Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-02-17

ny r. W. LEWIS "a e-rEAR-oLD .FLEDoLrS

ALEoENp OF THE ARKANsAw. :
RYH.w. LEWIS "a e-rEAR-oLD .FLEpoLrSe.)
I sing of day that has long since gone by;
of a land that was fairest beneath the blue
sky;
With its broad sweeping prairies, like an
emerald Sea,
And climate as sunny IS fair Italy.
Slowly winding its tortuous way TO the sea
Der its. broad bed of sand, through wood
land and lea,
Swent the Great Arkansaw-a silvery band
Like the belt of Orion bedecking the land
| In the midst Of valley more fertile ard lar
| Than Danubian wales of Roumanla are
Crept, stealthy and soft, as u BRIDE 10 hef
lord,
The Little Arkansas, and silently poured
| The wealth of her waters-by natures sweet
| Jrnon the broad bosom of Great Arkansaw.
| And here. like a gem in It's setting, so grand.
| MD tho civ. so ancient, of Wichita stand.
That city was peopled by pigmies, It's said
Sixteen thousand or more-as Their news
papers read
But out where the calm Little River then
flowed
A terrible giant in those days abode.
His vissee was covered with bristles all
DER.
And his head was shaped much like large
figure =! j..
Trees trembled and shook by the force Oh
his breath
And his name was called Commodore Talk
em-to-death,
How Tslk-em-to-death gained his high ma
val rank,
l. n matter of doubt; but some people think,
When the giant came down TO this region
He came in command OF small prairie
schooner.
Most giants that lived in those ages remote,
With club, like saw-log, their poor VIC
tins smote =
To these mammoth clubs those giants e ei
clung-
But this giants weapon Of war was hi:
tongue.
Not only his tongue, but his pen was
And mightier far than sword when IL
error
Enlisted 'Twere far harder endured
His sdam nuisance" pen, than Damocle'
sword.
when Talk-em-to-death got up ION his ear
The whole city trembled with horror an'
S The whole sixteen thousand OF hecgiings AM
pigmies
Stood mute and aghast, at his frightiu
enignas.
Some pigmies were struck with such terribl
dread
r They never recovered their reason, tits said
While Others so frightened they never too
:, breath!
And scores were the victims Of Taik-em-to
death.
Not far from the castle, where the giar
abode,
The small cottage home of an African stood
e lis said that the giant induced him one ds
: To stand for an hour. and be talked to, 10
he pay
Next morning, stark dead, on the floor b
was found,
lie With his pieces Of silver all scattered around
His tympanum bursted, his lungs withou
is His skull all cracked open, by Talk-em-tc
death
- An "imbecile coroner" summoned Jur
But their verdict awakened the old giant
fury;
adj For they found the disease WAS q" concusslo
of BRAIN
And Talk-em-to-death then arose to explai
zee He talked of malaria" of '.mill- dams" al
to mills"
He talked much of '.fevers," prescription
and pills;
he Of .'equatic brass-moss, of nutritious fou
Ir. dation,
- And threw the whole city in wild constern
ton,
\ master was he of language polemic;
Of He talked of bad water, of dire epidemic,
w Contagious diseases, of rule Democratic,
r of cholera threatened-the dreadful A
of a stock jobbing" council, of hydra
lie four"
put And of ..wart ridden fossils" to be shorn
not their power,
The He fred his siege guns, he fired his mora
vas lie fired his krupp guns, he shot from
quarters.
He fired from stem, he fired from larboal
FOR He fired from stern, from hold, deck, a
bin s,arboard.
ay Double shotted his guns with loud int
IA jections-
Verbs, adjectives, pronouns-that miss
their connections,
-, And fell on the ear with n death-deali
stroke,
d. And buried the city in sulphurous smoke
Not sadder a fate has Pompeii revealed,
III Than Wichita's doom, which on that
AIDE was sealed;
Nor more fatal to life was Nesuvius' brea
Than this terrible charge of Talk-em-
in death.
am When the great deed was done, and his v
his tins all dead,
.si- He HE'D To his castle and betook him to b
=, But next morn he arose and strobe over
town,
bet And at length, on the top Of the stand-pi
sat down.
yer And there, sitting modify, pondered, 8
thought
isas OF the havoc he'd made, and the ruin b
ling wrought:
un- Till, touched with remorse, and ashamed
5.v himself,
va. He gathered his grip-sack and fed TO
TOM Gulf.
/ of 4.
The giant and pigmies have all pass
ONE away,
.-.,. Bat people who live in this city to-day,
"a VIII point TO the castle, with long-ba
cor breath,
iak- Where lived giant Commodore Taken
Get deathl
OF GODDARD ALL TORN UP.