The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-10-09
a RURAL ROMANCE.

fsoMEvHAT IN THE LINE or LORD qkNsYsoRB
pAsTouAL PoEMs, ONLY DfrYkRESr.D
Two honess husbandmcn dreit side By side
IN farms adjoining. 9rubbs and Stubbs their
names
Roash, homcly aames in soosh; but ali they
And Oft those names lad served them 10 good
stead 4@Ass-
When they had need Of names 10 Sign 70 notes
Grubbs had . son Ezekiel tall and staunch
~ any rustic who wore pants 10 boots
And rose at four 10 milk his seven kline
And seek for egglets In the hennery.
Stubbs had no sons; daughter only came
TO bless her fathers homo, TO shed sunlight
About its rooms and eke to do. odd chores
'TUixt meal times. She was fair to look upon
Az snowdrops blossoming in early spring.
Her name was Mary Ann, gentle name,
And gently borne BY her Ezekiel saw y
And loved her, whom to see and love were one.
The farms adtoincd 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
We're not part Of the parental strife
Equal their fathers lots; content were they
To know that when some day sthe cid men
The golden twtg, the farms should be united,
A goodly estate for a goodly pail, a======-=
But one day came shadow DER their paths.
schemer from the town intruded on
The peaceful confines Of the Grubbs estate,
Looked here dug there and smiled and snuffed
about
Saying wiseacrely, with shake Of head
There's oil upon this land, OF that I'm sure.
OIL that ispent UP in mighty store
Dig, farmer, and ri warrant thee thou'lt find
Riches, the like which thou wotst not Of"
So he departed Then good Farmer Grubbs
Did hold his head aioft and elevate
His nose when neighbors passed, as who should
say:
II shall be rich. There's oil on this, my land,
And wealth immense shall speedily be mine"
So when Ezekiel came and softly said:
Father, fain would wed with Mary Ann
lie waxcd full wroth, exclaiming In his wrath:
sHow nowf thou who when we have dug for Oil,
Shalt be O man OF riches; wilt thou wed
This beggar's brat. this pauper farmers childf
: Geto 1t 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 daytime. boring In the night
-
For days and weeks and months they dug and
boredS
What came oft? Nothing, nothing, ever
nothing.
Then came the city schemer, and he looked
About the place excaiming: Marvellous!
Behold the vein OF oil that once lay here
Has vanished and has made its oily way
Beneath yon fence to Farmer Stubs estate.
His is the oil we'll; yours the memory Oft"
So saying he vanished, and Ezekiel wept.
That night he hicd him unto Mary Ann,
And told her that his love had never ceased,
HeSought her take him back and let no oil,
No sordid oleaginous obstacle
Disturb the dreaW, the golden dream of love-
She said him nay and Knocked him.
So he vent
Kicking himself adown the dusty lane.
Then Farmer Stubbs set cheerily to work,
And In d few weeks time struck oil right rich.
fortune rolled in and his wealth became
So vast that all around marveled thereat
So Stubbs 4waxed wealthy, and so Mary Ann,
Her fathers heiress, grew accustomed to
Ezelriel's 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 not be up
Tomorrow, and who down that now is up.
Harry b. Smith, in America.