The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1881-06-23
THE TRAMP s STORY.

THE TRAMP s STORY.
fe.pssisncshas gold in it IL discerning folks
Then tAsrs's quito .. little fortune slowed
away eomewhere IN me,
And d. 1t out resardlessof regular stated
In r s.a!1 sses:sp prize paosaxes of common
The pe0ble they can takeit, orrun round it. as
But ne Ssst tllns they'll nnd in II is some
Worm q beeee, drought or tempest, on a farmer's
But To- Ssssse Class r,snotson, trust mortgage
On my weddin' day my father touched me
And handed me the papers for an eighty-acre
With the stock an tools an buildin's for an in
Saying: sHere s a wedding present from my
muscle and my heart:
And, except the admonitions you have taken
And the reasonable fI iickin's that you had when
you was young,
SO much as could wish,
For had . number eatin' from some at
And a the honest love you captured when you
This is all have to give you-so expect no
more from me-"
People d said couldn't marry the sweet girl
tried to court,
Then they laid their theories over, with quick
ness queer to see.
And said they knew we'd marry, but we never
But we did not frame and hang up all the
nc9hbors had to say.
But ran our little heaven in our own peculiar
We started OF quite jolly, wondrous full Of
health and cheer,
Z And a general understanding that the road
was pretty clear.
So we lived and toiled and prospercd; and the
That came on from Heaven to visit us were
br ght and hale and hearty;
Ana to-day We might ha' been there had only
How to lay my road down solid, and let well
enough alone.
There was too much land that joined me that
l didn't Yet possess.
When once he gets land-hungry, strange how
ravenouS one can be!
'Twasnt long before wanted all the ground
that could see.
So bou.ht another eighty mot foreboding
And Tor that and some dowu-money put a
mor.gage on my farm. ,.os
to fix up new,
9 And to buy a covered carriage-and of course
Now INV wife was square against this, tits but
:, right that you should know,
= Crnoush I'm very far from saying that think
But she went in hearty with me, working hard
For we Knew that life was business, now we
had that debt to pay.
We worked through spring and winter,
through summer and through fall
I'M a mi fcrQO Q nr q
steadiest OF US all;
1t worked on nights and Sundays; it worked
1t settled down among us, and it never went
away.
Whatever we kept from it seemed Almost as
1t watched US every minute, and it ruled US
right and left.
The rust and blight were with us sometimes,
and sometimes not;
The dark browed, scowling mortgage was for.
The weevil and the cut.worm they went as
The mortgage staid forever, eating hearty all
the same.
1t nailed up every window, stood guard at
And happiness and sunshine made their home
with us no moe.
Till with failing crops and sickness we got
stalled upon the grade.
And there came dark day on US when the in.
terest wasn't paid:
And kind 1asss cs1 my So faaFp and
And grew weary and discouraged, and the
farm was cheaply sold.
The children left and scattered when they
hardly yet were grown;
Ny wife she pinned an persisted, an l found
myself alone.
What she died of was "a mystery" an the
doctors never knew;
But knew she died of mort0d9e-just as wells
If to trace a hidden sorrow were within the
doctors art,
They ha' found mortgage lying on tina,
- woman's broken heart.
Two different kinds Of people the devil mos
assails:
One is the man who conquers; the other, h,
But stiil i think the last kind are soonest t.
And to hide their sorry faces behind tn,
shameful cup;
Like some old King or other, whose name w
They straightway tear their eyes out, jus
whom they need 'em most.
When once had discovered that the debt
Itried to liquidate it in rather common
way:
fused to meet in private fellow-financier,
And we would drink ourselves worth tel
As easy q way to prosper as ever has beef
But ones heap sight poorer when he get
back to the ground.
OF course ought to ha' braced up, an worke,
on all the same;
1 amt a-tryin' to shirk out, or cover up from
But stii think men often, it safely may b,
Are, dr,rsn to temptations, in place of bein'
And # that tyrant mortgage hadn't cracke'
Ishouidn't have constituted the ruin that 70,
For though I'VE never stolen or defaulted
Yet, socially considered. am pretty middlIn
low.
lam helpless an forsaken; am childless an
Haven a single dollar that's it's fair to cal
My old age knows no comfort, my heart il
scant o cheer;
The children they run from me as soon as
come near;
The women shrink and tremble-their aim
z. = arr fear-bestOwed;
The dogs howl curses at me, and hunt me dow
the road;
My home is where night finds me; my friend
Oh, little is there in this world for one who
poor and old.
But m wealthy in experience, all put up ii
To tske or not to take it, with no difference i,
y Z = the price;
You may have it, an thrive on it, or run roun
But i generally give it wrapped up in som
such words as these:
Worn, s. g[ n .sfts , a'g 81" or tempest 0" far"
But for e'.t-cldss, raiination, trust mortga0
.-FSOm Farm Festiua,s," by wa Carleton.
81 JOICEY SWEETS COURTSHIP.
A Pioneer Idyl.
"A southerly wind and q cloudy sky
BetOkens a hunting morning.,