The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-03-23
Our New Court House.
WRITTEN FOR TIE TINES.

| ~
OF old Shiawassee, proud, - ah ~
Are no exception 10 the rule,
We keep up with the crowd.
Away back in the Forties,
i A spirit OF unrest s
Seemed brooding o'er our pioneers,
And burning In each breast.
A Court House was tho thing desired,
With ajail to hold The crooks,
Avault to store the records safe,
The papers and she books.
And then they igured long and well:
! For they the cost would know,
Their motto was back in thosedays,
To "pay just as you NO."
! About nine Thousand dollars cash
W6l9d be requlred 'twassad,
Ard so thes laid their mittens off
Ac4 slraightwa went ahead.
rhs had no high priced architeots
II eyused no gold or gilt,
Andy by dint Of zeal and sweat,
The house vas quickly built.
Although it was not very grand
1t answered well their need,
and when they gathered meath its roof
They all were proud, indeed.
| And justice held her sway
Its walls resounded to the notes
O.eloQuence each day.
Old fashioned judges ruled the court,
And Justice was no myth,
Sucn men as Turner, true and tried,
Newton and Stearns r. Smith;
And other names in memory live,
McCurdy. Gould. Lyon Nc Bride,
The legal battles hotly fought,
by these old leaders, true aud tried.
Then there was Miner, wixom, Bush,
Fitzpatrick, Pulver, Chandler, "Zack;"
Watson and Chapman, Goodell, Hicks,
Hamper, and Parker on the track.
Pathetic scenes have happened there,
With regulations gained or lost;
Tney argued long the points OF law,
Regardless OF the time, or cost,
And il the old house could have talked
OF stirring scenes of old.
1t could history relate,
1t would u tale unfold.
More than half hundred years
With changing scene had come and gone,
For Time in his uuceasing fight,
Is ever slowly marching on.
The court house now was growing DID,
The Roof was mossy, and the rain,
Leaked through the roof with every storm,
Aud drove through every rafting pane.
Some said it's usefulness was DER.
And counted it rank disgrace
That 1t should longer be allowed
To fill its old accustomed place.
And so they talked tho matter up
And then they talked it down,
Until the subject came to be
The topic of the town.
They ask for fifty thousand, bonds,
We vot I'd seventy.hye,
And then the business began
As busy as q hive;
For every one was soon at work,
They tore the old house down,
They cut the shade trees, one by one,
And rooted up the ground.
They brought the sand stone and the briciS,
The steel, cement, and glass;
The paint, and decorations grand,
The silver, and The brass.
Every one was feeling good
And very proud no doubt,
Until the news was whispered round,
The money had run out
And when the money was all gone,
It looked as though some fellow had
His fingers in the bag.
We've got the court house all complete,
The finest in the land,
And with it several other things
We fail to understand.
IT has grand rotuuda
And paintings on the wall.
A cupola clear out OF sight,
There's nothing poor, nor small;
place to>put a mammoth clock,
The local time to keep,
To thunder out the passing hours
And rouse us from our sleep.
"Pride goetn oft before fall"
This motto will not fail
Ana the strange things now come to pass
Would make curious tale.
We We got tho building sure enough
But hardly can decide
Whether to shout and swing our hats,
Or, 'g0 way back, and hide.
a gtand jury was quickly called,
They hurried TO the place,
Determined toinvestigate
And probe into the case,
Ana when at last their work was done,
And all their efforts spent,
They found our treasury was dry
Down TO the last red cent.
our county board of hired men,
Had used all they could get;
And then to make the matter worse
Had run us into debt.
The jury said, 'They'd made mistakes,
Broken the law beside,
And that for all this carelessness
They surely must be tried"
They plead for fifty thousand more
The court house debt to pay
And If we do not dlvvy up
What will our servants say.
With forty lawsuits on our hands,
And treasury empty as gourd,
Humiliated now we stand,
Our lot almost to be deplored,
For a lot OF gan and bitterness
Is mingled with our Joy.
And things are sadly changed, indeed
"Since father was boy.n
In deep, Slough Of Despond"
We are floun iering about,
And looking for some honest way
To help each other out.
Some thiak we should "rcpudiate,"
And others then again
Believe the wisest thing for us,
To change our hired men,"
Very low rates via Michigan Centra
to points in Minnesota, North and Soutl
Dakota Alberta. Manitoba, Western
Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Effective
A AI..a. - A.. 4 n ~.N s.aN