Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1879-01-04
CARRIERS ADDRESS
TO THE FRIENDS AND PATRONS OF THE
Sh e ph erdstown R egister.

For, when physicians disagree
Who can decide with certainty
But, be this as 1t may, we know
That, just now, rhymings "all the go
Among us Juniors of the Press
Who want "A Carriers Address"
Therefore, that / may also bring
In verse my New Year offering,
And be in fashion, like the rest
OF those young imps who do their best
To please the public. IN the way
OF their vocation, day by day,
| have determined too 10 try
My prentice hand on poetry; !;
Which, let me tell you, entre nous,
Is not so very hard TO do
As many people may suppose
Vino always write in SOBER prose.
In proof of this, look at the lays
Some papers publish nowadays,
Which may be seen, like Jacky Horner,
Stuck up in their Poets Corner"
The most of them make no pretence
To anything like common sense;
They merely have a jingling sound
In which but little meanings found.
So l may surely, for this once,
Like every dilhyrambic Ounce,
Rushing in rhyme without reason,
Play the fool this festive season,
For don't all poets do the fame
Habitually without blame?
With this apology, | now,
To you, kind patrons, make my bow,
And will proceed to say my say,
Though in rambling sort of way;
And il 1 tell you nothing new,
1t simply is because tnat you
"The Register" each week peruse
In which we've given all the news.
You, therefore, know that the old year,
Which we have just seen disappear,
Has been a year of bloody work
Between the Russian and the Turk;
And that in China famine gaunt
Has filled the land with woe and want.
While we've had peace and plenty here,
Throughout our Western Hemisphere /;
Except in portions of Brazil,
Where scarcity few did kill.
md also here, in our land,
Oil Sitting Bulls retreating band,
And other red skin savages
Committing horrid ravages,
a predatory war maintained,
Where we no loot nor laurels gained.
You, likewise, know that there has beer
A grand, swell Congress at Berlin,
Where Beaconstield and bluff Bismarck
Stripped an old Turkey almost stark,
As Jobs was when it did bewail
The loss of feathers from its tail.
The Paris Exposition, too,
Has fully been explained to you;
And other foreign facts OF note
You can from Zittle's paper quote.
So that l need not them repeat,
Particularly, as my sheet
Affords no space in which to dwell
On things abroad you know so well;
Besides, I've some few words to say
About our own affairs, TO day.
Of course they must be very few
And, | fear, very feeble too;
But as they give my own idea
How home affairs 10 me appear,
| need make no apology,
But trust them to. your courtesy.
Then let us, now, look round and see
In what conditions our country;
We've peace within and peace without,
And plenty, too, beyond doubt;
For seldom have the farmers fields
Been lsJened with such lavish yields.
But listen! What is that we hear
That sounds so sadly to our ear?
Alas "Tis the half-smothered cry
Of "strong men in their agony
OF unemployed thousands, who
Begging for work find none TO do:
And who, when in despairing tone
They ask for bread, get but sionel
God help the poor-the honest poor
And drive the wolf far from their door!
Temper these winter winds TO them!
Give them the strength these storms to
stem.
Let their loved ones be fed and clad,
And their sad hearts again be glad
And harken also to the wall
That comes on every Southern gale
From cities poisoned by the breath
OF Pestilence, where Death
Remorseless Death-in darkness roams,
Making so desolate their homes!
May Heaven consolation give
To those bereaved ones who yet live;
And may Gods blessings fall henceforth
On those kind friends throughout the
North,
Whose timely aid gave such relief
To Southern sisters in their grief!
But these themes are 100 sad, fear,
For the beginning OF the year,
When care-dispelling Hope imparts
Its happiness to human hearts.
So, while we see on every hand
Much to deplore throughout the land,
We've many blessings in reserve,
More, / suspect, than we deserve,
And, many more, at any rate,
Than | can new enumerate
Among which / must mention one
Which we ourselves have fairly won,
And fully have deserved also
To have had here some years ago.
| mean our Railroad, which you see,
At last is fixed realty
In spite OF all the sneers and doubts
Of would-be wits and fat-brained louts,
Of open enemies and those
More dangerous, its secret foesl
But though we have il now, all right,
To get the road we've had to fight
For several hundred weary weeks,
Big Corporations, Courts and cliqes;
Some Limbs o Law" With little wit,
Some Justices. with not a bit: