The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-03-01
The Meeting at TimberviIIe.

Twas early in the winter when first the talk b
Bout the rights of wimmen an the cruelty
man.
Sech talk was new in Timberville-it scarf us
to hear
How ignorant we wimmen was about our props
speer;
And how we'd toiled and pinched and saved, an
nothin' better knew,
While our husbands did the thinkin' and held til
purse-strings, too
Miss Sharpley come and told us this-a lecturer
you know
Law me how beautiful she talked her words jus
seemed to flow
AS smooth and easy as the brook--she looked an,
moved SO quiet;
But she fairly shook old Timberville, she raised
up sech a riot
And when heard her tell about us wimmen'
"wasted years."
Although I'm old and tough, you'd think,
couldn't keep from tears.
Soon all the wives, and mothers, too, begun to see
quite plain
That jest to bake and churn and mend, was Ia
borin' in vain;
While young Mis- Cap'n Jones she come, and SEE,
"I'm gOin' to hev high career"-whatever .,ss.
may be.
But Miss Sharpley had to leave US, so she adver-
tised one day
That she'd lecture in the schoo-house once, be-
fore she went away.
Wal, the room was packed that evenin, and Miss
Sharpley did her best
Her gift of speech was wonderful-that all the
men confessed;
She scared way up into the clouds, and back to
airth agen,
And showed us most conveniently the wuthless-
ness of men,
Her speech was DRAWN to a close, and she was
jest sayin'-
"Dear sisters, spurn your tyrant, man, and scorn
the part he's playin'--
Let him perform the mental tasks he has set for
you so long,
While you stand on the mountain tops rejoicin'
free and strongw
Jim Bates was sittin' close at hand, right in the
foremost row,
And on his knee his little child-just two years
old or so.
Jim was poor lone widderer, his wife was dead
and gone;
His home was near the school house, and spose
he felt forlorn;
So he'd come and brought the baby, though the
reason why knew
His hired girl had slipped away to hear the lecture
too. -
And just that very minute, when the room was
still as death,
And you might have heerd a pin drop, as Miss
Sharply stopped for breath,
That little toddlin' thing slid from off her fathers
knee,
Crept close up to the lectures desk, and said
"Does 'ou love me?"
Poor Jim jest turned fiery red, and tried to
snatch the child
But Miss Sharply she leaned over, and looked at
him and smiled
Then, droppin' oil her papers, in the twinkln' of
an eye
She clasped the little one-who gave wonderin'
And laid her yellow, curly head right down upon
her breast.
With both arms clingin round her neck, as if she'd
found her rest
It's as fresh now as picter, though it happened
How she held that little baby girl, whisperin'
soft and low;
Her eyes as bright, and little smiles comm and
goin',
While all the sound that you could hear was just
the child CROWN,
Up to this time establishment had kept the folks
give 'em with a will
It's plain enough Miss Sharpley has found her
proper speer,
And man, the tyrant's conquered now, boys-a
rousing cheer"
" al the meetin' broke up in row, but Jim Bates
waited there
Hes o manly, handsome feller-and when L saw
the pair
10 walkin' of, SEE, seq I, at needs no witch to
tell
What's comm next" And want right? Folks
talked and laughed spell,
But we all danced at the weddin'! Law how she
settled down!
There amt no better housewife than Mis- Bates
in all this town.
'Does she talk of winners rights?' Wal, men,
toned em one day,
And this is what she answered as near as l can
say:
"My friend, I've had my notions, but now I've
wiser grown;
A freside is our kingdom, and husbands heart
our throne.
And many a women fouts and jeers at men, and
married life,
Who only needs an offer, to become pattern
wife !"
Tile. Christian at Work.