Markle Man

“We service what we sell,”

 and we’ll do it well.

Markle’s has it all,

 forget about the mall.

Everything from paint to carbines,

  and the stuff fer fixin’ combines.

There’s Packard cars and I H parts,

 better stuff than at Walmart.

Our Mercury outboards, got no pins to shear,

 unlike the Evinrudes, that some folks still revere.

No matter what the hue, we’ll mix it up fer you,

 and those Markle colors always will be true.

We’ll store y’er grain, pump y’er gas,

 and pull you through the Underpass.

Get a fishin’ rod, head out for the lake,

 buy a motorboat, leave ‘em in y’er wake.

Hear the latest rumor, at the hardware store,

 from all the old-timers, sittin’ by the door.

Farmers and ranchers, worried ‘bout the rains,

 times can sure get hard, here upon the plains.

Railroad men are talkin’ about their latest trips,

 maybe get a thermos to pack inside their grips.

Carpenters and masons workin’ at the base,

 everything they need is found inside this place.

Freyberger watches TV, in the afternoon,

 I gotta’ say that Yogi, is a pretty good cartoon.

Tag is toutin’ hammers, Rockets are the best,

 padded handle makes ‘em better than the rest.

Jim Kruzich sometimes needs relief,

 because he is Glasgow’s Fire Chief.

Runnin’ down the hall, to the siren’s call,

 hope he doesn’t fall, or crash into the wall.

Vivian in the office, makes it all run smooth,

 never has a caller whose trouble she can’t sooth.

Tommy on his crutches, pushes paper through,

 accounts are all in order, never to redo.

C. D. sells the big stuff, a baler or a truck,

 and if you lack enough, he’ll drop the price a buck.

And at the loading docks, Arnie hauls it all,

 tougher than an ox, as wide as he is tall.

Workin’ with the Markle boys, Barry and Tommy,

 never are they treated, differently from me.

O.E., he was the boss, and he kept it all on track,

 never was he cross, he had a business knack.

Each mornin’ I’d be found a-sweepin’ out the store,

 ‘til the day I saw an old gent sweepin’ up my floor.

“Pardon me Sir, but this here is my job,

 They hired me to sweep, they hired me to swab.”

“Son I know it’s true, and I’ll give this broom to you,

 Just let me sweep the back, after you are through.”

Turned out he was T.H., the founder of the firm,

 and this I can confirm, he never made me squirm.

Told stories ‘bout the past, exploits unsurpassed,

 the outlaws and the settlers, the West that couldn’t last.

That job was my first, it taught me quite a lot,

 the world I’ve traversed, as fortune I have sought.

No matter what I did, I always had a plan,

 no longer a kid, but still a Markle Man.

LDT Nov 19, ‘21

I worked for Markles Hardware from 1959-60. One day I had a customer who needed a large drill bit. The one I showed him was too big for his chuck. Tag Markle sent me to the shop to have the end turned down on a lathe. As I handed it to my happy customer, Tag said, “No charge for the work.” That is what “We service what we sell” means!

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