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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1907)
r " ' the Commoner. 13 JUNE 21, 1907 . rt M? f'PTk aMiBlfc 1 I - At j J Aw . titeT "V1 0 The Road to Yesterday Down the long, broad road as it leads away To the pleasant scenes of a yester day To the orchard wide where the laden trees ' Swing to and fro in the balmy breeze; By the old well-sweep with its creak ing pole And the big white rock by the swim ming hole Ah, the scent that comes from the new mown hay Whose long drifts lay Where the sunbeams play On the long, wide road to yesterday! The milestones stand with their tinge of gray As the mind harks back to a yes- " terday. And the road grows smooth as the eyes behold The long lost scenes of the days of old Facesbright of the old school crowd 'Longsince wrapped in the sheet and shroud; Welcome shouts from the chums so gay Who romp and play In the old-time way By the long, wide road to yesterday! The evening lamp through the win dow shines, And we see once more the stumbling lines Of the old textbooks, and each puz- -iling Tule Thafccaused us grief: in:the hours of ' ". school. And a sweet old face 'gainst the win- . dowpane Looks down the reach -of the shady ' lane; And the welcome gleams in her ,, bright eyes play As on we stray Through the evening grlay Down the old, old road to yesterday! Down the long, wide road as it leads -.. away Tor the old-time scenes of that yes- - terday When the heart was - light as the thistle's down, And we little knew of the hard . world's frown; Where the friends we knew were . ' , the girls and boys To divide our woes and to share - our joys Where life was sweet and the hours . were gay , ' -With love and play: v - In our childhood way ' ' "At. the end of .the road to yesterday! ite page ""with me as literature of the day, and on buc one occasion have I read a paragraph that left a sadness. It was' a sentence that failed to give due credit to a good colleague of yours as an entertainer of humanity. Your heart is gentle and I know no unkindness was meant, but it evinces an estrange ment that to me amounts almost to a calamity. You have to pass through life as neighbors, and I know that if you appreciated each other at your true Worth an affec tion would result that would allow" the fence to be left down between your premises. With such a hope for the future these lines are writ ten. "A paragraph referring to the song of the robin, in 'Brain Leaks,' ended with the question, 'Who ever heard a robin sing?' "I should have telegraphed an an swer instantly, and I ask the good Lord to forgive me for being dere lict to that duty till now. "I do not mean to be harsh, but I would have been no more sur prised had you asked, 'Who ever saw a duck swim?' Yet after a moment's "pondering it was easy to understand how the question could be asked seriously how business cares can keep men from the haunts of birds and deny them this knowledge. Thus, I thought, has this good man passed so much of life's time and missed an air that is as sweet and common to the country boy as the metallic, rag-time notes of the talking ma chine are to him. The reflection was filled with regret. I recalled read ing a while back your verses on going home to rest, and said to my self a man who can say such things should be sung to sleep by the night ingale and wakened by the robin. "The robin, brother, is a leader in the feathered choir,-, and is second only to the red bird in joining the chorus of spring. In his gladness at nature's smile he fairly shouts out over the broad land notes that should reach the ear of every man as 'tid ings of great joy.' From the high est bough his throat is utilized as a yeritable escape valve through .which his soul pours in an ebulition of ecstacy, and 'peacd, on earth, good will to men,' seems to linger In the cadence. "For ages he has sung to a univer sal encore, and the one in his aud ience who should have heard him the plainest has .not -added his plaudit. Truly yours. "J.Ju. POWER." - ' " ' To the above letter is appended a note from an old-time newspaper friend, Lum McCarn, who settles the matter beyond cavil by saying: "If John says the robin can sing you can rely upon it as a fact beyond dispute." W beg everybody's pardon, in cluding Robin's. We know the rob in's sweet note. Honestly, we often get up early enough in -springtime to hear him calling, but we never called It a "song." But it is always as welcome as used to be the whistled signal of a schoolboy, chum who sneaked up through the orchard and waited behind the bole, of some big tree until we couldloin'him and hike off down to Walnut creek and splash around in the cooling; waters instead of tibeing the cabbage or hilling up the potatoes. Even if jhe vobin were as dumb as the nroyerbial oyster he would be welcome,: for the sight! of him hopping around,- a Knowing look in his bright, eye and his saucy Does ho Hot bring news that spring is hero? And does ho not convoy the welcome intelligence that Mother Na ture is waking from the sleep which wrapped her bed in drifted snow and clinging ico? Of course Robin Redbreast sings. Brother Power says so, and Brother McCarn endorses it. The troublo Is that the rattle of the typewriter and the grinding whirr of the linotype have for years overcome the clear notos of his song, and we'd actually forgotten that he could sing. That's what a fellow gets for growing old and getting mixed up with a busi ness that keeps him out of the sweet scented fields and woods and con demns him toiong, hot, weary days amidst scenery conolslng of brick and stone and mortar and asphalt and printers' ink. We hope this apology is sufficient, both for Brother Power and Robin Redbreast so amply sufficient that the "very next time we can play truant from work and hide in the woods, Robin will acknowledge the apology by giving us a concert in which he plays the stellar role. Does a robin sing? Of course he does beautifully. The trouble Is that some people's ears have grown deaf to his call and their minds callous to his music. BRASS BAND InntnimonU.Prnmn, Uniform, ftappll and MuRlcftl lntrumonU of nit kin!. Writo n what yon arc Intnrcfttod in nnA wo will snd yon UlgdOi-pftn cnUlo fro. It aire IUnd Maalo and Inrtnio- tlnna fnr AtnnLnnr Ifjuiffa. ftAMAt. fmm I3.G0 upward. Ky payment. Writo today. LYOH & HEALY SWaBSSKkSar 0ur34i(r!TtaufatHlrflif au. Um I A.S.4A.i.UCEY,WHWem,Q.C. EttaK.IMi.1 TttAVELINO POSITION with Tobacco Man ufHcturor now open. Good pay end promotion. If Indiwtrloiw and energetic experience Jn not ncco. uary. Danvillo Tobacco Co., IJox Y(A, Danville, Vn PATENTS SECUKKD Oil FJKE KKTUKNKD. rree report ;m to Patentabllltr. JIltutrMfld Quia Hook, id Lltt of Intentions Wanted, nontfrw. K VANS, WIX.KKM8 & CO., Wa.hlnKtoH,DO. folding BATH TUB Wtlgkt 1811m. CmU lltllf. R. jqr Hllle water. WrlU fr tprtUl ttrr. h. ('. IRWIN, lWl'hlr8L,.,UwYofk,5.Y. jr Usually it is a little tin box, with a padlock clasp. Sometimes It Is a satin-lined little box with fancy trimmings; sometimes an old cigar box. But whatever kind of box It is it Is a treasure box, and In it we keep those little things, worthless from an intrinsic standpoint, but priceless because of the memories that spring up when the eyes behold them. The author of this department moved his lares and penates the other I day, and in the mixup his hands fell I iinori flio tronanro Virvv en nn-rsftilW stowed away by the major fraction of the household partnership, In it was a bit of polished steel. Twenty seven years ago It was a piece of an old handsaw blade, and the writer had trimmed it down with cold chisel, file and grindstone until it was a printer's "make-up rule." For years it was carried In his pocket to and fro over the earth as he worked as a journeyman printer, finally to be laid aside when he was paper man. Mighty glad that old rule can not talk, for although it might tell some good things if it could vocalize, it might tell some things that are "better left untold. But it has made up sto.ries of war, of peace of love, of hate, of jealousy, of trust, of political intrigues, and of patriotism that marked its way with the best blood of the nation. 3 STROKE SELF FEED HAY PRESS 2 Men can ran it 3 tons In one hour Easy draft. Smooth bales Will nave Its cost Bhlupod on trial BatUfaotlon ' Guaranteed THE AUTO-FEDAN IIAY PHKStf CO., TOl'ISKA. KANBA8. llox 33 Anti-Trust Type We will ItECABT yonr hell box Into - now typo for one-half tho original cont of new typo. HKNI) FOH CAT ALOG AND HKOASTINQ PLAN. W Will Pay tho Fright TEXAS TYPE FOUNDRY SAN ANTONIO, TJKXAtf The Cost of a Piano should not bo reckoned entirely upon what you pay to get It, A very Important factor, as tho yearn pass, is what you pay to keep It Ju order, and inoro Important still Is tho length of xcrvlco and tho' degree of tsatlsfactlon It gives you. GABLER PIANOS Vagrant Thoughts About a Variety of Things A good friend named J. L. Power, -who resides in the booming city of Joplin, Mo., takes the author of this department to task for a paragraph appearing in "Brain Leaks" several weeks ago. The paragraph in ques tion concluded with the query: "Who ever heard a robin sing?" Begging pardon "for reproducing a letter that contains complimentary reference to the' gray-haired boy who grinds out this weekly stint of mat- ter, the communication iff given in its entirety. We yield gracefully to the mild criticism of Brother Power. A man who writes as feelingly as he certainly knows what he is talk ing about when he comes to the de- fnnoo rf TJo'hln T?ThTianaf "Joplin, Mo., May 31. Dear Sir: head cocked on one side, Is as wel 'Whether Commoner Not' is a favor-1 come as anything could possibly be. Old union working cards, some old and faded letters, a thin gold ring that mother wore from the-day she stood befpre the marriage altar until .the God she served so long and so well called her to rest. A pair of old-fashioned "half-moon" ear rings worn by her in the old, old days long before the war fiend left Its scars upon her native Missouri and upon the hearts of its thousands. An old daguerreotype, the face of a smooth-faced young man whose neck is encircled with rolling collar and black stock the same face now seamed and wrinkled with" the pass ing years and adorned with a gray beard, but still' the same -kindly-eyed, pleasant faced gentleman who placed the gold ring on the mother' finger so many, many years ago. Two or three brass buttons all that remains of a blue uniform. A time-stained bit of flowered, silk the last remnant of an old-fashioned wadding gown. A thin lock of gray ha.ir. And carefully wrapped up in tissue paper by younger hands a pair of little shoes, worn at the toe and wrinkled of tops, but speaking so eloquently of the little one called away just as his cherry-red lips be- whlle neither the highest nor tho lowest prices, are unsurpassed by any instrument inado in America or Europe Jn the service and satlefactlon they give for each dollar expended. The "GAULISH" TONE" Is fatnoiM, and the no-lens-famou "GAKMSK WOItlOlANSHIP" makew tttat tone permanent through generation after goneratloB or use. A uauier u cueapest jiisuA Ub iiK.av. Investigate Ernest Gabler&Bro. : ESTABLISHED 1854. 500 Whillock Ave., Bronx Borough, N. Y. Clfy. PLATFORM TEXT BOOK CodialBlBf? the Declara tion of Independence, tho CoHMtltHtlon of the United State, ana all the National Platform of all nartlea mIhcc the organization of onr government HOUND IN PAPER, BY MAIL, POSTAGE PREPAID, TWENTY FIVE CENTS PER COPY. AddreitM all Orders to The Commoner MNCOLN, NEII. il