wailed and wept,

And still her fate reviled;

For who could patch her dolly up -

Who, who could mend her child?

Then out her doting mother came,

And soothed her daughter then;

"Grieve not, my darling, I will sew

Your dolly up again!"

Joy soon succeeded unto grief,

And tears were soon dried up,

And dignities were heaped upon

Clow's noble yellow pup.

Him all that goodly company

Did as deliverer hail -

They tied a ribbon round his neck,

Another round his tail.

And every anniversary day

Upon the Waller Lot

They celebrate the victory won

For charming Sissy Knott.

And I, the poet of these folk,

Am ordered to compile

This truly famous history

In good old ballad style.

Which having done as to have earned

The sweet rewards of fame,

In what same style I did begin

I now shall end the same.

So let us sing: Long live the King,

Long live the Queen and Jack,

Long live the ten-spot and the ace,

And also all the pack.