The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1875-06-17
THE GkAssHoPPER.
He Commeth. from Whence and How. 4
Rocky Mountain Pastoral Epic.

And there is no place where they
are not.
They devour the fragrant onion
sprouts;
And the savory celery.
The wheat field is left desolate;
And no green thing remaineth
where the hopper hath been.
His pathway is the abomination of
desolation.
The ranchman mourneth for his
green fields that were, but are not;
Mayhap he sweareth;
Possibly he saith audibly, and cryetb
aleud-dameth.
What careth the hopper-grass?
1t troubleth him not.
Ask the prophets of Kansas;
Ask the wise men of Nebraska:
And they will answer likewise;
But the relief committee agent lift
eth up his voice and calleth the hopper
Blessed.
The patriotic grasshopper cometh
from the mythical western land, where
the glorious orb of day sinks in reseate
splendor to his evening couch;
The realm of Brigham;
The land of Mormons;
Whence cometh many bad things
and some that are good;
The hopper is one of them;
Several Of them; 7=- -
Bat he is not good.
He cometh in the latter summer
days.
In n-darkening myriads;
As the winds come when forests are
rended. Et tf#
As the waves come when navies are
stranded; t-
Like unto Democratic victory.
He alighteth on the potato-yines;
And on the fragrant tomato-tree;
And the succulent roasting-ear,
whilst it is yet in the the milk and
te0thsome;
And upon all other fruits of the
field that cometh late into market;
And they all disappear and are seen
after that evil day no more forever.
And the lady grasshopper maketh
straightway her nest "down in the
cernfield;"
And in the wheat stubbles;
And upon the hillside;
And all over the sandy plain;
And everywhere else under the sun.
And she filleth the nest with eggs,
every day, until the winter days come
and the ground freezeth hard when no
grasshopper can make nests.
And the eggs, are they not ranch
eggs?
With double yolks?
And warranted to hatch
Yea, verify, and the warranty is
good.
And the lady grasshopper's mate,
what of him?
Verify 1 say unto ysu, he sitteth
upon the sweet potato vine and sing
eth all the gladsome Summer day;
AAC OAAhOSth tuC Stoik anu
loppeth off the verdant branches;
He taketh no heed for the morrow
Nor the groans and curses of the
irate ranchman.
And in the hottest Autumn days he
leadeth the fisherman beside the bab-
bling waters;
= And up the steep mountain side;
And oyer prickly pears;
And through soap-weeds;
And among thorny bushes;
And when at last the fisherman falls
upon his knees and puts his hands
upon Mr.. Hopper, where is he?
Alas, he is not there.
But he soareth aloft;
And cracketh his heels together;
And laugheth out of his left optic at
the fisherman, who is seated on the !
hillside,
Digging cactus thorns from his
hands and knees,
And framing cuss words,
And he will never kneel any more.
And when, in the fulIness of time
wintry days have come;
And stilled his voice in death;
With Frost's icy mantle about him,
he goeth hence to his fathers,
Content with the fitting close TO a
well spent life, ls-r--
And happy in the reflection that he
will live again in his children,
When gentle Spring shall come
again,
And again, ...
And again, forever.
In the returning cycle of returning
years.
'Tis spring;
Winter hath loosed his icy # ttters;
Robin Redbreasts carol in the cotton
woods;
The Beecher-Tilton trial is well on
Jenkins busyeth himself writing
pardons. ..t-5 4.
And genial sunshine again bathes
The earth.
Are those eggs spoiled! |,
Not by a jug full.
In the earliest warm sunny days;
Forth comes few million of the
Juvenile hoppers;
Tiny, mitey, midgets;
The pickets, the scouts, the avant :
.ouriers of countless hosts that soon
will follow;
Ye "honest ranchman" laughed in !
lis sleeve, and sayeth:
''The hOppers are Matching, spring
rosts and SHOWS will fix them."
Alas, the fallacy of mans faith;