Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-01-16
A MARKET EPISODE.

A MARKET EPISODE.
With the noise the brokers made.
With the music Mammon played,
Rang and roared like very Bedlam
The Chicago Board of Trade.
Where the Demon of the Market
Led the discord- bell in hand
Demas, with his shrieking chorus.
Dives, with his believing band
Till the clamor in the chamber
Grew the clamor of a town.
And the money-mad halloo,
As II battle trumpets blew,
Seemed dithyrambic tempest
That would never quiet down.
But amid the Babel din
Game small magician in.
And the tumult quickly dwindled-
To murmur low and thin.
Thro' that revel hall OF Plutus
Stole a hush of queer surprise.
All the bulls and ''bears,- enchanted
Dropped their voices and their eyes,
For the velvet-footed vision
Gliding DER the marble floor
sSOothed them, like q tender spell,
To feeling none would tell,
And a look like fathers faces
Peeping thro' the nursery door.
Twas curious magic spun
Round the heart of every one:
Twas something less than sentiment,
And something more than fun.
oh, cat may watch a king. they say;
But chance had altered that,
For whole brigade of money kings
Were looking at a cat:
Nor the corn of all the prairieS.
Nor the cotton of the South.
Calling thro' the ''ticker's" whir
frair t1S hot
Like the sight Of gray GrimaIkin
With kitten in her mouth
1t was pussy's moving day
For some warning seemed to say
She must domicile her babies
Farther out of peril's way;
And the mothers new migration,
With her brood OF mother cares,
From behind the elevator
To behind the gallery stairs
Was the play that caught the traders
As they rushed their bargains thro',
And the small domestic role
Was SO pretty and so droll
Not man but would have watched it
Till the dinner whistle blew.
Buyers bid and jobber's bet,
Stock commission m argin, net,
Consols, credits, shorts and futures, >
Pussy made them all forget,
AS with head erect her burden
Straight she toted DER the track,
Laid it in its new made cradle,
And sedately trotted back.
Every time she took kitten
All the crowd their silence broke
With chorus OF hurrahs:
And symphony of abs
When at home she safely dropped it
Like gentle thunder spoke.
Never needing looks or cheers,
On her slow and calm careers,
Thro' the lane of eager gaZerS
Marched the cat with Slanting ears:
To and fro with patient PAGES,
Turn by turn and trip by trip,
Going with a furry bundle
Coming with an empty grip,
All her mind upon her business,
Pussy kept her steady gait.
And the wonder-smiling men
Saw her pass and pass again.
Counting cats thro' all the litter
And the last was number eight.
At the ending of the play
OF Grimalkin's moving day.
When her weak and mewing family
Was snugly slowed away.
On the first step Of the stairway,
Seated with quiet grace,
Pantomime of dumb contentment.
With her paw she washed her face;
And the spectators, laughing
AS the mimic curtain FELL
Vowed the cat-and-kitten drama
Was treat that paid them well.
But the charm was broken surely,
And $50 soon it seemed a sim
Ere the last half minute went
OF that quarter-hour well spent
They were ''whooping up the market
With the same old Babel din.
Theron Brown, in Harper's Bazaar.