The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1880-03-25
From the Home and Farm.

HIS ONLY FRIEND.
What let you have my dog, sirg
Sell him to you, you say?
Why, sir, I've had that offer
More than once, before to-day,
I He couldn't be bought from me- sir;
| I'd starve before I'd sell
My honest, faithful faultless friend,
My good old Lionel.
| served through the war under Lee, sir;
| answered his very last call
And Lionel, old Lionel
Was with me through it ALL
And there WASH t a man in my regiment, sir;
With whom he wasn't pet,
And he loved them all, and served EN- all
In way they will never forget
They call me vagabond tramp, sir,
And that's just what | am
But the time has bench, Lionel2
When | was different man.
When / had wife and child sir,
And a home that was dear to me,
There WASH a harder workin' man,
Nor happier one than me.
But after the war was over
And Lionel and me
Went to the place where I'd left a home,
Twas a heart breakin' sight to see.
There was only heaps of ashes
To mark the dear old place
OF the prosperous, happy home I'd left
There wasn't single trace.
There wasn't no wife, nor child sir,
To welcome me back again
No, nothin' but sadness and utter ruin
Where my happy home had been.
WAS wounded once and the news pOt hOm0
To my wife-sO the people said
And she, after waitin' year and half
Had given me up for dead.
And then, as she still heard nothin' from me
She married and went away
My wife my child God bless EN- both,
Where ever they are to-day.
That blow was the hardest of all, sir
Twas more than / could bear;
could have borne all the rest, | think
But kat drove me to despair.
I curse my wife, my child, myself
God help, and forgive me- too;
But was mad with hopeless grief,
And didn I know what to do.
Wifeless, childess, homeless alone;
With never a single friend
To speak kline kind and cheering word,
Nor a helping hand to lend.
went and threw myself right down
Under an old apple tree,
That stood with its limbs all broken and
burnt,
Where the font gate used to be
And | shed such tears as [ never shed,
Before, nor since that day
For, if ever a man was wretched, | was,
And hadnt the heart to pray.
At last l got up, and there close by my side.
With a look remember we'll
Such a plying look in his great mild eyes,
@Lay poor old Lionel.
1 laid my hand on his shaggy black head,
And he whined and wagged his tail
And knew | had one friend in the world
Whose love would never fail.
We left the place that night, sir
My faithful dog and |;
Wretched and hopeless, prayed to God
Many times that might die.
He didn't see fit to answer my prayer
Just then, when | wanted him to;
But think he will, before very long,
For am willing and anxious to CO.
But it is time to move on--eh, Lionel2
For it looks like it's going to snew;
And I've kept you out here in the cold, sir,
When you want to ride on, know.
only stopped here by the road side,
To rest in the sunshine awhile
l felt so cold and tired
For I've Travelled many a mile.
won't reach the town to night, sir2
All, well, if it doesn't snow
l can sleep somewhere by the road side,
As I've done many times before,
Good day, sir. All thank you, kindly.
God bless you-he will, know
And I'll never forget your kindness,
Now, Lionel, dog we must go.
That night as he sat with his children and
wife
In his comfortable, fire-lit room,
The gentleman thought of the homeless
tramp
And his faithful dog, in the cold and gloom.
And when he lay in his comfortable bed
And saw through the windows the falling
sleet,
He hoped in his heart that master and dog
With a welcome and shelter somewhere
would meet.