Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-07-12
m I 3 G II T. L A NJ z.
From the Connecticut Herald.
HARD Times PARODY.

had dream which was not all a dream;
The ''monster" was extinguished, and the banks
Did pay no specie on their offered notes,
Lswless and cashless, and the iron lids,
Swung loose and grating on the confess vaults.
Clerks came and went, and came and brought no
cash
And men forgot their dinners in the dread
OF this their desolation and all their hearts
Were starved into selfish prayer for money:
And they made change of paper and the robes,
The linen Of great men. the shirts,
The garments Of all those in need of change,
Were turned to paper. Property was assigned,
And men were gatber'd at their mortgaged homes
To look once more upon each others notes.
Happy were they who dwelt within the eye
Ofihe " Great Magus," and who knew his crib, >
A fearful hope was all the land contained.
Projects were set on foot-but hour by hour
They fell and faded, and the kiadled hope
Extinsuished still, no cash-all, was vain,
The affairs Of men beneath the pressing times
Wore al unseemly aspect, as by scores
The losses fell upon them. Some men went
And hid their keys, and broke and some did
Their chins upon their cienched hands, and smi.
led;
And others hurried 10 and fro and soothed
Their duns with promises, and looked up
With mad disquietude at the dull times,
The blight Of the whole land and then. again
With curses sat then down upon their seats,
groaned, va
And terrified did turn round and round,
And show their useless bills insolvent debtors
Game tame and tremulous; and sheriffs pushed
And thrust themselves among the multitude,
Threatening but harmless-,hsy were held in
scorn.
The land was but one thought and that was ruin.
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
OF deep distress fell upon all minds. Men
Failed, and their notes were as useless as their
rags;
The ruined by the ruined were attached
Even servants sued their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful 10 a miser, and kept
The clerks. and duns, and officers at bay,
Till patience failed them, or some fairer game
Lured them away-himself sought no cash,
But with piteons and perpetual moan,
And faint cry - hard times" taking the hand
Which answered not with the bright coin--he
failed.
The crowd was ruined by degrees; but two
OF an enormous city did survive,
And they were rivals and they met beside
The bending frame Of an old merchants desk,
Where had been heaped u mass Of unpaid bills,
With unpaid usury and they picked up,
And anxious opened with their trembling hands
The doubtful papers, and with feeble hope,
Strove for little credit, gaining name
Which was mockery; and they fastened up
Their signs as they grew bolaer--and thus saw
Each Others ProsPec''-ssw' and sued, and fa-
Even Of their mutual rivalry they failed,
Uaknowing who he was upon whose brow
RUS had written fool. Cities were void:
And business men and traders were throng,
Creditless. cashless, joyless, spritless,
ruined throng, the chaos OF hard times.
Banks. cosating'rooms, exchanges, and all were
still,
And nothing stirred within their silent walls.
toods naFketless lay rotting on the shelves;
Store houses fell down piece meal a. they
dropped
They lay upon the ground without repair,
Business was dead credit was in its grave;
The Bank. its mistress had expired before
Industry withered with the stagnant times,
And paapers persisted. Hard times had no need
OF aid from them--she was sole tyranness.