National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-10-06
Hannah lane.

Hannah lane.
ABEL MEBRIwEATHER, REPRESENTATIVE IN CoS-
oREss tRoM me IHlBrY-THlRD DISTRICT or
INDIANA LAWYER, WRITER, ORATOR
SOLVES ONE SOCIAL PROBLEM.
She isn't half 81 handsome as when, twenty
years agoue,
At her old home in Piketown Parson Avery
made us one
The great house crowded full of guests Of every
TnePrls all envying Hannah Jane, the boys all
enylug me.
AIS changed the light Of sevcnteen's no long
ar IN her eyes
Her vayy hair is gone-that loss the coiflcur'-
ant supplies
Her form is thin and angular she slightly for
ward bends
Her fingers once so shapey, now are stumpy
at the ends.
Iknow there is a difference at reception and
loyco
Tie brightest, wittiest, and most famed Of wo-
men smile on me;
And syary whore hold my place among the
greatest men
AID sometimes sigh, with Whtiier's judge,
"Alasl it might have been
she had four hundred dollars left her from the
ola estate;
On that We married, and, thus poorly armored,
faced our fate.
vrestlcd with my books her task was harder
far than mine
Twas how to make two hundred dollars do the
work of nine.
At last was admitted then had my legal
iore,
An Office with a stove and desk, of books per-
haps core
She had her beauty and her youth, and some
1uusewitely skill.
And love for me and faith in me- and back Of
that will.
! had no friends behind memo influence to
aid
l worked and fought for every little inch OF
ground made.
And how she fought beside me never woman
Avti on less:
In tao long years she never spent single cent
flrdUess.
Al how she cried f9r joy when NY first legal
tight vas won,
Vlel our eclipse passed partly by, and we
stood IN the sun
4.c fee was fifty dollars-'twas the work of
half year
Inst captive, lean and scraggy, of my legal
ooe and spear.
vel remember, when my coat (the only one
hld)
Was seedy crown and threadbare, and, III fact,
most shocking bad
Tho taor's stern remark when | modest or
der IN dc
"Cl-h is the basis, Sir, on which we tailors do
our trade"
Her winter cloak was in his shop by noon that
very day;
She wrought on hickory shirts at night that
taors skill to pay.
/ got a coat, and wore it but alas poor Han
nah Jane
Noor went to church or lecture TIL warm
NOatAer came aSaln.
- save,
She aade herself most Willingly household
drudge and slave
What wonder that she never read a magazine
or book
Combining as She did in one, nurse, house
lI1ld, scamstress, cook!
What wonder that the beauty fled that | once
al red!
Her beautiful complexion my fierce kitchen
IRE dcVourcd
Her plump soft rounded arm was once too
falr o. be concealed
Hard work for ue that softness into sinewy
strength congealed.
Twas her altar and her love the sacriicial
flame:
Al with what pure devotion she to that altar
came,
Anl fearful. flung thcreon--alas | did not
know it then
All that she was, and more than that, all that
she might have becn
At last | won success. All then our lives
were wider parted
INas far mp the rising road she, poor girl
ere We started
had tried my speed and mettle, ana gained
stree 9Th in every race
Twas iarup the heights Of life she drudglnE
O.. the base.
At tveuty-cight the Statc-hoUse on the bench
at tulrty-thrce;
Al forty every gate in life was opened wide to
mt.
| uursed my powers. and grew, aud made my
~ point IN life but she
h.dilug slch pack-hOrse weary loads, What
could woman he
What could she be? Oh, shame! / blush to
m NIX what she has been
The most unsefsh of all wives to the selfishest
oI men.
Yes, plain and homely now she is she's igno-
rant, It's true
For me she rubbed herself quite out repre-
sent the two.
Wen. suppose that might do as other men
have dome
INST break her heart with cold neglect, then
- move her ont alone.
The world would saw twas well, and more,
p would give great praise TO me
i'f having borne with such a wife Sc IN
eamplainingly.
ara shall II Nol The contract twixt Han
=, MAJ, God. and me
was not for one or twenty years, but for eter-
uitv.
~ matter what the world may think | know
down in nv heart
iliat; If either, I'm delinquent she has brove-
d donc her part.
i.,fe 5 another world beyond this and on the
inal da,
va intellect and learning 'gainst such devo-
non weigh?
"hon the great cne made Of Us two is torn
apart again,
Llck the beam, for God is just, and He
Knows Hannah Jane
BIZ Pe,ro's7na Y. Nasbv.
IEUE, . kING.-A paper saws, "One