Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-04-29
The Old Man Meditates.
BY WILL CARLETON.

Nay, Maggie. let my old-style fancies be-
| I'm sorry that you interrupted me
It's sweet TO press pretty hand like this,
And taste the navor OF q grandchiid' 8 kiss;
| love to draw you 20 me tender-Wlse,
And lsOk of at my boyhood through your eve
lFor they are telescopes Of wondrOus view,
That bring me back y girl that looked like yeu)
iour voice is, as you just now used 1t last,
silver key that takes me through the past;
And now you're here. You girl witch, you shal
stay,
For I've been sitting here an hour. Pu own.
a., And shadows on my poor old soul have found
That might feel chilly like to folks around.
I've seen the sun go sailing out OF sight.
And wondered Sihanon nsrIss oi =,
why
God would not swing those gold doors of the sk,
And take me from this world that's grown &C
To heaven where maybe fashions do not change
For am like gn ared and withered tree
With u new growth of forest shading me.
The world keeps nesing soi-they fashion it
SO old men tad Lo place wherein to Ht.
"on and right on" leaps hot from every
"Livs % walle you live. /" and .Go it while you re
An average. moderate life. if these things last.
Will be among the lost arts Of the past;
These rushing days OF lightning anu Of steam
Push everything out into xn extreme.
The rich grow richer. smarter grow the smart;
It's harder for the rest to get q start;
And wholesale grows more Wholesale every day
And retail has to stand back out the way.
It's hard to tell, mid all prOgressivn's Jumps.
How lar this world will make up into Jumps.
Farewell, old churn. with dasher fringed with
These tImes when COWS are all but MIXED by
steam,
And in the bustllng dairy may be found
Butter by tons. insiead oi by The pound,
w lille several Of the corner groceries keep
Its bogus brother. Oleomargarine cheap
Good-by, old country mi Of water-power:
This steam one does your weeks work in an
Adieu. gas. tallow. kerosene and whale:
The blue earth born lightning makes you
pale!
You sailing craft. make wide your nut,ering
Lest the iire-iea frigale run you dswni
0Id-fashioned poliLics, Cease your mild strife,
Wnsn aen can say, IAN oftice Or your life !''
nd you. small rogues. ere you 80 guilty feel
Because thousand dollars you may steal
Look ut that scamp of ssnctlmoniOus style
Who pliers millions with charming smilei
Once my sorrel nag in peace could drive,
Win with some ilir chance OF reaching home alive;
cars.''
And maybe take some that had better stay;
While often IN a Crash OF wall and woe,
They take folks where they do not want to 20!
Ana have heard and read distressing things
Of railroad cliques, mOnopoles aud rings:
I've tried to Understand their ''stOck reports,' -
Their .'buls" and ''bears," their curious
'slongs" and ''shorts;''
WherefrOm the most that can calculate
Is, II to fall among them is your late,
I our heart, ere many months. VIII sing the song
:. My pockets Short my countenance Is long"
II may be right the way these fellows do It,
But old men Can not ft themselves down to ltl
w ere Kind OF circumscrlbed to folks knew;
Hut now the telegraph and papers try
10 bring this whole world underneath the eye,
nd my old TOOL heart into sorrow drive
O'er deaths Of folks didn't know were alive.
!t Ii an interesting TACT to know
l !, nat news can sweep across the country so,
But II gets out of breath, calculate
nd sometimes fails to tell the tory straight:
nu talk that's false, or frivolous. or too small
me u slower Il goes. the better Tor us all.
US smart, this flashing news from shore to
But Old men value peace good deal more.
n the hay field how gallant and how bliths
'ahs their ioud song my milestone and my
low in the ,lewy morning used to pass
ny bright bl- de 3 whisper through the shud.er-
ing grass
. nd gayIy in the harvest fields of old
NY sickle gathered Gods most precious gold.
out M now tiie patent reaper rattles there
[se men II drove out gone-the Lord knows
where.
brags and ratlles through the field IN haste
iathers the harVest-what it does not waste
, hd ieaves not much iOr poor old men like me
.ASspb ~ biL upon the fence and
:ud bade man till the soil; but it would seem
,, ie,s shirked 1t OF on horses steel and steam.
rs weii-if he don't use the extra time
u u wicked mischief or mischlevOus crime.
MS giving work the gO-by may be smart
'ut nave noticed doesn { improve tile heart
Know IN way behind these rushing days
'ut stiii like tile good old working ways.
our grandam made her own trim wedding
md fitted it, and wove it too, I guess:
mere never. Maggie, was witching elf
nat Went past her-nOt eve u YOU yuur.elf |
M, ~" naxe hsr gentle eyes, her voice. her touch
ul, sakes yOu cost hundred times as ,IncI, , |
hey We hal to flute. and .unce and trick you
nat hSrrnr-hat you keep i0r evening shows,
d, nu squeeze. und pu l. and jerk yOu ali ubout'
''i hea Il question rather hard to meet
W you came through 1t all SO good and sweet.
"u wnuldn' have had to bother IN that wnv
$ me cute Yankee had not one line day.
ace.i. with eyes made by money hunger keen,
sewing circle IN one small machine
men hungers alter cloth amt thread; and so
ress often takes up some new IurbeIow. L.
y, Tfla-s.yie pocket with gaunt pain 1t fills;
iuch matters. maybe, amt for me to name | ,
d, nr 'rne r., reilgion always keeps the same,
d mi ,mr ,mry may hlgsle; contradlct and doubt.
~ 1ney CAM change. however hard they try,
,Ea y, mem 10, on The top side oi the sky:
oiien helps me understand the old:
II when my daily payers come to sny
Hhk ~ Use the straight old fashioned vav
Taught That grand old prayer to us YOU know- ,
was more than eighteen hundred Years ago:
NJ IL lts words were any way aIniss
"a probably have told us long ere This In
astways He's heard me so far in that stvie
lu III hang to it yet u little while
. me this matters inst like ali the rest. II
u ways lor old men mostly are the Ii, st f,
1t whatsoever changes 1 can name. ID
ie Institution always keeps the SAME. !
lu soon or late enacts Its noble part
40 that's the grand and glorious human h.,r,
rhaps IL turks IN wretchpdness and slime
dragged by passion through the waves ot .
crime; Waves Vi
idoisnce around its couch may Green, I
~ lull IL I0r season into sleeu: |;
selfl5hness may ravage all al,out
t Its supplies and well-nigh sturye il out.
II when 1t can the body's grossn..s sh.d r
e god-like human heart comes out nhe.di 9
}. Maggie. do not 20 away from me. =
IL turn your eyes round here where I can 900.
ey snow me that there's much that earth car
give "a" q
signed to coax an old man yet to live. i
te t tenuer, true heart you have always shown
orightenlng up my dim life with your own
e way you We treated me-with as much grace h
~ ~ owned three-quarters of this plnce 4
hile ysu and all your folks are well aware
purse is full si poverty TO spare J.
oW, In The sandy shifting of life'y vavs 9
nat Loves first fashion still among us .favs.
M tnat Young fellow coming down The lane
III neiP 10 make my meaning toubly nIain In