Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-10-03
REUBEN BARABBAS.

REUBEN BARABBAS.
''Sixty per cent" said Reuben to my lord
ITO save your honor! It's not much 10 pay,
I'd make it only fifty If could;
But moneys scarce. and LIES lottery.
And your old father may outline his SON.
You can't afford it: Well, no more can
AFFORD TO run the risk on lower terms;
And If you can't, you can't; and so goodbye
My lord looked angry, but was young and rash,
And fingered on his seat and b.t MS Up,
And launched at Reuben words OF hate and
scorn
With fearful meanings. But he signed the
bill,
And TOOK the ha-d-woa and degrading cash;
Hard-won, but lightly parted with n bots and
play,
And jewelers. and mil.iners' accounts
For the Aspasia OF the passing hour
That held his fancy and his purse IN thra!l,
Til his mind changed-or hers, more likely
still
In favor of some newer fool than he.
That night, in bed Barabbas had dream.
Haif-waking and housekeeping, as he tossed
In feyerish restleSsness, after n feast
Too gross and heavy for his body health
And draughts too many OF the sparkling wine
That fraudulent traders sell for Veuve
ClIquot-
Pleasant to sip but poisonous TO guam.
HIS unquiescent brain was filed with
thoughts
That haunted it By night as we'll as day;
OF gold that he had clu;ched, and bills as
good
That he had Strengthened out, and piled Ill
sheaves
To ripen INTO guineas in their time,
And placed beneath his pillow ere he slept
He dreamed he labored in the mines of hell
Naked and feeble, with golden crown
Firm fixed upon hs bald ;.ni shiny skull,
With weight insuferabie: vainly he strove
To cast il from him in the agony
That burned into his brain, right through the
bone.
Fixed 10 his ankle by golden chain
He trailed golden ball. as round and huge
AS the ceath-dealing bombs that IRON sh ps
Belch from their pOnderous and gigantic jaws
To battle hostile fleets and ornaments,
And mow down men as mowers NOW the corn.
This he drew after him at every step,
GOaded by frantic feuds with golden prods
Down to The Internal everlasting mines,
To WELD the p:cl-axe on the Stubborn rock;
ScourGed, Il he stopped a moment in his toll,
by grlnning devils, eager ana alert
Fair murmuring streams OF liEnpid water ran
Trucking beside him; but whene'er he
stopped
as oft he did 10 gulp the cooling draught,
The treacherous liquor tEickened into gold
Grapes n ripe clusters or what seemed like
grapes, q,
Hung red and white, ~ <}overhanstng vines;
And when lie pl, them TO refresh his
mouth.
And bore them to his FACILITATING lips,
Some CeTllish trick would harden them to
gold.
The hooking fends that followed 1T his heels
Stabbed him with golden daggers sharp as
steel
Until the blood drops tr!ckIed TO his feet
As hard as hail in hyperborean storms,
Rafting like pebbles on the burning ground.
He yelled for mercy. But the irsa:iate fiends
Lashed him the harder on his GUiverirg loins.
Then they cried Halt and threw him fierce
~ down,
Back-brokeu, on the hard and scorching mari,
And harnessed him, as IL he were mule
With golden chains, and yolled him 10 a vain
CumbrCus and huge, high piled with granite
rocks,
Through which the Internal nuggets peeped
and shole
In the fun radiance that iIIumined he'll,
And made him drag il. But his limbs for.
bade.
Until a storm Of blows came pouring down
On his nude shoulders and his sinewy loinS
Ana goaded him to action. 1t endured
But Tor one h.dsous moment, Till he fell
Unconscious and exhausted. When ne woke,
With sE-Leks Of pain, he found himself alive
Upon the earth which he had done his best
TO turn into a he'll for other men.
When sense returned he raised himself in bed
And took one long. long culp o: water pure
That stood beside the couch, and thought the
draught
Was worth more gold than usury ever
sCraped
Out o; the pockets OF pairing fools
Since cruel usury became q trade.
Barabbas still has chambers near Pail Mall,
Aud carries on as briskly as before
profitable business. Clients come,
In tempest OF! Their need ana reci,iesspess,
To clamor for his br eff and perIious aid,
For sake of pleasure in the passing day,
Bought by the woe and wal OF future years.
Sky per cent. Is still his minimum;
As for his maximum, why. that's as vide
AS the vast oceans ana his vaster greed!
But fate is just. and daily makes him feel
Acutsiy as he felt 1t in his dream,
That gold is not the chief OF earthly good;
That health and strength, and wholesome
appetite,
And sound refreshing sleep and human love
Are worth Tar more in honest poverty
Than all the treasures mother earth conceals
i
And food distresses HIM. Rheumatic paugs
Torture his bones and natural forces fail
-Tc do the commonest behesrs OF life.
Sixty per cents Alas. if five per cent
OF all the common bless Ss OF mankind
VINO labor honestly for daily bread
Gould be his portion. he i be rich indeed.
Fate hath her methods with the eyildoers;
With her ght hand she poUrs them out the
wine,
But with her left puts poison in the cup,
Or from her seeming favorites takes away
More thai she gives. This truth Barabbas
feels,
The rich Barabbas. e1vied OF the POOR:
And VIII not cease to feel il until death
Kindly dlsmisses him. without his gold
To the oblivion OF the living tomb
And the Futuriiy that lies beyond.
London World.
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