Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-04-03

b{g industrial - combines" D00o "
quiet. unassuminR fnAns and he does not
tmpsess one e aFst glance ~ BENG, Ce,ns one q
The country. The Stanford employs him
by tho year at . very large salary, and has
al bis services. He came here from frank
liz. Pa, small town on the Allegheny river,
where not many years ago he practiced
law as q young man. Had the young Mr..
Dodd been able to control oil the law busi.
ness of that section Of the State. 1t would
not have amounted to rs much 10 Is now
involved in one Of hrs cases. Besides oeing
. very able lawyer he has q funny bone,
and when young attorney at rankin
often employed his time between
infrequent briefs In writing humorous
poetry. His local weekly newspaper was
always favored with these efforts, though
not over his own signature. since be
has attained such eminence IN bis PROBES
sion and no longer has time 70 court the
MUSES., an example of what he has done IN
this line will be worth while. Mr.. Dodd's
town of Franklin is where large part OF
the lubricating oil OF commerce Is pro
duced, and from the subject ana treat
ment of the poem which have seen rom
bis pen, it may be inferred that ne Wa
seeking the oleaginous treasure h'mseii
with indifferent success.
DIDN'T STRIKE OIL.
The poem consists OF dozen or two
stanZas after the general style or Byron
lines beginning "Ihe Isles OF Greece! The
Isles of Greece" The following stanzas
will give an idea of the whole:
Jsat upon the rocky brow
Which o'erlccks FrankIln-far-famec town
hundred derrlcks stood below
And many O well Of great renown;
tai nor a braeE Cf lny
Ard when the sun set whero were they?
They eth were thcre. But where art thou
My dry hole? On the river shore
Tho engine Glands all Idle now,
The hosyy augur beats no more,
And must a well OF so great cost
BE given up and wholly LOST
Tis awful whom you bore we'll
Down In the earth SIX hundred feet
To find that no. a single smell
Comes up your anxious nose 70 greet;
For what Is left the bored one here?
For grease wish, for grease tear.
Must but wish for wells more blessed7
Must bar weep? No. must toll.
Earth. render back from out thy breast
remnant OF thy odorous oil
II not three hundred, grant but three
Precious barrels day 10 me.
What! Silent STILL and silent all?
An, mol The rushing Of the gas
Sounds like distant torrents fall
And answers bore ahead. you ass,
A few feet more you miss the stun
Because you don't go deep enough.
In vain In vain Pull up the tools
FIJI high the cup with lager beer
Leave oil-wells TO the crazy fools
Who from the East are Hooking here.
See lat the first sight OF the can
How hurries each red-shirted man.
Fit high the cup with lager beer
The maidens In their promenade
Toward my lease their footsteps steer
To see II yet my fortunes made,
But sneers their pretty faces spoil
To mud have not yet struck OIL
Place me in Oil Greeks rocky del.
Though mud be deep and prices high;
There let me bore another we'll
And find petroleum or die.
Nomore III work this dry hole here
Dash down that cup OF lager beer.
1t was Mr.. Dodd. the lawyer. and not the
poet, who drew UP and introduced at the
meeting of the Standard stockholders the
other day the resolution which dissolved
the big trust. So. whether be created the
oil trust or not, he had great deal to do
with smashing il. The extraordinary sue
cess with which this gentleman has met in
his career should be valuable lesson TO
poets as showing them what they may ac-
compiish if they will only abandon poetry
and attend strictly TO practical mundane
affairs.