DE BLACK CAT CROSSED HIS LUCK.

O DE Black Cat cotch ole Sambo Lee, As he come home f’om a jamboree! De cat sot up in a juniper tree, Shakin’ ob his sides wid glee. De moon was sailin’ oberhead— Sam’s h’aht felt lak a lump o’ lead. Black Cat grinned an’ wonk one eye, Licked his paws an’ gib a sigh, An’ den he cried: “Me-ow, me-ow— Upon ma soul ah’m got you now! Fall down an’ pray, po’ cullud man, Foh de ole Black Cat done call yo’ han’.” Sam los’ his job de very nex’ day; An’ when he went to git his pay, Got bit by a po’ man’s dog— Policeman beat him wid his log— Got arrested, put in jail— Had to hustle hahd foh bail— Lost his lawsuit, sprained his jaw Wranglin’ wid his mother-in-law— Lost his best ob lady lubs— Got knocked out wid de boxin’-glubs— Got hel’ up an’ lost his roll— Robber almose took his soul! Sam went to de hospital— Three weeks passed ’fo’ he got well. Played de races—got broke flat; An’ all because ob dat Black Cat! Den to de cunjah-man Sam sped, An’ dis am whut de cunjah-man said: “Black Cat am a pow’ful man; Ruinin’ mo’tals am his plan. Ole Satan an’ de ’Riginal Sin Am de daddy an’ mammy o’ him. He’s got nine hundred an’ ninety-nine libes— Nineteen thousan’ an’ ninety-nine wibes— He’s kin to cholera an’ allied To smallpox on de mammy’s side; An’ all de ebils on de earf Stahted at de Black Cat’s birf!— Jes’ stop an’ die right whah you’s at, Ef yo’ luck bin crossed by de ole Black Cat!” An’ den Sam read in history Dat a cat crossed Pharaoh by de see, An’ burried him, as sho’s you bo’n, Too deep to heah ole Gabriel’s ho’n! An’ dat de cat crossed Jonah once, An’ made him ack a regular dunce. Crossed Bonaparte at Waterloo, An’ got Jeems Blaine defeated, too. “Oh, Laud a-mussy now on me!” Cried Sam, “an’ on his history!” An’ den Sam went an’ killed de cat— Swo’e he’d make an end o’ dat:— Burried him in de light o’ de moon, Wid a rabbit’s-foot an’ a silver spoon. But de Black Cat riz, an’ swallered him whole— Bu’nt his house an’ took his soul!