Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1910-07-15
THE BALLOT BALLAD.
BY Dean Collins.

steal in through the half-opened
door:
Resolve on her features was painted,
In spite of her evident youth,
AS she turned where an old man stood
voting;
And raped on the side of the booth.
.Oh father, dear father, come home
with me now;
The clock in the steeple strikes
noon!
You've been in that booth for three
hours at the least
oh wont you come out Of it soon?
The ham and potatoes are all getting
cold
Come, leave that big ballot I pray;
Let other men tend to the voting job,
dad.
And come get your grub while you
may
Come ho-o-ome! Come ho-o-o-ome!
Dear fah--ther, co-ome ho-o-o-o-ome!"
But answered the trembling maid,
1--WE got all these burned referendums
To vote on, that U'Ren has made.
(Let's see! Do we want to build rail-
roads,
And hang the expense? Let me seeD
Now, child, run along to your dinner,
And tell them to not wait for me-"
"Oh father, dear father, come home
with me now;
The clock in the steeple strikes one!
And poor little Bennie has fell in the
we'll
Oh father, come home on the run!
Don't bother to vote on the rest of
those bills
The neighbors are running pell-
NELL
Oh chuck your big ballot, dear father,
come home,
And fish Bennie 'out of the we'll"
"A bill for an act to create'-( What
is that?
Tut-tut. Child, don't bother your
dad!)
The county of Nesmith. BY gum now
guess
That Douglas and Lane will be mad.
(There, there now! Quit pulling at
fathers coat tails,
And run along home to your ma.
Don't tease me no more child! B'gosh,
can't you see
That fathers a-making the law?"
"Oh father dear father, come home
with me> now;
The clock in the steeple strikes two!
And baby got into the parlor fireplace,
Crawled up and got stuck in the fiue.
m nt hnfl1n
on the jump!
The masons are tearing the wall,
And far up the fiue, with his eyes full
of SCOT,
You can hear baby scrabble and
squawl."
He. paused, with his pencil just poised
for an X;
A spasm of pain crossed his face;
Then he turned once again to his task
with a sigh:
"Darnationl can't leave this place
Run home, tell the masons to spare
no expense
To get baby out of the fiue-
But it is a patriots duty to vote
B'gosh, and I'll stick It'll I'm
through"
"oh father, dear father, come homs
with me now;
The clock in the steeple strikes
threel
And Johnny has broken both arms ant
leg
BY a fall from the top of tree!
oh chuck the law making at once
father dearl
Let someone else do it, begl
Ease up on the rest of those thirty
two bills
Come home and help set Johnnyi
leg!"
She hung on his arm, but he stuck t.
his task.
A reef in his ballot he took;
And, while he went king right oil
down the line,
His grey head he solemnly shook.
II stand by my duty, by gum, COM
what may,
And I'll do everything in my powe
To vote on these measures intelli
gently
Run home. and come back in al
hourl"
"oh father, dear father. come hom
with me now;
The clock in the steeple strikes four
The barn is on fire, and the poor hire
man
Has cut or a thumb In the mower
Pass up the last yard of that ballot
and come!
Let the thirty-two measures g
slidel
Rush home, where the barns going u
into smoke,
And help us to save what's inside!
But. DUTY is dutyl" He stood at hi
post
TIL the clock in the steeple struc
FIVE,
And she stole in to tell that the bar
was all burned,
I And none OF the stock saved alive.
; And later, at six-if the judges an
clerks
Have not spread a canard. or fb-
outside OF the doorway, approaehin
the polls.
They heard the child singing ad lib
"oh father. dear father, come HON
with me now;
! The clock in the steeple strikes si1
And mother has nervous prostratioI
and things
Are all in a deuce Of fixi
You've voted twelve yards on that bal
lot OF yours.
Since you came TO the polls In IN
morn
, on father. dear father. kind father.
pray
Come home to your family forlorn
Come ho-o-omei Come hO-o-o-ome!
Dear fah--ther co-ome ho-o-O-o-ome
Beautiful Farm Home.
One Of the most beautiful farr
bornes in Oregon IL that OF c. p. Hem