The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-01-12
POOR RICH AND RICH POOR.

TOOH hISn ANU HtC7 FOOh.
My heart throbs and leaps with compassionate
labor,
AS l think of the woes of Paul Emore, my
neighbor,
Whom the pang of his poverty evermore pnches
Who of want the most fearful is dying by
inches,
Whose income, scarce two hundred thousand a
year.
OF the poorhouse foreyermore keeps him in
fear,
And whose spirit is nearly pressed out by the
weight
OF his stocks and his bonds and his real estate
1t is true that his wealth rather large in amount
is,
That his lands may be found in a halfdozen
counties,
Half railway he owns -four per centum half
yearly:
In town, rows Of houses, all rented or nearly;
He Las bonds, stocks and mortgages, all bring
ing in
That gold which we struggle so fiercely 20 win;
But nevertheless. with his funds all secure,
II can't be denied that Paul Gilmore is poor.
Il some public pupose 'twere urgently need
ed,
If for sickness or want by no kind heart I'M
needed,
II for any good object his cash you implored it,
The times are too hard, he assures you, and he,
II he had but the means, would quite generous
And he says, looking down at his much-mended
shoes:
"Tis the pure lack of money that makes me re-
fuse
The narrowest vista his mind takes its view in
TO part with dollar he feels would be ruin;
He thinks 1t his duty, he knows it his pleasure
To lay up on earth not in Heaven, his treasure;
He denies himself comforts, he Injuries shuns,
And gives good mivice, with no cash, to his
sons
Who follow his plan, he supposes, but those
Take revenge by post-obits-and so the thing
goes
Paul is poor as the poorest-who doubts it
when seeing
The meanly appareled and pitiful being,
Who never INDUCES in spending or giving,
And vegetables here, for you can't call it living?
Poor in soul, poor in deed, poor in all but his
PURSE
A fate such as his, who could fancy q worse?
When the phantom of poverty stays with the
rich,
Less wretched the beggar who dies in a ditch
Now, there is Mike Byrnes, thirty years here,
from Galway,
Who mendng mems shoes, earns his bread in
From whose work-ben at daylight, your ears
catch the clamor
OF time-beat to "Tatter Jack Welsh" with u
hammer;
Who never can make, toll as hard as he may
From day-dawn TO dark past ten shilings u
day;
Who earns what he zpends, and who spends
what he earns
But where is richer than little Mike Byrnesy
Ii is true, though, the man is clever bread
winner:
His folks have sometimes but potatoes for din
ner,
With meat only sure on Sunday or high-day,
And salt fish not always confined TO Friday;
That his wife, though his banker, has long ago
learned
By experience how often gown may be turned:
And Mikes bettermost coat shows the size OF
its yarns,
Is guiltess of nap and has patches and darns
Mike is rich, for all that, in the love Of each
neighbor
Who listens well-pleased, as Mike sings at his
labor
, He is rich in his cheerful observance of duty;
He is rich in his wife, though she's scarcely
beauty;
"A is rich in the love of all children around,
Who look on Mikes shop as their own special
ground:
Hell rich in good-humor and truth and con
,ent-
Possessions that evermore yield cent. per cent.
Most pope would envy Paul Elmore's posi-
ton
And wish hey were placed in his happy condi-
ton,
And look on Mike Byrnes in strait so dis
tressing
That death, in his case, might be almost a
blessing;
But when the plain truth on their inner sense
falls,
While Mike has no envy, their pity Is Paul's:
And, comparing the two, in their Judgment be
sure,
That poor Mike is rich, and that rich Paul is
poor.
Thomas Dunn English in N. Y Ledger.