“The Filer”

Description

Recitation. On a spree, Jim McCloud tells his foreman to cut off his leg, as it's loose. The foreman offers to cut Jim's head (his "weakest part") off instead. Jim answers that a foreman doesn't need to use his head, but a filer does, so he'll keep it

Long description

Recitation; Jim McCloud is a filer of saws in a lumber-camp; a drinker, he's sometime gone for a week at a time. After one of these sprees, he tells his foreman to cut off his leg, as it's loose. The foreman says that's too hard a job for him, and offers to cut Jim's head off instead, "as that is your weakest part." Jim replies that while a foreman doesn't need to use his head, a filer does, so he'll keep it.

Notes

This, like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS

References

  1. Beck 99, "The Filer" (1 text)
  2. Roud #8878
  3. BI, Be099

About

Author: Probably Marion Ellsworth
Earliest date: 1941 (Beck)
Found in: US(MW)