Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-21
We're Going Out West To-Day.
FOR A SCHOOL RECITATION.

Como, hurry up your cakes, my wife, and put
your bonnet on;
The town is all attacking that We re going out
We never know how many friends we have till
we are gone:
Folks never seem TO care for US until we move
away.
The yellow stage will soon be here to take us
l hear the rattle of the wheels now coming ur
the lane.
How kind O odd the old house looks; with all
the fixing sold.
They didn't bring a quarter what they cost US
paid hundred dollars for our parlor set in
gold;
1t went to neighbor Nuttings folks for seven
teen or So.
Our other things were auctioued of and hardly
brought a song,
They almost seemed part of US, we've lived
with EN- SO long.
Twas here brought you. Polly Ann; we both
were young and green,
But happy as two little birds that build their
nest in spring.
My age was only twenty-one, and yours was
You were a rosy, round, red-headed, loving
And a gawky boy-Td been bachelor, nc
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 a dream.
You were looking after lilies" and you
caught me with your hook,
One day when was fishing in the shadows of
the stream.
i said that WAS hungry. and you said that
you could cook
And somehow you engaged yourself TO me as
IL appears,
And you have been the best Of cooks for more
than forty years.
The house ia old and shaky now, with rafters
sageng down.
With shingles rotting on the roof. with
creaking floors worn out:
And yet they used to call IL once the prettiest
place in town.
And you the loveliest girl, and the luckiest
II was handsome white and red when ii was
fresh and new.
But now It's out of plumb and gray, 'tis 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 EN- how TO talk;
Here on the hollow floor they knelt TO say their
infant prayers
seem to hear their little feet still pattering
up the stairs.
There is stiffness all around hush upon the
air,
A thousand happy memories rise and pass
before my soul
Our merry boy with dark-brown eyes, our girl
with sunny hair,
That sleep in peace, dear wife, to-day on
yOnder grassy knoll.
All. we shall find in heaven again the treas
ures 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 te us that the fields are rich, the prai-
ries bright with flowers;
But no new spot in all the world will ever
seem to me
As much like home. know, dear 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 where
everything is new,
Just as the same bright stars shall shine that
shine upon us here:
Just as the same bright morning sun shall
glisten in the dew.
What. weeping. wife? Here comes the stage
to take us to the train:
Our childrens children, way out West. will
make us gay again.
Eugene J. Hall