Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-05-11
Helena, Montana, Thursday, May II, 1882.
Between these and the grinding molars-

Between these and the grinding molars-
To use the cunning speech of scholars
What erst was avis, ichthys, bos,
To food converted without loss
Is dextrously reduced to pulp,
And disappears with hearty gulp.
For their appetites are sharp:
Take a note, and naught can warp
Their enjoyment at the table,
Both to work and eat they're able.
Mans first duty, honest toll
At the desk or in the soil,
At the mines or in the mills,
VIII not brook the thousand ills
That beset the idle drone,
That destroy the healthy tone
OF the mind and of the body,
Leaving in its stead shoddy,
False, depraved desire, lust
Coating with loathsome rust
Bodily and mental gear,
Unfit for the slightest wear.
His meal is ended. thanks returned,
The trusty hound is fed
Who, never from the table spurned,
Has Oft the children led
Through rocky glen and woodland wild,
Exhausted from their glee,
BY fox or rabbit unbeguiled
Back to the mothers knee.
And now the children's hour is come,
They love it best of all
The hours in this their happy home;
For never does it pail
Upon their fresh, absorbing minds
From papa's lips to hear
The story of the various kinds
OF life with wond ring ear.
lie tells them of the trees that grow
From small and tender seeds
Beside the leaping brook whose flow
Their tiny rootlets feeds.
He tells them how the butterflies
From ugly worms emerge,
And how the slender dragon flies
Maintain their airy perch.
He tells them of the birds whose song
Delights the list'ner's ear,
And how they build their nests so strong,
And how they soar so clear.
Of rocks and trees and buildings tall
That else would break their flight,
And why the mud nests on the wall
Are built so close and tight.
He tells them of the beasts of prey
And Of the timid fawn;
lie tells them of the wondrous way
How salmon lay their spawn:
OF these, and thousand other themes,
OF causes and effects;
How thwarted nature plans and schemes
To rise above defects.
Would that the fathers of our land
Where Natures wonders crowd
Took pride to teach their household band
Those things that speak aloud
To eye and ear and taste and smell,
In accents strong and clear,
To help the ignorance dispel
And help the light appear:
For knowledge thus acquired
At the hearth of childhoods homes
Paves the way to more inspired
Search TO chase the hidden gnomes
To their workshops in the byways
And their secret stores disclose
To the mass who in the highways
Deep in ignorance repose.
Rested and refreshed he rises
TO resume the axe again,
Keeping more and fresh surprises
For the morrow, any strain
On their youthful minds avoiding,
Never cramping thought and act.
Ever helping, ever guiding
To absorb each single fact
soon the ecioing blows come yelling
From the timber, loudly telling
Of work faithful and persistent
Being thoroughly consistent
With the teachings of the man
Who pursues well-laid plan.
And more logs he fells and hewes
From the sparkling morning dews
Till the swift-winged shadows fall,
Till the whip-poor-wil and loon
Sound their wierd and mournful call,
And the melancholy moon
Rides serenely in the ether
Silv ring everything beneath her.
And he ceases from his labor,
iomeward turns his tired feet
To the comfortable seat
Meath the elm, the brook beside,
Where each day at eventide .us-
He enjoys his well-earned ease
With his boy upon his knees,
List'ning to his childish prattling.
And the never-ceasing rafting
Of the girls tongues (well, what would you?
1irls are girls, and so what could youo)
Till the supper is announced
Gath ring all around the board,
Grateful blessing is pronounced
Ger the simple meal, the hoard
Of wild honey, milk and berries,
Bread and butter, luscious cherries
Coarser victuals are tabooed, r
Justly so; whoever wooed
Drowsy god on beans and bacon
But the wherewitkal has taken
To convert restful sleep
into horrid dreams, too deep
For expression. Supper over
Comes stroll thro' scented clover
Growing wild, where Suke and Jess
Are relieved of lacteal stress.
Then the usual evening pariey
Vita the horses Belle and Charley
And romp with sportive Dot
Il the roonly pasture lot
Of all colts the best, and fieetest
For his age, and size the neatest,
iaving all his mothers points
And his fathers muscular joints.
Thus the peaceful evenings glide
One by one into an ocean
Knowing no recurring tide;
But each day can boast gain
At its calm though weary close,
OF Nemean lion slain,
And well-earned nights repose.
E
TWO SAYINGS.
70 sayings of the Holy Scriptures beat
<e pulses in the Church's bow and breast:
d by them we find rest in our unrest,
d heart-deep in salt tears, do yet entreat
DIS fellowship, as if on heavenly seat.