The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1874-01-01
LU X H.
IN the coIorsdo Park, 1873.


Bx BKEr HAREE.
1Yot's that you're readin'S A noyel-well darn
my skInl
Xou a man grown and bearded and histin' such
stun ez that in
stnR sbout gals and their sweetheartsi Nowon-
der you're thin ez knife
Look At me- cIar two hundred-andnever read
one In my life
That's my opinion o. novels. And 81 to their
lyins around here
They belonged to the Jedge's danghter-tae
II ledge who came up last year
On account Of lungs and the mountains and
and the balsam O pine and fir;
And his daushter-Well, she read novels, and
that's what's the matter with her:
Yet she was sweet on the Jedge, and stuck bs=
him day and night.
Alone in the cabin up yer-tiII she grew like >
ghost. all white.
she was only a slip OF thing, ez Light an ez up
and away
Ez rine smoke blown through flo woods. but
she WASN'T my kind-nO wayi
speak o, gals. dye mind that house ez you rise
thehIll.
A mile and a half from Whit,s and just above
MAttingly's mlll2
You doS Well. now 1har's gal. What, yon
saw herr o. come now. there quitl
She was only bedevlin' you boys. for to me she
don't cation one bit.
Now. she's what call gal-ez pretty and
plump ez'a quail;
Teeth ez white ez n hounds and they'd go
through a ten penny nail;
Eyes that kin snap like cap. So she asked to
know ssWhar was hid.''
She did o. it's just like her sass, for she's pcart
ez Katy-did.
But what was talking -org-ol the Jedge and
his daughter-she read
Novels the whole day long and rekon she red
them abed.
And sometimes she read them out loud to the
Jedee on the porch where he sat.
And twas how Lord Augustus said this and
how Lady Blanche" she said that.
Eut the siekest of all that heard was yarn
that they read bout chap.
:" Leather r-stOCking' by name. and hunter
ehock full O. the greenest o. sap;
And they asked me 70 hear. but 1 says Miss
Mabel. not any for me;
When likes can sling my own lies, and tat
chap and l shouldn't agree.''
Yet somehow or other she was always saying
brought her to mind
OF folks about whom she had read, or suthin'
belize Of that kind.
And thar warn't no end O. the names thet she
give me that summer up here.
robin Hood . Misunderstanding Rob Roy"
o. 1 tell you, the critter was queer,
And yet ef she hadn't been spilled, she was
harmless enough in her way.
She could jabber in French to her dad, and they
said that she knew how to play,
And she worked me that shot-pouch up thar
which the man doesn't live ez can use,
And clippers you see 'em down yer-ez would
cradle an Injin's papOose.
Yet along o them novels. you see. she was vast
in and mopin' away.
And then she got shy with her tongue, and at
last had nothin' to say;
And whenever happened around, her face it
was hid by a book,
And it warn't until she left thet she give me ez
much ez look,
And this is the way it was: 1t was night when
1 ken up here
To say to 'em all good-by,'' reckoned to go
for deer
At sun up" the day they left. So shook 'em
all round by the hand.
'Cept Mabel, aud she was sick, as they give me |
to understand
But Jist ext passed the house next mOrnin' at
dawn some one,
Like a little wave o mist. got up the hill
with the sun;
Miss Mabel 1t was alone--all wrapped in man
tie o. lace
And she stood there straight in the road. with
touch o. the sun in her face.
And she looked me right in the eye-Id seen
snthin' like it before
When 1 hunted wounded doe to the edge o.
the Clear Lake shore,
And 1 had my knee on its neck. and jist was
raisin' my knife
hen it gave me look like that. and-Well it
got on with its life.
we are going to day . she said, .and thought
would say goodbye
To you in your own house. Lnke-these woods
and the bright blue skyl
You've always been kind to us, Luke, and papa
has found you stu,
AS good as the air he breathes, ana wholesome
as Laurel Tree Hill.
a And wen always think of you, Luke, as the
thing we could not take away;
The baIsam that dwells in the woods, the rain
bow that lives in the spray,
And you'll sometimes think of me, Luke, as yzu
know you once used to say,
"A rife-smoke blown through the woods, a mo-
moment. butt never to stay'''
And then we shook hands She turned. bnt
suddent she tottered and fell,
And caught her sharp by the waist. and held
her moment-well,
Itwas only minute. you know, thatez cold and
ez white she lay
Eza Snowflake here on my breast, and then
well. she melted away
And was gone : And thar are her books,
but say not any forme.
Good enough. may he, for some, but them and
mightn't agree.
They spilled decent gan ez might hev made
some chap wife,
And look at me l--clar fwo hundred--and never
read one in my life.