The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-08-15
OLD ROBIN.
J, T. TROWBRIDGE.

]. T. TRowBRIDeE.
Sell old obin, do you sayf Well, reckon not
have let / you have your way with the land,
With the meadows and the fallows draining
swamps and filling hOllows,
And you're mighty deep, Dan Alvord but the SEA
itself has shadows,
And there are things that you don't understand.
You are not SO green, of course, to feed woru-
Out of pity or remorse, very Ionsi
Bat as sure as am master of shed and bit OF
Not for ali the veal h, warn you, of Vanderbilt
viii do old Rebin there such wrong.
He is old and lame alas Don't disturb him as you
Let him lie there on the grass, while he may,
And enjoy the summer weather, free forever from
his tethsr.
Sober veteran as you see him, we we're young and
It was who rode him hrst-ah, the dayl
was just little chap, in 6rst pantaIoons and cap.
And left my mothers lap, at the door
And the reiDs hung loose and idle, as we let him
For my father walked beside me, with his hand
upon the bride:
Yearling colt and boy of five, hardly more,
See him start and prick his ears! see how know
ingly he leersl
believe he overhears every word
and once more, 1t may be, fancies that he carries
me and pranOes
While my mother from the doorway follows US
You may laugh, but~well, of course it's absurd !
Poor old Robini does he know how used TO cling
AS 1 rode him to and fro and sround2
Every day as we grew older, he grew gentler, l
Till, a hand upon the bride and a touch upon his
1 could vault into my seat with bound.
All, the nag you SO disdain, with his scanty tai
And that ridge pole to shed rain, called back,
Then was tapeT-limbed and glossY-so superb a
And he aTched his neck so graceful, and he tossed
his tall 50 5aacy,
Like proudly waving plume, long and black
He was light of hoOf, and feet, was supple, frn
Aad no sort Of thing with feet, anywhere
In the country, could come nigh US; scarce the
swallows could OUTFIT US,
But the planet spun beneath US, and the sky went
whiBEjng by US,
In a hurricane we made OF the air.
Then I rode away to school in the mornings fresh
'Tili, one day, beside the pool where he drank,
Leaning on my handsome trotter, slanclhS. up
across the water
To the Judges terraeed orchard, there the
In frame of SUNNY boughs on the bank.
Looking down on horse and boy, smiling down so
That I thIiIiei With bashfuI Joy, when she said
Voice sweet as a canary's-'' Would you like to
SIT some cherries =
You are welcome as the birds arei-there are nice
this terrace;
| These are white-hearts in the tree overhead
Was it Robin more than I, that had pleased her
As she saw us prancing by ? half, fearI
| Off she ran, but DOT great way: .white-hearts
blsck-hearts, sweet-hearts, straightwayi
| Boy and horse were soon familiar with the hos
pitable gateway,
| and g happy fool was L for a year.
Locd forgive an only child All the blessings or
| Had hut heiped to make me wild and perverse.
What is there in honest horses that should lead
| vicious courses
Racing, betting, idling, upphngr wasted soon IA
mall beginning led to more-and to worse.
Fatherr happy in his grave Playing mother
! Nine a fattereIr and a slave to her sonI
Often Mary. urged and pleaded, and the good Judg'
CouasoIed blamed. insisted, threatened; tears anj
! threats were all unheeded.
! And answered him in wrath; it was dOCei
vaiply Mary sObb,d and c!uug; in fury out
! flung,
| No repentance, no compassion; on plunged il
In night Of rain and tempest with Aerce, de
through the blind aud Taving gusts, mad they
Bad to worse was now my game; my poor mother
| still the same,
| Tried to shield me TO Teclalm-did her pest;
| Creditors began to elamori could only lie an;
All we had was pledged for pa, ment, all WAS SOLE
| beneath the hammer,
| Ny old Robin there, along with the rest
Laughing, jeering, stood BY, with devil in N
watching those who came to buy, what was done
1 had then power TO alter looked on and Woui'
Till the last man had departed, leading Robin b,
Then I few into the loft for my gun,
I would shoot him no, said, would kill mysel
instead
To a lonely wood fed, on hill.
Hating eaven and all Its mercies Tor my toies an'
leveIses.
There / plunged in self-abasement, there bur
roWed in self-cIrses;
But the dying put of-as men Will.
AS wandered back at Aight, something, far of
| caught my sight,
Dark against the western light in the lane;
Coming to the bars 10 meet Ine-some ILLUSION seh
to cheat me!
No, twas Robin, my own Robin, dancing, whinny
Wit6 small white billet sewed to his name.
The small missive unstrung on old Robins nee
There erie d there clungi while read,
Ia hand kns was Mary's-" One whose kint
Sends tn no name was written, but
I painted h of cherries.
On dainty nOte smiled instead
There he lies nOwI Iank and lame, stiff of lin
and gaunt of frsme,
, | But to her and me I ne same dear old boy .
Never sUeed, think, was fafrer still see him II
proud bearer
OF ny pardon and salvation; and he yet shall be
sharer-
! AS dumb beast may share-in my Joy.
1t is stran ge that by the time, l. man, am in N
prime,
He is guilty of the crime of old agel
! But no sort of eiIcumvention can deprive him
, his pension; 49,
: He shall have his rack and pasture, with lit
kind attention,
And some years OF comfort yet, III engage.
By long service and good will he has earned thel
and he still
D has humble place TO FIJI, you know.
! | Now my little shavers ride him sometimes two
three astIide him;
:, | Mary watches from the doorway while I lead
n walk be ide him -
: But his dancing all was done long ago.
r See that merry, toddling lass tripping to and f
o to pass
{ Little handfuls of green grass, which he chews,
< And the two small urchins trying to climb up a
g ride him lying;
. And, nsrd- arted as you are. Dan sh you do
2 say you cryiEe2
t Well, an old horse, after all, has his use