Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-07-09
AN EDITORS WIFE.
TO TIE CONVENTION.

And wonder 90 Empire % fed me from her soiii
One day as through the city's street,
Unwearied yet by DAYS and nights OF ton,
WALKED, with thoughts that were unoent
To note the faces and the moods OF those
Who passing, thoughtless. unto me there lent,
What wakened me from ehild-life and repose.
1 doubt If you this man would note,
His hat was old, well-worn coat
Just saved him from the wintry blast
That urged pedestrians on so fast.
His restless eye saw ev'ry change
That came within his Visions range.
lie seemed to put the blast aside
That shook the streets brisk, living tide;
A smile of rare and cool disdain
Oft curled his lip, as with chill pain
The warm-clad 90 man Of mean" went by
All shaken with shivering sigh.
I learned ere long this man Of toll
That walked disdainfully the soil,
Was one who helped to guide mankind,
To shape and make the public mind
The whole to wonderfully sustain,
By just the exercise of brain
o, wonder not this soul Of mine,
Held worship at that mental shrine.
Nor when, in course Of time, there came
To sue my hand a man OF fame
or this same tyPe,im destiny
Seemed pointed by a star to me;
Nor that deemed my fate fulfilled,
When my will to him had willed.
o, life sublim e, to humbly share
With newspapers my hero's care
From dawn till central night my lord
Gave heart and brain with one accord;
To building up with wearing thought,
The columns that for others wrought
Opinions that men never knew,
From out that facile brain there grew.
And so he liVed-and kept his soul,
With printer-boys, well in control
Till years of welded life had torn
My spirit with its slavery worn,
Then, Cdlstardly, yet daring feat,)
boldly sought that dim retreat
The sanctum-whichI meier before
Had dared, from out my kitchen shore.
Thus to my lord did there wage
war Of words from living page
"Aionzo," thus my lord was named
"My soul find will not be tanned
Come down, pray you, from your height,
And view our lives true, wofuI plight.
Two boys-just listen to their shoutsl-
Two girls are coming on the stage,
With wants enough, will engage.
I've made our garments Ger and Ger,
Till not one coat remaineth more.
OF all We had I've made the most
Till there remaineth not the ghost
OF anything that comfort knows.
And see . Alonzo, how the SHOWS
Have sprinkled Ger each raven tress,
That once grew bright with your caressP'
"Four children, Hidai Sure you dream
There's only One-his nightly scream
Disturbs the working of my brain,
And gives me most exquisite pain.
1 wish, my dear, you'd keep him still,
I'D sooner hear athreshing- mill ~
90, sfiddle-sticks' 20 cried at last,
(AIy lord here looked al me aghast,)
"Haye you forgotten sylvia Jane,
Our first born in the State of Mainei
And Stella Ann, whose curls, you wrote,
Are sunny as the dreams that float
Around the couch of lovely maid
Whose first love-lesson's just been said
Or Greeley, born that second June,
You PGragraPhed for the TTibHHeG
Or, Abraham, born on the day
That Lincoln first began his swayl
The escreams'' you hear each night, my dear,
Are only sscaterwaIings'' drearl
Don't turn from me with that chill look,
AS though paper, pen and book
Were all you cared for in this life
Have you forgotten I'm your wife
A country paper in these days
Won't furnish for a house the maize
To unaka fha as-aud Ills time
You leave awhile your life sublime,
And count your children and your pence;
I've trusted Iong-in Providence :"
'why, Hilda, believe it's truel
Your hair is grey, can this be your
And wrinkles, too, upon your broWl
There DEVILS after 'copy' nowl"
ssCOpy, or not, my DEAR said,
While in my eyes were tears unshed,
For the unwanted tenderness
That unexpected came to bless,
"Just wait we have not in the house
Enough to bait a hungry mousei''
Again Alonzo looked aghast.
And has it come to this, at last ,"
just this,'' 1 said, sand nothing more;'
AlonzO looked as meier before.
At length he spoke 10 me again,
His voice all full of weary pain:
"Dear wife, it passes all belief,
That have brought to you such grief.
And then the hopes dear Hilda, where
Those visions that We used to sharei
Twelve years from out this brain I've wrought,
Twelve years with poverty you've fought.
I've been a champion Of Truth
In all these years, but where's our youth,
Our Tigor, where our hopesi 1 see
At last, a wondrous mystery.
How labor meets reward, how gold
VIII come to him who hath been sold
To its embrace, Low he who tolls
For any OF earth's drOssy spoiIs,
Receives a meet rewsrd-howI
Toiling amid Thoughts mystery,
Have felt my soul exI and and grow,
On what cen my poor dreams bestow.-
will an article indite
To set that matter moving right
But, ali ! dear Hilda, l forgot,
The little household sjar'' you bro't.
Let's see-we aIe in need-'tis truei
And can you tell what we're to DOT"
o, now my time, so long delayed,
Had come, for which I'D sought and prayed.
All courage now my heart forsook
AIonzo's eye 1 could not brook.
How could scale his lofty mind
How dare seek his thoughts to bindl
How growing must my soul have grown,
That could to him our lot bemoanl
But, glancing at his coat, saw
His elbow out true text to draw
My courage to the point again,
And give " that best of men 81 h pain.
Well, since you ask, my dear, I'II say,
That when you wrote the other day
The article about the land,
The Homestead Law holds at command
OF any who would crave the gift
OF home,-thers came to me rift
OF light and hOpe-in this, I see,
Divinely sent, a mystery"