Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-10-25
oLD BACHELOR JOHN.
By SAUL POTTS.

Jul lew 10lkS
10 hear me lettin' on about 1nvse,f and m,
affairs; "o0"' in''eii anu IN.
IN never h was tslker, and Pm most too old bir,
vonr o r,o,. OF new tricks, but take ye a
mr really like to hear me tell the story o
Ad way A Pm gettin' old and grizzled. m nevel
I,ihere dns,s.s amt much story tOit, and do NJ
NO more & ,ya hero. than what you'd "a bin, i
you'd bin me.
Folks that's married sometimes has NAV a
lookin' with contempt
"n uhenn mat single, though perhaps they never
- so much as dream't
That there might be good reasons for their liyini
as they do;
III seems to me hash judgment-and kindly on
feeln' too.
They sometimes call me Grabbed, and "dried-
up, cross old bach.''
1t kind'v CRATES upon me, like a creakin' rusty
s latch q" '
For it makes me think of younger, happier days
IL things had MT bin just as they was, what
too might "a bin.
It's nigh on five-and-thirty year, since first
thoughtI'd strike out for myself IL seemed to
My young heart was chock-fur o. hope, and
there was one for whom
could have cut my pathway through the thickest
Dackwoods' gloom.
hana, was was laTSe a home and the old folks
SO me IN my youngest Lrother thought we'd
give their boat pull.
mean by that, we felt that if we lightened mn
their load
Life wouldn't seem to them, perhaps, such
dreadful uphill road.
Inever had much schoolin', as you'll know to
hear me talk,
I've kinder picked up what I know-perhaps
know cheese from chalk"
book.i arnin' Amt my strong pint, but of pio-
Eve seen as much as most folks has, that's goin'
nowadays.
The first time come West, come through York
State, by canal
The railroad wasn't runnin' yet, and tallygraphs
'Fyou'd told folks that in thirty years news'd be
sent on wires
Clean round the airth, they'd called ye one o. the
biggest kind o. liars.
IS said. we pioneered along-a good deal o. the
The country was settlin' up even at that early
day
We stopped first in Ohio. then we looked at
But we thought that goin' further West would be
better plan.
So we "entered'' land Mt Gov'ment price, in
My brothers was adj'lnin' mine-he's dead, m
Ismarried, carries on the farm, m lives up on
the hill
And II carry mine on too-but I'm unmarried
still.
IS said before left behind me when come
One whom loved, God knows how much, md
she too, loved me best
IL was agreed that I'D 20 back and take her for
N ayear or two, or's soon's fairly got a start
in life.
fused to hear from Hetty pretty often. She could
irst;rate kind o. letter, better n mine mighty
Mine was always blotched and bungled, but for
rv.r, all l1 that !. Hetiy y knew
to her was true.
1t took a month or SO for letters to reach us In
And when mails went by stage-coach it did seem
dre'dful ways;
But it's time makes distance seem so long even
In these days of steam;
And to them that's separated wide, it's about's
1t used to seem.
WAL I'D got some forty acres cleared-I built a
Lighthouse too,
And got things fixed as conf Tables could
where all was new
'N' oalc'lated the next spring to go back to
Vsrmont.
And marry Hetty, m bring her home: our
minds was made up ont.
That winter was pretty hard one, all the coun-
try through:
sich one, for heavy SHOWS and thaws, 1 think
never knew.
Our mails was all behind-hand, for the roads
And a single line from Hetty was the only word
Ibad
1t was written weeks before. and in a shaky kind
o. hand,
As If she'd had a very heavy fit o. sickness, and
All 1t said was, John, dear, I'm not well.
Could you come home ?''
When | read it 1 was's if clap o. thunder'd
MAJ frrsnla
Could Gomez" I'D like to see the airthly
power could hold me back
1t didn't take me very long my clothes and traps
Travelled night and day, as fast as stagin' would
And ten days was quicker trip than two or
three is now.
And at the end Of ten long days, i reached nv
One bright spring afternoon, just as the sun was
1 hurried past folks that knew, and them that
knew me well,
''passn' bell %
IN knew that somebody was dead-what9 No
My Hetty that was just her age, the bell struck
twenty-three,
hurried faster, ilmost run, till reached the old
brown gate,
M then knew, without bein' told, that I'D
come home too late
M then there come ablackHess, and / can't re-
member mere
But they say for days ard weeks lay, just no.
verin' at deaths door,
Till finally, by Gods help, and by nursin' of the
best,
West. " '''' - '''NN 'N'
And now ye've heered my story, m why never
had no wife,
Do you wonder any longer that live this kind o.
life
Do ye wonder that my love went out like can
die In the wind
When Hetty died? 'n' in livin' so d. We think
I've sinned9
Perhaps 7 may be so-wal-may God forgive me
IL have.
But my heart for thirty years has laid with Hetty
in her grave
And carry on my farm alone and Pm vaitip,
for the day
When the good Lord will call me, m Pll be
ready TO obey.
-Christian Union