1904, Anacortes, WA: “Two Klooches” doggerel
I figure, given the racialized nature of today’s Pacific Northwest folklore poetry, that a “bussle (bustle) of hops” might have a double meaning:
- A woman drunk on beer
- A Native woman portrayed as having stolen from her farmer employer
Image credit: Poocoo Scrabble Dictionary
And I figure “lollapulallup” was a very up-to-the-moment slang joke on the then-new word “lollapalooza”.
See what you think of this little item in multiple-limerick form.
Two Klooches.
Two Klooches came up from Puyallup,
And went through the town on a gal-
lop
They had been picking hops,
And had drank a few drops,
And were out on a lollapulallup.At a ball game they rooted and hooted,
On tin horns they tooted and tooted,
They bet all their dough,
And they lost it, and lo!
They swore that their pockets were
looted.Then the marshal he gave them a
floater,
They took a canoe, an old doter,
The bottom went through,
And the Klooches went too,
For not one of the two was a boater.So the coroner dragged in the channel,
And caught up a piece of red flannel,
One bottle, five drops,
And two bussles of hops,
Thus endeth the Klooch and the annal.
— from the Anacortes (WA) American of September 15, 1904, page 3, column 1
