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Michigan BRANCH COUNTY
SEMI-CENTENNIAL POEM
BY M. D. CAMPBELL.
Come Jane, never mind the ironing now,
You've done enough to-day; So,
come and sit down by the fire.
And I'll put the things away.
We're going to be all alone to-night,
And so here by,
the glowing grate Let's talk of the past since we began
To share each other's fate,
'
We can't plan much for the future you know,
Nor count on the days to come;
But we can recall many scenes,
gone by,
And what together we've done.
To-day I found that old picture, Jane,
You gave me in Thirty-One, 'Twas about that time you'll remember,
We were dreaming of two in one.
And for half an hour I sat by the window,
And looked at it straight and true, For 'taint like them cabinets
You can see just as well askew.
And as I gazed at those flowing ringlets,
That face without wrinkle or scar, I almost forgot that life's river
Had carried us down so far.
And as through the windows of memory
A ray of sunlight stole, I felt the glimmer of youthful fancies
Come tripping over my soul.
And my blood bega"n to tingle,
As it did, when in my teens You so fatally bewitched me,
Down there in old Orleans.
And I saw an archway of evergreen
Extending across the room, And underneath its. flowering wreath,
A trembling bride and groom.
And I presume you clearly recall
That morning in May, Thirty-Three,
When you bade adieu to dear ones at home, And started out West with me.
We knew but little of our destined home,
Or where our lot we'd cast; But we turned our backs on the homes of youth,
And left them along with the past.
But didn't it take a heap of grit
In them days, to say farewell, And step out over the threshold
Of those we loved so well?
Por then "good-bye" had a meaning
It doesn't have to-day, When a train of cars stands panting,
In every village way.
And how comes back that day,
When our valor was put to the test,
When the dearest of Earth stood about us, And the oxen were headed West.
We didn't have much to bring with us,
But our folks did the best they knew how,
When they gave us some stuff to keep house with, And yours led out the red cow.
And Jane, 'twould be a good thing now-days, If parents, that lesson would learn,
Not to give too much to their children, Till they know what it means to earn.
For three weeks and a day, we were wending
Our way toward a western home; When now, but a morning and evening
BRANCH COUNTY MICHIGAN
Page 8
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