Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-12-27
Selected Miscellany.
ONE DAY SOLITARY.

ny =. 7. TRowBRIDds
I AN all right Coed BY, old chspi
Twenty.four hours, that won't be long;
Nothing to do but to take a nap,
And-fayl con a fellow sing eongY
WI the light fantastic be in order
A pigeon wing on your pantry nOOrI
What are the rules for regular ooardert ~ aoo.,
Be quietP All rgbti- C7iNg c1ang goes the doorl
Clan0 clink, the bolts and am locked in.
Some pious reflection and repentance
TO perceive he sting in the tail Of my sentence
Zone day whereof shall be solitary"
Here am at the end OF my journey,
And-weli IL ain't jolly, not so veryI
I'd to throttle that sharp attorney
He took nv money, the very last dollar
Didn't leave me go much as dime,
Not enough to buy me paper collar
IT was some that got for the stolen silverl
Why hasn't he been indicted too?
II he doesn't exactly rob and pilfer,
He lives by the plunder OF them that do,
Then didn't 1t put me into fury,
To see him step up, and laugh and chat
With the county attorney, and joke with the
When all was oyer-then go for his hat
While Sue was sobbing to break her heart,
And all could do was to stand and starel
He had pleaded my cause.-the had played bis part
And got his fce-and what more did he carer
It's droll to think how. just out yonder,
The world goes jogging on the same
Old men will save and boys will squander,
And fellows will play at the came old game
OF Get-andspend--to morrow next year.
And drink and carouse.and who viii there be
To remember comrade buried here?
l am nothing to them, they are nothing to me!
And sue...yes, she will forget me tool
KNOW already her tears are drying.
believe there is nothing that girl can do
SO easy as laughing and lying and crying
She clung to me well while there was hope,
Then broke her heart in that last wild sob;
But she amt going to sit and NOPE
WhileI am at work on Ave years job.
They'll set me to learning a trade, no doubt,
And must forget to speak or smile.
shall go marching in and ont,
One of silent, trampng file
or felons, at morning and noon and night
just down to the shops and back to the cells
And work with a thief at left and right,
And feed and sleep anG-nOthing elseH
Was born for this2 viii the old folks knows
can see them now on the old home place:
His gait is feeble, his step is slow,
There's a settled grief in his furrowed face;
While she goes wearilY cropping about
In sort of dream, so bent so sad :
But this won't dol must sing and shout
And forget myself or else go mad.
won't be foolish; although, for minute,
was there in my little room once more.
What wouldn't give just now to be in itr
The bed is yonder, and there is the door;
The Bible is here on the neat white stand;
The summer sweets are lipening now;
In the hckering light reach my hand
bough!
When was q child 20, well forme
And them II had never been oldsrD
When he told me stories on his knee
And tossed me, and carried me on his shoulder;
When she knelt down and heard my prayer,
And gave me in bed my goodnight kiss-
Did ever they think that all their care
For an only son could come to this?
Foolish again! No sense in tears
And gnashing the teeth And yet-somehow--
haven't thought of them so for years!
never knew them, l think, till now.
How fondly, how blindly, they trusted mel
When should have been in my bed asleep,
Islipped from the window, and down the tree,
AND. .sowed for the harvest which now l reap.
And Jennie-how could bear to leave herr
If had but wished-but | was q fool!
My heart was filed with thirst and fever
Which no sweet airs of heaven could cool.
can hear her asking-"Have you heard:''
But mother falters and shakes her head;
20 Jenniel Jennie never word!
What can it mean? He must be deadr
Light-hearted, proud, ambitious lad,
left my home that morning in May;
What visions, what hopes, what plans had!
And what have I-where are they all-to-day?
Wild fellows, and wine, and debts, and gaming,
Disgrace, and the loss of place and friend
And was an outlaw, past reclaiming;
Arrest and sentence, and--this Is the end!
Five years! Shall ever quit this prisons
Homeless, an ontcast, where shall go!
Return to them, like one arisen
From the grave that was buried long ago?
All Is still-it's the close of the week;
slink through the garden, | stop by the we'll
see him totter, l hear her shrek!
What sort of a tale will have to tell?
But here ami What's the use Of grievirg?
Five years--wil it be too late to begin?
Can sober thinking and honest living
Still make me the man might have been?
I'll sleep; o, would could wake tomorrow
In that old roOm to find, at last
That ali my trouble and all their sorrow
Are only dream of the night that is pact!
---AHdntic HOnthly