Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-03-09

LADS.
who was always counted. they say,
Rather bad stick. any way;
Splintered all over with lodges and tricks.
known as the worst of the Deacon s six,
|, the truant, saucy and bold,
The one black sheep in my fathers fold,
'Once on time. as the stories say,
Went over the hill on a winters day
Over the hill to the poor house.
Tom could save what twenty could earn.
But gjvjn' was something he never could
learn;
Isaac could half o the Scriptures speak,
Committed a hundred verses q week.
Never forgot and never slipped
But Honor thy father and mother" he
skipped
So over the hill to the poor house.
AS for Susan, her heart was kind
An good-what there was of it, mind :;
Nothin' too big, an nothin' too nice.
Nothin' she wouldn't sacrifice
For one she loved; and that ere one
Was herself, when all was said an done.
An Charley and 'Becca meant well no
doubt,
But any one could pull 'em about
An all our folks ranked we'll, you see,
Save one poor fellow-and that was me.
An when. one dark and rainy night,
A neighbor's horse went out of sight.
They hitched on me as the guilty chap
That carried one end of the halter-strap,
An I think, myself, that view of the case
Wasn't altogether out o'place
My mother denied it. as mothers do,
But I'm inclined to believe twas true,
Though for me one thing might be said
That l as well as the horse was led,
And the worst of whisky spurred me on
Or else the deed would have never beer
done.
But the keenest grief I ever felt
Was when my mother beside me knelt.
An cried an prayed till I melted down
As wouldn't for half the horses in town
| kissed her fOndly, then and there,
And swore henceforth to be honest anC
square
l served my sentence-a bitter pill
Some fellows should take who never will
An then l decided to ''go out West,
Concludin' 'twould suit my health tht
best
Where, how 1 prospered [ never coulc
tell,
But fortune seemed to like me well
And somehow every vein | struck
Was always bubblin' over with luck;
An better than that, | was steady anC
true,
An put my good resolutions through.
But | wrote to trusty old neighbor
an said:
You tell 'em, old fellow. that am dead
An died a Christian twill please en-
more
Than if | had lived the same as before
But when this neighbor he wrote to NE
Your mothers in the poor house, say
he,
| had a resurrection straightway,
An started for her that very day.
And when I arrived where l was grown
I took good care that l shouldn't |
known
But l bought the old cottage, throug
and through.
| Of some one Charley had sold it to.
And held back neither work nor gold
1 To fix it up as it was of old.
The same big fireplace, wide an high,
Flung up its sinders toward the sky;
The old clock ticked on the corner She
| wound it and set it a-goin' myself;
An if everything wasn't just the sam
Neither l nor the money was to blame
Then-over the hill to the poor hOus
One blowin' blusterin' winters day,
With a team an cutter | started ava
My fiery nags was as black as coal.
An they somewhat resembled the hOl
l stole.
l hitched, an entered the poor hor
4 poor old woman was scrubbin' the flo
She rose to her feet in great surprise,
An looked. quite startled, into my ey
| saw the whole of her troubles trace
In the lines that married her dear old ia
: Mother l shouted, your sorrows
done
Your adopted along o your horse tn
!, son:
Come over the Hill from the poor hou
= She didn't faint she knelt by my 81
An thanked the Lord till / fairly cri
), An maybe our ride wasn't pleasant
gay.
An maybe She wasn't wrapped up t
p day
Il An maybe our cottage wasn't warm
5 bright,
5, An maybe it wasn't pleasant sight
To see her a-gettin' the evenings tea
e An frequently stopping and kissing
An maybe we didn't live happy for We;
In spite of my brothers and sist
5 sneers,
Who often said, as | have heard,
. That they wouldn't own a prison bir
Though they re gettin' over that, q
For all of 'em owe me more or less
,s But I've learned one thing-an' it CHI
Is man
IN IN In always doin' the best he can
That, whether. on the big book. bl
= Gets over a fellows name or not,
Whenever he does a deed that's whit
It's credited TO him fair and right
: An when you hear the great bue
notes
" As the Lord divides his sheep an q
However they may settle my case.
Wherever they may fix my place.
!. My good old Christian mother. you'll
Viii be sure to stand right up for n
With over the hill from the poor b,