Month: July 2021

From the Rock Island Argus, July 31, 1913. By Henry Howland.

She tried this thing and then tried that
    To keep from growing frightful;
She thought when she was like a slat
    That plumpness was delightful;
But, having lost her slenderness,
    She starved herself and banted;
Each added pound brought new distress,
    And dismally she panted.

She tried to fight the wrinkles back
    By using many lotions;
She sighed, “Alas!” and sobbed, “Alack!”
    And harbored sad emotions;
Her eyes, once beautiful, no more
    Were filled with fine expression;
She lost the smile that years before
    Had been her choice possession.

She tried in many, many ways
    To keep from growing frightful;
Of all things that she valued, praise
    Was always most delightful;
She mourned the hardness of her lot,
    Her eyes were often tearful—
And all because she’d just forgot
    The need of keeping cheerful.

From the Rock Island Argus, July 23, 1913. By Henry Howland.

He left the little old town, one day,
    To pursue success and to win renown;
The seasons passed in too dull a way
    To give him joy in the little old town;
In the little old town the streets were wide
    And the buildings low and pleasures cheap,
And he pitied those who were satisfied
    To stay where the people were half asleep.

He left the little old town to win
    The large rewards that to worth belong,
To add to the city’s unceasing din,
    To try his powers among the strong.
And he proudly thought, as he turned to gaze
    At the little old town in its peacefulness
Of a distant glorious day of days
    When he would return, having claimed success.

He thought of the villagers dozing there,
    Deaf to Ambition’s persuasive call,
Content, because they were free from care,
    To claim rewards that were few and small.
And he thought of a girl whose eyes were wet
    When, wishing him well, she said goodbye,
But he hurried away, to soon forget
    Where the roar was loud and the walls were high.

And often he thought in his lonely nook,
    When his muscles ached and his heart was sad,
Of the little old town with its sleepy look,
    Where the streets were wide and the children glad,
And often he thought of the peace out there,
    And often he wondered if, after all,
The people were wasting the seasons where
    The days were long and the rewards were small.

He had thought of a glorious day of days
    When he would return to the little old town
And listen to those who would give him praise
    For his proud success and his wide renown,
And tomorrow he will be traveling back,
    No more to care and no more to sigh
For the glory the little old town may lack—
    To lie and rest where his parents lie.

From the Rock Island Argus, July 22, 1913. By Henry Howland.

Henrietta was a maiden with a pair of witching eyes
    And her voice was like the sweetest music man has ever heard.
She had all the charms that nature in her gracious mood supplies—
    Henrietta was a beauty, as you doubtless have inferred.

She possessed a gentle manner and a temper that was sweet,
    She was always doing something for the ones who needed aid;
Scandal was a thing she never found it pleasing to repeat,
    From the path that leads to heaven Henrietta never strayed.

She possessed no taste for ragtime and she ne’er indulged in slang,
    Henrietta was artistic from her fingers to her toes;
Sweetest ecstasies were given to her hearers when she sang,
    She was free from affectation and was not inclined to pose.

She respected age, believing that the old could be sublime,
    And instead of reading novels she dipped into classic lore;
She could neatly darn a stocking or construct a witty rhyme,
    And she wasn’t always thinking of the pretty things she wore.

Do not think and do not say that Henrietta was a myth,
    Do not say that one so perfect never on this earth was known;
Henrietta lives and answers to the name of Mrs. Smith;
    I’ve described her as Smith saw her ere he claimed her for his own.