THE PINEY WOODS PEDDLER

Flat but sturdy full-page figures, contained in piney frames, give a tangible substantiality to the exchanges transacted by the carefree piney woods peddler, who's off to find a shiny silver dollar so his dear darling daughter can buy some pretty things. Agreeable to any suggestion, the peddler swaps his horse for a cow, the cow for a dog, and the dog for a stick. The fun begins when a snake bites the stick and causes it to swell with poison. A railroad man takes the stick and cuts it into ""three hundred and three strong railroad ties."" He has promised a dollar in payment, but reduces that to a dime when a rain washes the poison out and so shrinks the wood. Never mind: The little daughter is happy with the dime (""dear and darling like me!""), and the peddler, undisturbed by the fact that he's traded his horse for a dime, goes off trading again for her dollar--a-singing his constant refrain as he goes: ""With a wing, wang waddle/And a great big straddle/And a Jack-fair laddie/It's a long way from home."" The tale is told with a few such oral jigs and a total, take-it-or-leave-it absence of comment, and it's pictured with a down-to-earth stylishness which assures that its audience will take it, without blinking an eye.