Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-02-08
The Contrast

Sof frugal iuC anu Will e NanOA
Fad blessed them both with bountcous :a1
OF waving wheat and golden corn,
And life was like a summers morn
Where gentle breezss eddyins by
Kiss the muisture to the sky,
Nor had Natures smiling train
Denied her blessing to the twain
For children with their g'eefui Mirth
Dspor.ea round each happy hearth.
o what wther;n, sorrow there
VIE G nature frowns dan'es an heir,
But drcarier far and satidcr still
Where ccnnivance winka at such an i'll.
How sweet the thought when our knee
We hold the child the man to he
And sec those smiles fit cross that face
That never felt n sorrows trace;
T., know that he will one day be
help, Il friend to so'ace me.
When years have run goodly span
And that bright boy has grown to man.
But to these neighbors now my pen
Will stagger back to write again
We will call one Bill, for round that name
thousand golden memories fl,me
AMI connre mp my thoughts anew
T'otell of things that he would do,
For Bill was one of noble mould
And cherished we'll his little fc'd
He believed that in life's modern rare
Who sought for riches power and place
had best provide for those at hnme
R~fore they wandered ont to roam
Aud who is he that seeks not these
The only power the throng to please.
For sough' thep were since dawn of time,
Yes, songht and searched in every clim,
l.ut in this race of modern life
We hunt and search with greater strife
Than people did in days of y"re
When cantentment came with modest store
80 Fl .rce the race i'm later years
We mock at death. and woe and tears
Ave pushed aside with ruffian hlnd
To cle1r the way, the prize to land
III sore SIN of proud old Mars
Ehon'd circle down froo, ut the ars
A nd stay on earth a little while.
just me our race for one short mile
And check the ruin, havnck wrought,
Cont onr stores so denr'y bousht.
Would h. not with might and main
Circle back to Mars again.
Now William thought the safest wa~
In ] fes great game thu cards to play
Was to place insurance on his life
And thus protest his home. his wife
Against the dangers that We face
In speeding at this killing p1cc
Which often ends at manlipod's noon
And many fall. a,aa too soon.
Nor sought he out that old lire plan
Whose blighted breath has cast a ban
Der many tralcsmen large and small,
But enriched none save James Mccall.
McCurdy. too. had grasped the scheme
And caught our wealth in golden str am
And lesser anglers hooked for trout
Until Lawson smoked them out
In the vi !agr by the s'rcam
The Woodmeu's lamp did brightly glcam.
To this his faith he stontly pinned,
Dug up v and entered in
He was shown about the hal
And heard the lectures large and small.
Cast a pebble in the urn
And other lessons did he learn.
The brazen balance too wa there
And coin from ancient Greece Ia SPARE
Fruit and water were supplied.
The inner man made satisfied;
Perfume, too, with lavish hand
Was sp-nklcd round the cnnnseis stand.
He sawed at wood. threw off his coat,
He tested lungs and rode the q at
Now Bill was true to Woodman pride
And Oft t. camp at night he'd ride
His faithful wife at home was s'aid
And watched the children as they played.
She read her papers Ger and DER
And searched her books for deeper lore,
shc dreamed of CASTLES. bridge and moat
When Fill vent ont to ride the goat
The rcighb.ir whom we left behind
Was like onr Wil'ian good and kind,
He differed only in degree,
OF many sunf we fen
On one point he was innred
lie hated thoughts of being insured
And would not for his child nor wife
Place insurance on his life
He said that oney thus obtained
Was with s,rrnw spiled and stained.
He wanted stores, ycs, pleasures, mirth,
But wanted them while on the earth.
He said his wife was not the knave
To seek for treasure at his grave.
You ask his name; Wa III call him Lyme,
Because it s ips into my rhyme.
There is nothing in namc to show
What fire, what passions inward flow,
Or kindle on the brow flame
To tel from whence its owner came.
But human form and hnman face
Doth oft it's line Hr linz age trace.
The features. too will sometimes state
The land from whence they eminate.
Mems actions often will explain
The size, the Hcnpe of human brain
Give me the man whose actions show
purp ,se noble here below.
His cognOm IN l will comprehend,
l grasp his hand, I'll call him Friend.
And now my pen with me would cheer
If we could stop and leave them here:
Yes, here where all ia like bower of roses
With all the joy that earth dnposes
Clustered round them deep and wide,
All care ard sorrow thrust aside
With life before them smiling laid
And shadows dark in distance staid.
palsied be that tongue, that face
That can withrlt tremor trace