Year: 1875

Old DuDD.e was rIch, and fat, and proud
Proud OF his corpulent purse and BODY,
Very proud Of his brown stone 'front.'
The nnest OF al on the street called ShOddv
Proud OF tine place fis long mad held
As Number 1 in the upper ten.
Proud OF his pride and even proud
OF the scorn he felt for Iaboriug men
Proud OF all but his origin.
Proud OF his daughters, especially urorid
Insf hlS oangnters we're fully as proud a. lie
For old bubble supposed a visible Lride
Was the essence OF aristOcracy.
Proud OF his sons-but here a cloud
Overshsdowed the sky ofhis vanity
A cloud the size of a Wornan's hand
But IL ruined old bubbles urbauify
John-John Henry, his second son,
was straignt as an arrow ana strong of linn D
Honest and brave but his brother Tom
Was very different man from him.
T. COTmOrant Dubbie-TOm signed his nam.
With the awfulest flourish you ever saw
Was prOu1 of his father, and more than tha'
Was natural scamp. 50 he studied law.
Far be IL from me 10 cast siur
At the lawyer, who stands as a terror to evil
but claim that The law, like the Garden o


Eden,


In spite OF its glory, has room for the dsvfI.


Tom


To his brother John-John Henry bubble.
But alas, that his love for Mary Brewer
Because OF her poverty 5rewe1 him trouble
Old bubble reclined in his great armed chain
In a manner old Dubble intended for court


ly;


But ali you could say If You'd studied hin


well,


You might say of toad; and that IS he wa,


pretty.


While thus he recllned, Joh1 bubble came


in


And yentured the dreaded communication
That he loved Mary, aud she loved him,
And he asked for his blessing and approba


ton.


Old Dubble arose from his great armed chail
With scowi on his brow and a growI in mi
But the voIleys of words that left his lips
Were such that a Methodist dares not quote
Il made him angry, It hurt his pride
To think that John, in his lofty station,
Should go to the poor to md a bride,
For in old bubbles estimation
The law oflove was another name
For the law of financial gravitatiOn.
And he muttered Ell you disgrace on


name


By such plebeian matrimoayi'-
Just mere he swore terrible oath
Il n cut you of from your patrimony :"
Who seeks for lions lair will ind
1t deep In the jungle in quiet places,
And the lion tn man is found behind
The most quiet, ana kind, and placid faces
John Dubble was kind, but in his heart
A quiet but brave young lion lay,
When his father threatened to cut him of
The Hon within growled Cut away -
The parson united two willing hands.



Society curled its painted lip
And bowed John bubble away frO:r hi.


door.


The West was wild, bat the West was fair,
Sweet with the fragrance of freedoms balm
The poor mans Mecca, the broad domain
OF God, the Father, and Uncle Sam,
Twas here John Dabble laid out his home
On his legal share OF the public Iauds
But all the capital John possessed
Was q capital wife and willing hands
Early and late through summers sun,
Early and late through wintery weather
He laocred on, till his cheeks were tanned
And his hands were e1llouSed and brown as


leather,


Early and late, but not alone,
For John and his wife grew brown together,
Many trial they learned to bear.
For the angel of hope looked down and told
How the sun that blistered their cheeks


would change
The emerald Wheat to FURNISHED gold;
How the frost that wrote on their window


panes


In hieroglyphics that he was king.
And shot his javellns through their ears.
Was ploviug their ground for the comm


spring.
Old Time rolled b7. but he kept hIs eye
On John and his wife. and he smiled 90 zee
In every year some added cheer
Some symbol of Just prosperity
A cozy house and a paIling fence,
With beautiful lawn spread out between
a trellised rose and an ivIed mound,
And here and there an evergreen,
An apple orchard that seemed TO catch
Its glorious fruit from the car of the sun;
And as John and his wife walked under the


trees


Each limb reached down and offered them
Oh home Not such as the rich man builds
With the ready gold from his groaning cot
a marble OblatlOn to wealth and pride;
f1sa .rlff
But home, reared patiently-piece by piece
With toll and tears through the weary years
Until each separate part, a leaf
From the book of two blended lives appears.
Twas home Just such as this that John
And Mary bubble had reared above them
1t stood in their thoughts as their second
Til it seemed. like a thing of life, to love
Time moved away ami their lives were
With the jewels content, and love. and
whatever they had they had made them
Nor wasted a thought on old bubbles


wealth.


All hope is tickle an1 life is frail
A dread contagiou came sweeping by,
And Mary read In the doctors face
The terrible message John mustdie
He died, as thousands have died before,
With scarcely moment for fond adieu
But his parting whisper to Mary was
"Thank God for the home leave to you 90
She mOurned as thousands have mOurued


before, 4"..f
Grief wrote its name on her widowed brow.
But everything that John had wrought
Was more precious than gold to Mary now.
All, shameI that avarice does not lack
For law to abet the cruelest scheme.
Out from the east I. Cormorant bubble
Came on the wonderful wings of steam
He came, as old bubbles expert attorney.
To assist in settling Johns estate.
By his assistance the home was sold,
And the widow was turned adrift to fate
The home she had toiled with John to build,
Though suns were hot and winds We're raw,
But old bubble got half, and she got half
And that was justice, for that was law


Des Moines, Iowa, Dec. 8, 1870