I BRIG A TION AGE. 231 



COLORADO BEN. 



Ben Davis was a handsome youth, but dry as any chip, 



For Nature gave him gaudy clothes, but let the flavor slip; 



And underneath his gaudy clothes he wore a pumpkin heart, 



A painted turnip , dry as bran, he went into the mart 



A hypocrite a Pharisee a fraud in royal guise, 



Without a single drop of juice a liar of great size. 



And those who bit his bloodless flesh were prompt with gibe and curse. 



They came with solid chunks of prose the poets threw their verse. 



Ben Davis heard their stinging words, they rankled in his mind, 



They cut him to his mealy heart; they forced him on to find 



Some place where better quality might grow beneath his vest: 



He followed Greeley's old advice, and took himself "out West." 



On Colorado's sunny plains, where clouds are seldom seen, 



Beside an irrigating ditch, he donned his coat of green. 



The blood grew warmer in his cheek, and, In the warm sunshine 



Of mounrain air, his flesh absorbed the flavor of the vine. 



Ben Davis! Colorado Ben apoligies are due 



From one who has, in former days, hurled ragged verse at you! 



Wise hogs would hardly eat you for the second time back East, 



But, from Westward ho! with Baldwin you are reckoned not the least. 



You "grew up with the country" where are mellow fruits and men. 



Now go up head! Good luck, old boy, oh, Colorado Ben! 



R. A'. Yorker. 



THE OLD HOME IS SOLD. 



"We sold the dear old home to-day," 

 The old folks wrote mj, far away; 

 The house, the garden and the lands, 

 All now belong to strangers' hands. 

 The orchard father pruned with care, 

 Will luscious fruit for others bear. 

 The rose that grew near mother's door, 

 Will bloom for her, ah! nevermore. 



0, 1 had hoped the time might come 

 When 1, once more could see my home; 

 Could tread again those paths of yore, 

 That lead down by the river's shore. 

 I look back through the past and see 

 A picture dear to memory. 

 A home of joy with father and mother 

 An unbroken band were we together. 



Yeaps rolled on, and we drifted apart, 

 Out into the world to make a start. 

 Sad partings came, and one by one 



