Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-08-07
a RURAL ROMANCE.

s(soMEwHAT IN THE LINE OF LORD TENNYsOx's
PASTORAL POEMS, ONLY DIFFERENTLY
Two honest husbandmen dwelt side by side
In farms adjoining. Grubbs and Stubs their
names
Rough, homely names in sooth but all they
@ had, "
And oft those names had served them in good
stead
When they had need of names to sign to notes
aGrubbs had a son Ezekiel tall and staunch
As any rustic who wore pants in boots,
And rose at four to milk his seven kline
And seek for egglets 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 was fair to look upon
AS snowdrops bIossoming in early spring
Her name was Mary Ann, gentle name,
And gently borne by her. Ezekiel saw
And loved her, whom to see and love we're one
The farms adjoined and were but kept apart
By one plain picket fence of easy compass,
Through which the faithful dog OF Farmer
Stubbs
Did oft meander in the eventide
To chase the dogs OF worthy Farmer Grubbs
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.
0 But one day came a shadow DER their paths.
A schemer from the town intruded on
The peaceful confines of the Grubbs estate
Looked here, dug there and smiled and snufed
about,
Saying wiseacrely, with shake of head:
There's oil upon this land of that I'm sure.
Oil that is pent up in 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 Grubbso
Did hold his head aloft and elevate
oHis nose when nefghbors passed, as who should
say: O
ct shall be rich. THERE'S Oil on this, my land,
And wealth immense snail speedily be mine"
so when Ezekiel came and softly said:
Father, fain would wed with Mary Ann,''
He waxed full wroth, exclaiming in his wrath:
-t'How nowf thou who, when we have dug for oil,
Shalt be a man Of riches; wilt thou wed
This beggar's brat. this pauper farmers child.
GotoD II shall not be-
And so the SON
Went sorrowingly to tell his Mary Ann
And break the match, explaining as he might
That he so 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 OFT? Nothing, nothing, ever
nothing.
Then came the city schenigr and he looked
About the place exclaimingE Marvellous!
Behold the vein of oil thatEtnce lay here
Has vanished and has mace it's oily way
Beneath yon fence to Farmer Stubs estate
His is the oil well; yours tAe memory OFT"
So saying he vanished and Ezekiel wept.
That night he hied him unto Mary Ann,
And told her that his love had never ceased,
BeSought her take him back and let no oil,
No sordid, oleaginous obstacle
Disturb the dream the golden dream Of love.
She said him nay and Knocked him.
So he went
Kicking himself adown the dusty lane.
Then Farmer StubbS set cheer1ly to work,
And in few weeks time struck oil right rich.
A fortune rolled in and mis- wealth became
So vast that all around marvsled thereat.
So Stubs waxed wealthy, and so Mary Ann
Her fathers heiress, grew ACCUSTOMED to
EZekiel's loss and married very soon
A foreign nobeman 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 not be up
Tomorrow, and who down that now is up.
Harry b. Smith, in America.