The Old Dutch Oven

by Arthur Chapman

Some sigh for cooks of boyhood days, but none of them for me;
One roundup cook was best of all--'t was with the X-Bart-T.
And when we heard the grub-pile call at morning, noon, and night,
The old Dutch oven never failed to cook the thing just right.

'T was covered o'er with red-hot coals, and when we fetched her out,
The biscuits there were of the sort no epicure would flout.
I ain't so strong for boyhood grub,'cause, summer, spring, or fall,
The old Dutch oven backed the stuff that tasted best of all.

Perhaps 't was 'cause our appetites were always mighty sharp--
The men who ride the cattle ain't apt to kick or carp:
But, anyway, I find myself a-dreaming of the bread
The old Dutch oven backed for us beneath those coals so red.

( The copy I have, Baked was spelled Backed!) I don't know why. May be a typo, Or that's how the original was. Don't know, but enjoy it .... It's old. Like me.