Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-05-09
DOWN TO THE CAPITAL.

NOl.By. KANSAf
DOWN TO THE CAPITAL.
ben down to the Capital at Washington
DC,
Where Congress meets and passes on the pen
sious ort to be
Allowed to old one-legged chaps, like me, a,
Don't wear their pants in pairs at all-and VII
how proud we are!
Old Fqukens. from our deestrick, jes turned in
and tuck and made
Me stay with him while was there; and long
er at staid
The more KEEP a-wantin' jes to kind o. gil
And yit a-feelin' sociabler with Flukens ever
day.
You see, I'd got the idy-and I guess most
folks agrees
AT men as rich as him, you know, kin do tes'
what they please:
A man worth stdcks O. money, and q Congress.
man and all,
And livin' in a buildin' bigger AN Masonic
Hail.
Now mind, I'm not a-faultin' E1uke-he made
his money square.
We both was Forty miners, and both busted
gittin' there;
weakened anu OuWluOlcSSeO anu nc SLuCk
and staid and made
His millions: don't know what I'm worth I'M
tel my PENSIONS paid.
But was goin' to tell you-er ruther goin' to
try
To tell you how he's livin' now; gas burnin'
mighty nigh
In ever room about the house; and ali the
night about.
Some blame reception goin' on, and money 60
in out
.rhey's people there from all the world-jes
ever kind at lives
1njuns and all! and Senators, and REPRESENTA-
tives:
And girls. you know, jes dressed in gauze and
roses. I declare,
And even old men shamblin' round and waltz
in with 'em there!
And bands a-tootin' circus-tunes. way in some
Jes chokin' full o. dollhouse plants and pnies
and Perfume;
And fountains. squirtn' stiddy all the time;
and statutes, made
Out o. puore marble, 'peared like, sneakin'
round there in the shade.
And Fluke he coaxed and begged and plead
with me to take a hand
And sashay in amongst 'em-crutch and all,
you understand;
open air,
He folered, and tel five o'clock we set a-talkin'
there.
my God"' says he. F1uke says to me. 'rm
tireder n you:
Don't put up yer tobacker tel you give man .
chew.
Set back leetle furder in the shadder: thatu
do:
I'm tireder n you, old man: I'm tireder n your
"You see that-air old DOME" says he,
bumped up aginst the sky;
Its grand, first time you sec it, but it changes,
by and by,
And then it stays ies thataway-jes anchored
high and dry
Betwixt the sky up yender and the achin' OF
yer eye.
''Night's purity: not so purity, though, as what
it ust to be
When my first wife was Twin. You remember
herr says he.
nodded like, and Fluke went on, II wonder
now eff she
Knows where 1 am-aud what am-and what
lust to be!
'7Aat band in hhere,-I ust to think at music
couldn't wear
A Teller out the way it does; but that amt
music there
That's jes a. imitation, and like ever thing, I
swear,
Ihear, er see, er fetch, er taste, er tackle any
where!
'Ifs all jes artificial, this ere histpriced life
of ours.
The theory, it's sweet enough tel it saps down
and sours.
They no home left ner ties O. home about 1t.
BY the powers,
The whole things artifcialcr n artificial
flowers!
And all want and could lay down and sob
fer, is to know
The homely things Of homely life: fer instance.
jes to 60
that nd rest me So
Jes set there. like ust to do. and laugh and
joke, you know.
':Jes set there. like I ust to do" says Fluke,
astartin' in.
Peared like, to say the whole thing over to
hisse'f ag'in;
Then stopped and turned, and kind o. coughed,
and stopped and fumbled fer
Somepn er mother in the grass-I guess his
handkerchief.
Well, sence Tn back from Washington. where
left Fluke a-stll
Aleggin' fer me, heart and soul, ON th.t-air
Pension bill,
rye halfway struck the notion, when think
O. weaith and SIGH,
There's nothin' much patheticker an jes
a-ben rich,
James whitcomo Riley, in Century.
BURYING THEIR DEAD.
Strange Funeral Customs Of the
North American Indians.