St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-10-04
A RURAL ROMANCE.

(soMHwHAr IN THE LINE or LORD THNNYSoN'!
PASTORAL POEMS, ONLY DIFRERENE)
Two honest husbandmcn dwelt side By side
In farms adjoining. Grubbs and Stubs theil
names.
Rough, homely names in sooth; but al they
had
Aud Oft those names had served them in good
stead
When they had need OF names to sign to notes
Grubbs had . son Ezekiel tall and staunch
A. any rustic who wore pants In boots
And rose IT four to milk his seven kino
And seek for cgglcts In the hennery.
Stubs had no sons; . daughter only came
TO bless her fathers home, to shed sunlight
About its rooms and exc to do odd chores
'Twixt meal times She Vas fair to look upon
As snowdrops blossoming In early spring.
Her name was Mary Ann, gentle name.
And gently borne by her. Ezekiel saw
And loved her whom to sec and love were one.
The farms adjoined and were but kept apart
BY one plain picket fence OF easy compass,
Through which the faithful dog of Farmer
Stubs
Did Oft meander In the eventide
To chase the dogs Of worthy Farmer Grubba.
Thus was feud begun between the twain;
But Mary Ann and young Ezekiel too
Were not part OF the parental strife.
Equal their fathers lots; content were they
To know that when some day the old men
hoped
The golden twig. the farms should be united
A goodly estate for goodly pair.
But one day came shadow DER their paths.
A schemer from the town intruded on
The peaceful confines Of the Grubbs estate.
Looked here, dug there and shifted and snufYed
about,
Saying wiseacrely with shake OF head:
There's oil upon this land, Of that I'm sure.
Oil that is pcnt up in a mighty store.
Dig, farmer. and I'll warrant thee thou'lt find
Riches, the like which thou wotst not Of"
So he departed. Then good Farmer Grubbs
Did hold his head aloft and elevate
His nose when neighbors passed, IS who should
81 shall be rich. There's oil on this, my land.
And wealth immense shall speedily be mine"
So when Ezekiel came and softly said:
''Fafher. l fain would wed with Mary Ann"
He waxed full wroth, exclaiming In his wrath:
'How now. thou who. when We have dug for oil,
Shalt be a man Of riches; wilt thou we'd
This begsar's brat this paupcr farmers child!
Gotoi II shall not be-"
And 50 the son
Went sorrowingly to tell his Mary Ann
And break the match, explaining Is he might
That he 50 rich must look above poor her.
Then there was digging on the Grubbs estate,
Digging in day time. boring in the night
For oil, rich OIL that was to make them rich.
For days and weeks and months they dug and
bored.
What came orts Nothing. nothing. ever
nothing
Then came the city schemer, and he looked
About the place exclaiming: '.Marvelousl
Behold the vein OF oil that once lay hero
Has vanished and has made its oily way
Beneath yon fence to Farmer Stubbs' estate
His is the oil well; yours the memory OFT"
So saying he vanished, and Ezekiel wepk
That night he hied him unto Mary Ann,
And told her that his love had never ceased,
Bcsought her take him back and let no oil,
No sor1d oleaginous obstacle
Disturb the dream, the golden dream OF love
She said him nay and Knocked him
So no went
Kicking himself sdown the dusty lane.
Then Farmer Stubs set chcerily to work.
And in q few weeks time struck oil right rich.
A fortune rolled In and his wealth became
So vast that all around marveled thereat
So Stubs waxed wealthy, and % Mary Ann,
Her fathers heiress, grew accustomed 70
Ezekiels loss and married very soon
A foreign nobleman with heavy bills
Which Mary AIMS papa paid willingly.
So read and learn that We can never tell
Who that is down to-day may mot be up
To morrow, and who down that now Is up
Harry B. Smfth, In America.