Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-02-18
WE'RE GOING OUT WEST TO-DAY.
BY EUGENE j. HALL,

Come, hurry up your cakes my wife, and put
your bonnet OH;
The town is all a-talking that we're going out
West to-day;
We never know how many friends we have TIL
we are gone;
Folks never seem to care for us until we move
away.
The yellow stage Will soon be here to take us to
the TAIN
1the ruttle of the wheels now coming up the
lane.
kind O. odd the old house looks, with all the
fXings sold.
paid hundred dollars for our parlor set in
gold;
1t went to Neighbor Nuttings folks for seven
Our other things were auctioned off and hardly
brought a song,
They almost seemed q part or us, We LVeu
with 'em so long
Twas llere 1 brought you, Polly Ann; we both
were young and green,
But happy as two little birds that build their
nest in spring.
Ny age was only twenty-one, and yours was
You were q rosy, round, red-headed, loving
And / a gawky boyd been a bachelor, no
doubt,
f you hadn't popped the question, and so kind
o. helped me out.
You needn't sh-h-h! That time to me comes
back just like dream.
You were Cooking after lilies" ana you
caught me with your hook,
One day when was fishing In the shadows OF
the stream.
said that was hungry, and you said that you
And somehow you engaged yourself to me as ii
appears,
And you have been the best of cooks for more
than forty years.
The house is old and shaky now, with rafters
ssgging down,
With shingles Totting on the roof, with creak-
ing floors worn out;
And yet they used to call it once the prettiest
place in town,
And you the loYeliest girl and the luckiest
man about;
1t was q handsome white and red when it was
fresh and new,
But now tbs out of plumb ana gray, us very
much like you.
Yet there's memory in each knot and nail upon
the floor;
For here our children crept about before they
learned to walk,
Here are their marks upon the walls, their dents
upon the door;
Here, on our knees, long years ago, we taught
em how to talk;
Here on the hollow floor they knelt to say their
seem to hear their little feet still patter1ng up
the stairs.
There is stiffness all around, a hush upon the
A thousand happy memories rise and pass be-
fore my soul
Our merry boy with dark-brown eyes, our girl
with sunny hair,
That sleep in peace, dear wife, to-day on yon-
der grassy knoll.
Ali we shall find in heaven again the treasures
we have lost.
When we shall pass the border land their little
feet have crossed.
Our children write us from the West their farms
are fair to see;
They tell that the fields are rich, the praires
bright with flowers;
But no new spot in all the world viii ever seem
TO me
As much like home, know, GEAR wife, as this
old place of ours.
Here every stone beside the road, and tree that
we pass by,
Just seem like trusty, true, and dear old friends
to you and |.
Our place is with the living ones the dead are
always near,
And they will dwell unseen with US when
everything is new.
Just as the same bright stars shall shine that
shine upon US here;
Just as the same bright morning sun shall glis-
ten in the dew.
Whati weeping, wife? Here comes the stage to
take US to the train;
Our children's children, way out West, will make
US gay again!