Riley Songs of Home | Page 8

little
pillow, and old-fashioned spread;
Its snowy-white sheets, and the
blankets above,
Smoothed down and tucked round with the touches
of love;
The voice of my mother to lull me to sleep
With the old
fairy-stories my memories keep
Still fresh as the lilies that bloom o'er
the head
Once bowed o'er my own in the old trundle-bed.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
WHO BIDES HIS TIME
Who bides his time, and day by day
Faces defeat full patiently,
And
lifts a mirthful roundelay,
However poor his fortunes be,--
He will
not fail in any qualm
Of poverty--the paltry clime
It will grow
golden in his palm,
Who bides his time.
Who bides his time--he tastes the sweet
Of honey in the saltest tear;

And though he fares with slowest feet,
Joy runs to meet him,
drawing near;
The birds are heralds of his cause;
And, like a

never-ending rhyme,
The roadsides bloom in his applause,
Who
bides his time.
Who bides his time, and fevers not
In the hot race that none achieves,

Shall wear cool-wreathen laurel, wrought
With crimson berries in
the leaves;
And he shall reign a goodly king,
And sway his hand
o'er every clime,
With peace writ on his signet-ring,
Who bides his
time.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
NATURAL PERVERSITIES
I am not prone to moralize
In scientific doubt
On certain facts that
Nature tries
To puzzle us about,--
For I am no philosopher
Of
wise elucidation,
But speak of things as they occur,
From simple
observation.
I notice little things--to wit:--
I never missed a train
Because I didn't
run for it;
I never knew it rain
That my umbrella wasn't lent,--
Or,
when in my possession,
The sun but wore, to all intent,
A jocular
expression.
[Illustration]
I never knew a creditor
To dun me for a debt
But I was "cramped"
or "busted;" or
I never knew one yet,
When I had plenty in my
purse,
To make the least invasion,--
As I, accordingly perverse,

Have courted no occasion.
Nor do I claim to comprehend
What Nature has in view
In giving
us the very friend
To trust we oughtn't to.--
But so it is: The trusty
gun
Disastrously exploded
Is always sure to be the one

We didn't
think was loaded.

Our moaning is another's mirth,--
And what is worse by half,
We
say the funniest thing on earth
And never raise a laugh:
Mid friends
that love us overwell,
And sparkling jests and liquor,
Our hearts
somehow are liable
To melt in tears the quicker.
We reach the wrong when most we seek
The right; in like effect,

We stay the strong and not the weak--
Do most when we neglect.--

Neglected genius--truth be said--
As wild and quick as tinder,
The
more we seek to help ahead
The more we seem to hinder.
I've known the least the greatest, too--
And, on the selfsame plan,

The biggest fool I ever knew
Was quite a little man:
We find we
ought, and then we won't--
We prove a thing, then doubt it,--
Know
everything but when we don't
Know anything about it.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A SCRAWL
I want to sing something--but this is all--
I try and I try, but the
rhymes are dull
As though they were damp, and the echoes fall

Limp and unlovable.
Words will not say what I yearn to say--
They will not walk as I want
them to,
But they stumble and fall in the path of the way
Of my
telling my love for you.
Simply take what the scrawl is worth--
Knowing I love you as sun the
sod
On the ripening side of the great round earth
That swings in the
smile of God.
WRITIN' BACK TO THE HOME-FOLKS
My dear old friends--It jes beats all,
The way you write a letter
So's

ever' last_ line beats the _first,
And ever' next-un's better!--
W'y,
ever' fool-thing you putt down
You make so interestin',
A feller,
readin' of 'em all,
Can't tell which is the best-un.
It's all so comfortin' and good,
'Pears-like I almost hear ye
And git
more sociabler, you know,
And hitch my cheer up near ye
And jes
smile on ye like the sun
Acrosst the whole per-rairies
In Aprile
when the thaw's begun
And country couples marries.
[Illustration]
It's all so good-old-fashioned like
To talk_ jes like we're _thinkin',

Without no hidin' back o' fans
And giggle-un and winkin',
Ner sizin'
how each-other's dressed--
Like some is allus doin',--
"Is_ Marthy
Ellen's basque ben _turned
Er shore-enough a new-un!"--
Er "ef Steve's city-friend haint jes
'A leetle kindo'-sorto'"--
Er
"wears them-air blame eye-glasses
Jes 'cause he hadn't ort to?"
And
so straight on, dad-libitum,
Tel all of us feels, someway,
Jes like our
"comp'ny" wuz the best
When we git up to come 'way!
That's why I like old friends like you,--
Jes 'cause you're so abidin'.--

Ef I was built to live "fer keeps,"
My principul residin'
Would be
amongst the folks 'at kep'
Me allus thinkin' of 'em,
And sorto'
eechin' all the time
To tell 'em how I love 'em.--
Sich folks, you know, I jes love so
I wouldn't live without 'em,
Er
couldn't even drap asleep
But what I dreamp' about 'em,--
And ef
we minded God, I guess
We'd all love one-another
Jes like one
fam'bly,--me and Pap
And Madaline and Mother.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]

LAUGHTER HOLDING BOTH HIS SIDES
Ay, thou varlet!--Laugh away!
All the world's a holiday!
Laugh
away, and roar and shout
Till thy hoarse tongue lolleth out!
Bloat
thy cheeks, and bulge thine eyes
Unto bursting; pelt thy thighs
With