Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-01-30
For the MONITOR.
THE COBBLER'S SIN.
BY DAVID HILL.

BY DAVID HILL.
Your speakin' of Jim's integrity,
Brings up one particular day.
When thet boy. through my edicatin',
Come purity near goin' astray;
The cause of which happened precisely
In this ere most singular way.
Yer see, without mincin' the matter,
war SO uncomfortably poor.
Thet often that gaunt wolf-"starvation."
Jest fingered outside o. the door;
An this. if now disremember,
War nigh to the year IA.
So with my twelve chil'ren-God bless 'em!
Continually cryin for bread.
'Taint strange thet a pondemonnm
Kept ragin' inside O. my head; 80
An fer once. in all my existence.
l sartinly wished was dead.
Twas then that his worship-Satanc-
The Devil! to English it plain.
Jest knocked out the strength O. my counter.
An ruled my onsensble brain.
government never effected
Till indIgeuce ruled the domain.
But ''tappin'" my conscience, he whispered &
How twas an unpardonable ban.
To borrow unasked, when starvation
Stepped in an insulted a man.
An polishin' crime SO artistic,
melted like "wax'' to his plan
So let Jim into the secret;
But-mind you taught him to feel
My 'tentions war only to borrow
Till fortune unfettered her wheel:
word which to me war more plastic,
An leetle might softer than "steal'
An so at an hour when the shadows
Had knocked out the "heel-tap" o. day,
We silently stole through the darkness
To the house of Jonathan Clay;
Which stood, SO to speak accurct'ly,
mile an three quarters away.
Then placed Jim clus to the wnder
Nigh to whar old Jonathan slept;
While l. through the entrance beneath it.
Quite oncerimonously crept.
Nor paused till my hand touched the barrel.
In which his salt bacon war kept.
Well loaded. 1 climbed out, an started
For home aoithout thinkirs to pay;
When, castin' my eyes on to Jimmy
swami twas old Jonathan Clay.
Thet youngster had heerd i'm a-comin'.
An busted right out of the way.
Talk of chemico- battery
A-chargn' your nerves on the sly;
Oflightning upsettin' the bedstead
On which you onconsciously lie;
Or fuselighted bomb-shells explOdin'.
AS twere. uninvitingly nigh;
Whyi all of them things were as nothn'
Compared to that moment o. dread.
While waitin' for knock down expletives
To fall on my criminal head;
The which would have sounded like music,
Compared to what Jonathan said.
Forinstead O. curses expected,
He lifted the ham let fall,
An'-"Take it right home to your chil'ren
Nor mention the matter at all;
They need it. know. or this visit
Ware more of a diurnal call.
An'-"Whenever hunger oppresses.
(You know give aims to the poor,)
Just tell me of all your distresses.
An take o. my bountiful store;
Only come in the nat'ral daylight.
An enter the house by the door,"
l tell We. each sentence he uttered
just went through my soul like ball;
An weight seemed pressin' my conscience,
An jarrin' my nerves like fall;
But that bacon he urged upon ME.
War the heaviest weight OF all.
So speakin' O Jlm's integrity,
Brought up that particular day.
When thet boy along with his father
Come purity near goin' astray;
The salvation of which-God bless i'm
Is due to old Jonathan Clay.
For the lesson learned tibet midnight
Has governed life through the past;
An given the whole O. my bein'
An entirely different cast.
While that ar first theivin' adventure.
Wernt only the first, but the last.