The Red Cloud chief., 1881-10-27
TABITHA TOPP


MISS inbdha Topp. n young lady in town,
Possessed "A great passion
To lead In the fashion:
enc put on the airs TO take everything down,
And patranized arr. I'm order to gsin
perfection and grace
In figure and face,
in way that ] will not attempt 10 explain-
But will only say.
la a shorter way.
che made up her beauty by handsomely dress
As nature had been rather spare OF that bless
Ing.
OF maids and drcssmakers she had a full
And a carriage with monngrams painted DER.
with footman behind aud with cOachman be-
Was II wonderful. then.
That the 'callow young men
Should think her an angel" a charming
creature"
> linguistic in figure AMI stunning" in feat
urc.
She had crushed the hears of n dozen or
more.
Her paw he was wealthy, her ''bcaux" they
AZ foppish and foolish as she could desire.
They swallowed her "maws' murdered gram
mar aud wine,
- her sire.
? There Tns a blink time in an earlier year.
When fopp WIS mn humble retailer of beer
by close calculation, 10y constantly saving.
by Wild speculation, by pinching ana snaN-
ing.
liz prospercd at last in his worldly affair,
And rose from the foot To the top IL the
stairs.
OF all of the heaux with which Table was
hlcst,
One sutton was swccter than all OF the rest;
His pink aud white features, his exquisite
airs,
His mustachc OF semiInvisible hairs,
HIS diamonds, his rings and his snowy attire,
NJ Ill .a-N 49, N...1a.a ..arr nnanll EaF
lie talked of fast horses, of ''bctting ana
drinking
He laughed at the motion" Of working or
While Mrs. Topp gave him the best OF her
And talked "A great deal 90 that dawtah o
mine"
woman! fair siren. men can not withstand
The cup of destruction that turks in your
How oft have the noblest been led and be-
To taste the bright poison because you have
smiled!
Men y cid to your beauty and subtle control.
They drink and they die, wrecked In tody aud
soul.
20 Tabitha married Augustus FitZ Noodle,
And started away with her husband aud poo
die:
To "Yerrup;' her 'lawd'' condcscended TO
So she WIS as happy rs money could make
her.
They crossed the Atlantic, they landed in
They tarried at dissolute Paris awhile,
They saw tho whole city, You know,' at a
And greatly enjoyed all its "splendah an
style"
They visited Sicily, Naples and Rome,
They gazcd nj "San fetahls' magnificent
dome:
They went To the Vatican. saw Plus IX.,
A Its o old martyrs an saints, veiy hne;''
= They erOaSg1 tho fall AIDS. they descend 81
the Rhine.
Viewed all the old castles AMI notable
They thought the Old ruins, tho striking and
Would have looked very well iii they wasn't
went over go England. attended the races,
Then, greatly ds2usted with foreign al
They crossed the wild waves and came home
for repairs.
Time rlided away, with a great deal OF chang.
How many fond lovers n few years estfangei
= Poor ''Iahbic' grew older and thinner and
whittier,
Forgot how 10 smile and soon learned how to
Sputtcr.
Because her Augustus "woul lie in the gut
In short. his attentions had ceased TO de-
light her.
He drank and ne gamblcd. he lived very fast.
- He d.cd. one dark night, with the "tremens,'
at In [.
misfortune" It's said, "nevcr travels
alone"
And riches have wings" for they often have
flown.
The wealth of the Tops, being deeply in
VOWED
in wild spccula,ions. one dark day dissolved.
The sheriff ''camed own like the wolf on the
fold"
. Their house and rich furniture had TO be sold!
Now those who had loudly protested to adj
mire
The Tops. when they dressed in their snowy
attire.
Pronounced them exceedingly vulgar ana
Nain.'
The fashionabIc brethren all frowncd with dis
dain:
They heard Of the change in their worldly AZ
fairs,
And ceased to remember the Tops in their
Forsakcn by friends and avoided by sll,
Even those they dcSpised now reioiced In
their fall.
There is sorrow and shame, there is want and
Il stress.
There is grief that no language can speak or
That will come to a man with no will TO alb
From as irihing a thing as a glass of cham.
payne,
And the ones on whom Nature has deigned to
be>tOw
An abundance of all the good things here be-
Should not walk thro' the world too conceitel
and vain,
OR regard all the lowly with naughty disdain.
stairs,
And crush all their proud. supercilious airs.
Eugene j.. Hal, in Chicago Inter Ocean,
- 49,