Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-01-12
poor RICH AND RICH POOR.

My heart throbs and leaps with compassionate
labor.
AS I think of the woes of Paul Elnore, my
neighbor,
Whom the pang of his poverty evermore pinches,
Who OF want the most fearful is dying by
inches,
OF the poorhouse forevermore 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
That his lands may be found in a half-dozen
Counties,
Half railway he owns -four per centum half
yearly:
In town, rows of houses, all rented or nearly;
He has bonds, stocks and mortgages, all bring
ing in
That gold which we struggle so fercely 20 win;
But nevertheless. with his funds all secure
1t can't be denied that Paul Gilmore is poor.
If for some public pupose 'twere urgently need
If for sickness or want by no kind heart IN
hooded
If for any good object his cash you implored it,
Paul Elmore would tell you he could not afford it.
The times are too hard he assures you and he,
If he had but the means, would quite generous
be;
And he says, looking down at his much-mended
''Tis the pure lack of money that makes me re-
fuse"
j. The narrowest vista his mind takes its view in
TO part with a dollar he feels would be ruin;
He thinks it his duty, he knows it his pleasure,
To lay up EARTH not in Heaven, his treasure:
He denies himself comforts, he Injuries shuns
And gives good advice, with no cash, to his
sons,
Who follow his plan, he supposes but those
Take revenge by postobits-and so the thing
goes
Paul is poor the poorest-who doubts it
when seeing
The meanly appareled and pitiful being,
Who never INDUCES in spending 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 a 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 mending mems shoes, earns his bread in
q small way;
From whose work bench, at daylight your ears
catch the clamor
OF time-heat to ''Tatter Jack Welsh with q
hammer;
Who never can make toll as hard as he mey
day;
Who earns what he spends, and who spends
what he earns
But where is u richer than little Mike Byrnes
It is true though, the man is a clever bread
winner:
His folks have sometimes but pota toes for Gin
ner,
With meat only sure on Sunday high-day,
And salt fish not always confined a Friday;
That his wife, though his banker, has long ago
learned
BY experience how often gown may be turned
And Mikes bettcrmost coat shows the size of
its yarns.
Is guiluess 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
He is rich in his cheerful observance of duty:
He is rich in his wife, though she's scarcely II
beauty;
He is rich in the love OF all children around,
Who lock on Mikes shop as their own special
ground:
He is rich in good-hurnor and truth and con-
tent
Possessions that evermore yield cent per cent.
Most people would envy Paul Elmore's posi-
ton,
And wish they were placed in his happy condi-
ton,
And look on Mike Byrnes i'll strait so dis
tressing
That death, in his case, might be almost a
blessing:
But when the plain truth their inner sense
falls,
While Mike has no envy, their pity is Paurs:
And, comparing the two, in their judgment be
sure.
That poor Mike is rich, and that rich Paul is
u,l,o,naS D,,pr EnrliSb in Iad0er