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<h2>Long Time Ago</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> THERE’S been a fair in our nearest town, A wonderful show of new things, And Ebenezer and I went down Just to see the folks, and view things. </div> <div class="stanza"> I wore the bonnet I got last week, This stylish city-made bonnet, And was sorry I did after all, For the dust settled so upon it. </div> <div class="stanza"> I wouldn’t have Ebenezer know, Or Parson, for all creation, But I don’t feel right unless I’m dressed In the very latest fashion. </div> <div class="stanza"> There’s sister Thomson, a good old maid, It’s many a hint she’s given, I’d feel more at home in Vanity Fair Than I would in the courts of heaven. </div> <div class="stanza"> She vexes me with her saintly ways, I never need try to please her, And I can guess at the reason too, She wanted my Ebenezer.{255} </div> <div class="stanza"> “She’s delicate,” she said to him once When he was at first my lover, “No sort for a farmer lad to choose, Sakes alive! there’s nothing of her.” </div> <div class="stanza"> “She won’t stand life’s toil and turmoil long!” She says of late, so regretful, Well, she may get Ebenezer yet For all men are so forgetful. </div> <div class="stanza"> But never mind, I went to the fair, I wish, my dear, you had been there, For I know you would never forget Such pretty sights as were seen there. </div> <div class="stanza"> Now, since I saw the marvel myself, I know you’ll surely believe it, They’re fooling ’round with the lightning grim, Have made a plan to deceive it. </div> <div class="stanza"> Just think of taking some bits of steel, And a rod that’s far from pliant, To put on the roof of a house or barn, That it can glare ’round defiant. </div> <div class="stanza"> Ebenezer fancied it, I know, And wanted to make the bargain, But kind of dreaded what I would say, And also good elder Largain.{256} </div> <div class="stanza"> “’Twould be right pleasant” he said to me, “When the storm was at its labors, To have something standing up like that To scare it off to the neighbors.” </div> <div class="stanza"> “Ebenezer,” I said, very sharp, For I didn’t like his spirit, “God holds all the lightning in His hand, Then why should His children fear it? </div> <div class="stanza"> “You just let that precious thing alone, Let it alone, Ebenezer, And if we’re struck when the lightning comes, Why never mind, Ebenezer.” </div> <div class="stanza"> Then there were machines for everything, But I would feel like a ninny, Setting all day on a cushioned chair, Spinning rolls on that queer jinny. </div> <div class="stanza"> They wanted to sell me one right off, I shook my head, “not at present,” I’ll do my work in the good old way, Though it isn’t quite so pleasant. </div> <div class="stanza"> I’ve done my share of the big farm’s work, Spinning, and weaving, and baking; Though sometimes only the good Lord knows How my back and legs are aching.{257} </div> <div class="stanza"> And whatever sister Thomson says, She can’t make fun of my working, And if I like fashion most too well, ’Tisn’t the fashion of shirking. </div> <div class="stanza"> There’s awful smart people in the world, You’d think so if you had been there, Such signs and wonders on every hand, At the fair was to be seen, dear. </div> <div class="stanza"> And I wore my very newest things, Maybe I shouldn’t have done it, But truth is truth, and I’ll own right up, I look quite nice in this bonnet. </div> <div class="stanza"> I wouldn’t have Ebenezer know, Or parson, for all creation, But I don’t feel right unless I’m dressed In the very latest fashion. </div> </div></div> <ANTIMG src="images/deco.png" width-obs="25" alt="[Decorative image unavailable.]" /> {258} <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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