The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-02-09
TEMPERANCE READING.
ROWE'S WIDDER.

Nueu lHey lalu Lne UOy away,
CT ed like some weak woman,
An I've thought Nv him all dog.
Bill wasn't gineral favorite,
iknow. Joe, in the mines.
But he was soft an tender l.
AS woman is, by times. go
Once, when l was down with fever,
Night an day he watched by me,
An better nurse an tenderer,
A woman could not be.
He hadn't mnch religion.
But hev seen N pray
Twas the night they thought wouldn't last
To see the break o day;
He never knowed watched him.
Poor Bill as he kneeled there,
Holdn' my poor, weak hand in his
His head bowed low in prayer
can't say that his prayer Ger reached
The ears OF the CHRISTIANS God
But I'm alive an we'll to-day,
Though he sleeps meath the sod.
How was It We quit drinkin'9
Yes, know we both drunk hard,
An many the hard-earned dollar
We drunk up, me an pard.
But one night down in Frisco,
Him an me shook hands an swore
So long as Dan. Rowes wilder lived
We'd tech the stuff no more.
Twas down in Grants you know the place
Poor devil, he's dead since then
Ihope God will forgive him,
But he kept fearful den.
Well. o crowd of US was there one night
A-drinkin' an telln' yarns,
When in walked Rowe's wife, pole as death,
With little one in her ans.
Rowe felt ashamed an mad O. course,
To hev his wife seen there,
Among SO many drunken sots,
An begun to rail and swear.
He ordered her to leave the place,
An tried to push her out;
But she cred. an chung fast TO him.
An tried TO coax the lout
To go home with her, but in q rage
He struck her on the head,
A brutal blow that brought the blood
She fell like one struck dead.
We had been smiln' at the scene
Till this, an maxim jest,
But when We saw him strike her down,
We all was up an dressed,
An ready TO defend her,
Our blood at fever heat
A man don't mind q square man-nght,
But to see q t1ontdn boat
B ctwrrdly, drunken husband,
Was too much for us all.
An soon, nigh every locker on,
Was N xed up IN the brawl.
Besides, we'd all knowed Mary.
Or most all, NJ any year.
An knowed no better woman we'd
In either hemisphere.
An some of US in other days
He'd learned 10 love her. joe
Poor II II md an me hOfh flucihd hon
But she loved only Rowe.
Well, all these things considered.
or course we took her plrt,
An in the smart q pistol ball
Went through her husbands heart
Twas never knowed who senti
We was oil No in heap
Thank Coo didn't do it
Nor poor BIl now asleep.
II might hey been an accident
But them amt thoughts o. NINE
For Rowe, W. know, want poplar
Along about that time.
Twas hirted that he knowed dead
More than he dared to tell
Bout certain Mexican found dead
In Brayley's lower dell;
An that Mexican had friends that night,
In that cursed beer sa Don,
Just mad enough, an drunk enough
To send him 10 his doom.
But Joe, had you seen that woman,
Could you hev heard her wall.
An call to that dead man, while tho blood
Run down her face so pale,
Ithink you'd q joined with Bill an me.
And swore OF there an then,
Before Rowe's corpse, az weepin' wife,
An them twenty or thirty men.
There wasn't a dry eve there, Joe
Not one in all the crowd,
An some, the most soft-hcarted,
Actually bawled out loud
We want the only fellers there
Who Swore they'd drunk their last,
But most OF 'cm slipped up again
When the tragedy blowed past
But Bill an me hung to Il,
An the dimes we'd a spent for rum
We sent each m nth with y kindly word
To the wilder an little one,
Because we nllus took some blame
For the murder done that night
For VIC had asked Rowe IN there,
An helped to git him sight
Bill sent his last week ago:
But, as said before,
So long as she's u widder,
With little one, on poor.
I'll never drink another glass,
But keep right on, the same
AS Bill'd done, had he been spared
Good day, Joe, here's my train.
e. b. Lowe, in Good Housekeeping.