{"id":18303,"date":"1911-10-21T23:29:36","date_gmt":"1911-10-21T12:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/twitter-259191736134410240-post"},"modified":"2019-04-18T02:59:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T02:59:10","slug":"cjbrogden-apparently-it-is-a-quote-from-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/?p=18303","title":{"rendered":"How McDougal Topped The Score"},"content":{"rendered":"

The husband of my first cousin, three times removed, Sarah Ann Christie<\/a>, was one Thomas Edward Spencer O’Brien better known as Thomas Edward Spencer<\/a>. He wrote this very famous ditty.<\/p>\n

\n

A peaceful spot is Pipers Flat.<\/em><\/p>\n

The fold that live around<\/em><\/p>\n

They keep themselves by keeping sheep and turning up the ground<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028But the climate is erratic and the consequences are<\/em><\/p>\n

The struggle with the elements is everlasting war<\/em><\/p>\n

We plough and sow and harrow, then sit and pray for rain<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And then we all get flooded out and have to start again<\/em><\/p>\n

But the folk are now rejoicing as they ne’er rejoiced before<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028For we’ve played Molongo at cricket and McDougal topped the score<\/em><\/p>\n

Molongo had a head on it and challenged us to play<\/em><\/p>\n

A single innings match for lunch, the losing team to pay<\/em><\/p>\n

We were not great guns at cricket, but we couldn’t well say no<\/em><\/p>\n

So we all began to practice and we let the reaping go<\/em><\/p>\n

We scoured the Flat for ten miles round to muster up our men<\/em><\/p>\n

But when the list was totaled we could only number ten<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028Then up spoke big Tim Brady, he was always slow to speak<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And he said, “What price McDougal who lives down at Coopers Creek?”<\/em><\/p>\n

So we sent for old McDougal and he stated in reply<\/em><\/p>\n

That he’d never played at cricket, but he’d half a mind to try<\/em><\/p>\n

He couldn’t come to practice – he was getting in his hay<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028But he guessed he’d show the beggars from Molongo how to play<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, McDougal was a Scotchman, and a canny one at that<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028So he started in to practice with a paling for a bat<\/em><\/p>\n

He got Mrs Mac to bowl to him, but she couldn’t run at all<\/em><\/p>\n

So he trained his sheep dog Pincher how to scout and fetch the ball<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, Pincher was no puppy, he was old and worn and grey<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028But he understood McDougal, and – accustomed to obey<\/em><\/p>\n

When McDougal cried out “Fetch it!” he would fetch it in a trice<\/em><\/p>\n

But, until the word was “Drop it!” he would grip it like a vice<\/em><\/p>\n

And each succeeding night they played until the light grew dim<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes McDougal struck the ball – sometimes the ball struck him<\/em><\/p>\n

Each time he struck the ball would plough a furrow in the ground<\/em><\/p>\n

And when he missed the impetus would turn him three times round<\/em><\/p>\n

The fatal day at last arrived – the day that was to see<\/em><\/p>\n

Molongo bite the dust or Pipers Flat knocked up a tree<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028Molongo’s captain won the toss and sent his men to bat<\/em><\/p>\n

And they gave some leather hunting to the men of Pipers Flat<\/em><\/p>\n

When the ball sped where McDougal stood, firm planted in his track<\/em><\/p>\n

He shut his eyes and turned him round and stopped it with his back!<\/em><\/p>\n

The highest score was twenty two, the total sixty six<\/em><\/p>\n

When Brady sent a Yorker down that scattered Johnson’s sticks<\/em><\/p>\n

The Pipers Flat went in to bat, for glory and renown<\/em><\/p>\n

But, like the grass before the scythe, our wickets tumbled down<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028Nine wickets down for seventeen with fifty more to win<\/em><\/p>\n

Our captain heaved a sigh, and sent McDougal in\u2028”Ten pounds to one you’ll lose it!” cried a barracker from the town<\/em><\/p>\n

But McDougal said, “I’ll take it mon!” and planted the money down<\/em><\/p>\n

Then he girded up his moleskins in a self reliant style<\/em><\/p>\n

Threw off his hat and boots and faced the bowler with a smile<\/em><\/p>\n

He held the bat the wrong side out and Johnson with a grin<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028Stepped lightly to the bowling crease and sent a “wobbler” in \u2028McDougal spooned it softly back and Johnson waited there<\/em><\/p>\n

But McDougal crying “Fetch it!” started running like a hare<\/em><\/p>\n

Molongo shouted “Victory!” He’s out as sure as eggs<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028When Pincher started throught the crowd and ran through Johnson’s legs<\/em><\/p>\n

He seized the ball like lightening then he ran behind a log<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And McDougal kept on running while Molongo chased the dog!<\/em><\/p>\n

They chased him up, they chased him down, they chased him round and then<\/em><\/p>\n

He darted through the slip-rail as the scorer shouted,<\/em><\/p>\n

“Ten!”\u2028McDougal puffed, Molongo swore, excitement was intense<\/em><\/p>\n

As the scorer marked down twenty,<\/em><\/p>\n

Pincher cleared a barbed wire fence\u2028”Let us head him!” shrieked Molongo, “Brain the mongrel with a bat!”\u2028”<\/em><\/p>\n

Run it out! Good old McDougal!” yelled the men from Pipers Flat<\/em><\/p>\n

And McDougal kept on jogging and then Pincher doubled back<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And the scorter counted “Forty” as they raced across the track<\/em>
\nMcDougal’s legs were going fast, Molongo’s breath was gone<\/em><\/p>\n

But still Molongo chased the dog – McDougal struggled on<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028When the scorer shouted “Fifty!”, then they knew the chase would cease<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And McDougal gasped out “Drop it!” as he dropped within his crease<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028Then Pincher dropped the ball and as instinctively he knew<\/em><\/p>\n

Discretion was the wiser plan, he disappeared from view<\/em><\/p>\n

And as Molongo’s beaten men exhausted lay around<\/em><\/p>\n

We raised McDougal shoulder high and bore him from the ground<\/em><\/p>\n

We bore him to McGinnis’s where lunch was ready laid<\/em><\/p>\n

And filled him up with whisky punch for which Molongo paid<\/em><\/p>\n

We drank his health in bumpers and we cheered him three times three<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And when Molongo got its breath Molongo joined the spree<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028And the critics say they never saw a cricket match like that<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028When McDougal broke the record in the game at Pipers Flat<\/em><\/p>\n

And the folk are jubilating as they never did before<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2028For we played Molongo cricket and McDougal topped the score!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The husband of my first cousin, three times removed, Sarah Ann Christie, was one Thomas Edward Spencer O’Brien better known[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"status","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[324,14],"tags":[159,160,161,163],"class_list":["post-18303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-status","hentry","category-christie","category-family-history","tag-cousins","tag-family-history","tag-how-mcdougal-topped-the-score","tag-twitter-2","post_format-post-format-status"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18303"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23045,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions\/23045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yewenyi.net\/wp\/fh\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}