Lincoln County advocate. (Canton, Dakota Territory, [S.D.]) 1876-1877, 1876-04-26
AN AGRICULTURAL rSEM.

Ss9s1 1Asr 70 WEST sHxDs ass.rba. A. Il
"ont WestY yes' sol From 1lliSi7
ny Jem ia there-my oldest boy "
And Johns In Kansas--so Ia JareI
She married one Elnathsn Payne " "
AND mother, too--she wants to got X
NO musket ever scattered 40; "."'I
Ana then 1t sllus pints one way #
la Right where tho big Fer-sries isy.E & 4,
ltetwlkt then twO--Death and thaWeat--
= They get our youngest, strongest, bsst. y
lts queer the graveyard keeps a-gtpwing, /
AZ II nobody dreamed OF gongl :
lts there, right where them bi0o1ns Of trcea
Are sweeping nothing In the breeze.
queen bee In an empty hive
4 u sil Of mine that's left alive.
call them dead never see,
The v est or Heavens all one to mo
wait and wsit-Caod give me grace!
Thoy don't come back to either place. y
Them miles and miles Of level land,
And every tree brought up by hand
The sky shut down around the green
Az snug as any soup tureen:
Poor show for David with his sling,
And not pebble fit to fing!"
80 talked the Massachusetts man.
And then paused for breath and then began:
% hear You have" the farmer said,
"a creature with horses head,
crickets body, dragons wings,
The long hind legs Of . kangaroo,
The hungriest Of created things,
That eats landscape through and through u
A boarding-house for bugs may be
A place for you, but not for me-"
"Alas! old man " sadly said, y l.
:" They are indeed most nobl fed;
You taunt us with no dainty touch,
Bns had those creatures boarded here,
1t would have saved ,s many fear; !
They could not harm you very much,
And then, 1t cannot be,denied,
They surely would have starved and died." Z
~ wouldn't swap the old BAY State,'
The farmer cried, with voice elate, .
He stood upright In every Joint r
Az any exclamation point, Z
and hoe and stone struck instant fire, q
As If he thus touched off hts ire
wouldn't swap the old Bay state, A
Its rugged rocks aud nseuntains great, -
For land ~ level as u hone,
Already fenced and seeded down.
"Our grain stands slender in the shock,
rhe gritts are light we send to mill,
But then VIC gave you Plymouth Rock,
Where Freedoms clearings first begin
The world takes stock IN Bunker Hill.
Where Freedom put the sickle in.
You've Ingens west, but we're ahead;
That took cargo Of Bohes.
And STEPPED drawing In the sea,
And asked young Liberty to tea!
"They stuff at Boston, and they dub
The good old town the Yankee Hub
What all it means never knew,
My way at least it may be true:
know its gritty boys go out
Like spikes of wheels, to reach the rim
That binds creation all about.
Till West and East and South and North,
You hear their whistle or hymn
Around tho felly Of the earth !"
The old man heard the dinner-born.
And stumped away among the corn.
The truth had lighted up his face,
And lent the furrowed features grace.
He turned, and called across the lot,
There's - ono thing more most forgot:
If you 81 Jem, or John, or Jane,
Jes' tell EN- where you've been to-day
That yet walk the narrow lane,
Whose end is growing mighty plain,
And that send them far away,
One word from Massachusetts sod,
The blessings Of their fathers God;
And tell them, too, all Eastern boy
Must make man in Illinoi!"
The chimney wore plume Of smoke,
The wife stood watching at the door,
Good-by Old man, forever more.
] come to tell the words he spoke,
And Jeln, and John, and Jane arc here
bid the boys and girls good cheer!
/: GOING WEST.
What wonder that the human drift
Is Westward ever for the gift?
The Magi travelling from the East,
Each robed and bearded Orient priest
Grew wiser as he Westward went.
Who would have heard q breath of them
Had they not folded up their tent
And startled come to Bethlehem?
No man in all the ages faced
The West, aud met that great athlete,
The Sun, hound East. His golden feet
Unwearied walk disastered waste,
Tread out the stars, in blossom every rood,
Like embers In travelled street,
And make vast sky a solitude
For hermit glory all his own,
This Westward going, ever-moying sun.
3. - Taylor.