The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-31
PENN-YAN BILL.
BY EUGENE FIELD.

l. In gallass old Kentucky where the grass is Where the liquor is the smoothest and the girls are fair and true, Where the crop of be -gawd gentlemen is full of heart and sand, And the stock of fourtime winners is the finest in the land, Where the Democratic party in bourbon hardi- hood For more than half century unterrifed has Where nod the black-eyed susans to the prat- tie of the rill- There-there befell the wooing of Penn Tan Down yonder in the cottage that is nestling in the shade Of the walnut trees that seem to love that quiet little glade Ab'des pretty maiden of the bonny name of Sue As pretty as the black eyed how'rs and quite as modest, too; And lovers came there by the score, of every But not one (the story goes] was quite to Susies mind.
 pleadings made her ill- Till all at once upon the scene hove Penn Yan Bill. He came from old Montana and he rode bron. cho mare, lie had rather howd'y'd do and rough and .tum- ble air; His trousers were of buckskin and his coat of furry stuff Fl wi ie enough; Upon each leg stalwart boot reached just above the knee, And in the belt about his waist his weapons carried he; rather strapping lover for our little Susie She was has choice and he was hers, was Penn, Tan Bill. We wonder that the ivy seeks ont the oaken tree, And twnes her tendri1s round hlm thourh scared and gnarled he be; We wonder that gentle girl, unused to worldly cares, should choose man whose life has been con stant scrap with bears; An, 'tis the nature of the vine, and of the So when the bold Montana boy came from his lair to woo, The fair Kentucky blossom felt all her heart strings thrill Responsive to the purring of Penn Yan Bill. He told her of his cabin m the mountains far away, Of the catamount that howls by night. the wolf that yawps by day; He told her of the grizzly with the automatic jaw, He told her of the Injun who devours his vic Of the jayhawk with his tawdry crest and whiskers in his throat, Of the great gosh-awful sarpent and the Rocky Mountain goat. A book big as shakespeare's websters  With the yarns that emanated from Penn Tan Bill Lo, as these mighty prodigies the westerner Her pretty mouth falls wide agape-her eyes get big as plates And when he speaks of varmints that in the Rockies grow She shudders and she clings to him and tim. idly cries "Ohi' And then says he Dear Susie I'll tell you what to do You be my wife, and none of these ere things dare poster yOu!" And shes She answers, clnging close and trembling yet: "I will"
 Penn.Yan Bill.
 3u. Avaunt, ye poet lovers, with your wishy- washy laysi Avaunt, ye solemn pedants with your musty, Avaunt, ye smirking dandes who air your eti. quette Upon the gold your fathers worked so long and hard to get! How empty is your nothingness beside the sturdy tales Which mountaineers delight to tell of border hills and vales- Of snaix that crawl, of beasts that yowl, of birds that flap and trill In the wild egregIous altitude of Penn Tan Bill. Why, over all those modern peaks his honest feet have trod- So high above the rest of us he seemed to walk with God; He's breathed the breath of heaven, as it foa ted, pure and free, From the everlasting snowcaps to the mighty western sea; And he's heard that awful silence which thun- ders in the ear: t'There is a great Jehovah, and His biding place is hereH' These-these the solemn voices and these the sights that thrill In the far-away Montana of Penn Tan Diii. Of course she had to love him, for it was her nature to; And she'll wed him in the summer, if all we hear be true. The blue grass will be waving in that cool Kentucky glade Where the black-eyed Susans cluster in the pleasant walnut shade Where the doves make mournful music and the locust trills a song To the brook that through the pasture scam pers merrily along; And speeches. pride and rapture ineffable shail fiji The beaatifc bosom of Penn Tan Bill.
 Chicago Neus