Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-08-23
Poetry,
The Old Home

( It was Just such an Autumn morn as this-how
many years agO7
Let me see: John now is twelve years old. and
was then but two, know
We had loaded the wagon the day before,
wagon stauneh and new,
And way We hied on that autumn morn, while
grass was wet with dew.
The yellow dust was damp and still on The
smooth and quiet road,
And gaiIy the bay and sorreI team moved on
with our household load;
The leaves we're tinted with yellow and gold,
and coIors Of myriad sheen,
and the meadows had lost in the early frost
their tingo OF summer green.
mind me well how the shocks Of corn stood in
the fields bg the way
How the yellow pumpkins, like nuggets of
gold, in the open furrOws lay,
How the luscious apples hung ripe and red as
we passed the orchards by,
Where the children played in the pleasant
shade, all under the misty sky.
We were moving away to the nlinOy, where
land could be Oheaply bought;
The homestead farm wasn't large enough for
both the boys we thought
But, Ifit were to do again, peradventure we
would stay,
For we of,en sighed in the liIinoy for the dear
home raraway.
The land was cheap, and the yield was great,
and we have enough to divide
Between the boys, and leave the girl a hand
some thing beside:
But, one or another, we never were well; that
that is, mean to say,
Not quite 50 well as we used to be in the home
whence we moved away.
We lived i've years in the nIinoy before the
siclKiy fall
An! that you may very well believe was try
ing time for us alll
All, all were down, my companion died, and
never got over the blow;
Though Jane was grown, and took care @
things right well as all of US know.
And Ephraim now looks after the farm; Of boys
he is one Of the best;
He said to me; Father, you're growing oId-it
is time you had some rest
So take little John, and go back once more to
look at the dear old home
You can go by the cars, not the toilsome way
by which we had TO come"
Who is that yOnders He looks to me very
much like Jason Black;
But Jason, I'm sure, walked very straight, while
this man crooks in the back;
And JasOn's hair wore the ravens hue, while
this mans hair is white
years Of his flight.
"God bless you, friend! Come, sit you down,
and tell what / would know
OF neigbborI well remembered still, whom
knew long ago;
I'm back to the dear old stamping ground, and
brought little John, my boy,
Leaving Ephraim and Jane to care for things
at our home in the IHlnoy.''
And Jason said, and signing sad: -''Old friend,
tits sad to tell
Ofthe folks who were here ten years ago, and
whom you knew 50 wen.
But few are left, for scores are dead, and many
have moved away,
And the few you meet you will hardly know,
50 changed are they to-day.
'YOu mind the man who bought your pIace-a
stout young fellow was he,
But he died Of fever the second year, leaving
wife and children three.
And they managed bad, and the sheriff sold the
homestead out for debt,
And where they went tits so long ago if ever I.
knew forget.
aYOur nelghbor Gates, across the creek, for al
long time he lay low,
And died at Iast-lets see, think it is just six
! years ago;
And Jonah Gates, his Oldest son, I spOse you
have heer'n tell,
Gave up to drink, and playing cards, aud isn't
doing we'll.
I cannot name them all, Of course, but a score
of our young men
We're lured away to fields of blood, and never
came back again;
Some gave up their lives at Gettysburg, some
fell on the march to the sea,
And widows and orphan children left our sorry
/ sights to see
''You will remember Willie Grey, so handsome,
kind and true,
For his dead father your best friend, had
named his boy for you
They stole him away as paymasters clerk,
poor boy, and now he sleeps,
Where Missssippi's turbid tide in restless surges
sweeps"
Enough than enough; I very
plainly see
The old home has no comfort left that it can
oferme,
So III pack my things; and tomorrow morm
with little John, my boy,
I'll go back again to Ephruim and Jane, and
our home in the minoy."
Vim. HuJ6ard.
Romance.
Myrtle, The Gypsy Girl.