“Bill Dwiggins had been Billy thirty years,
A boyish name which piqued his clever wife,
As if her man were ticketed light-weight
Out here as in Ohio. He had land,
A team, and stock. Let him be Mister now,
Take office as assessor, constable,
Or school director, and by slow degrees
Grow into larger duties. It may be
She had excuse, had suffered in old days
The patronage of those whose men had hired
Good-natured, easy Billy.
Mister Dwiggins
Was huge, flat-bodied, moved with the swinging gait
Of a slow, steady ox. I’ve seen him toil
At knotty problems, tilted in his chair,
In strained attention drawing on his pipe,-
Bristly mustache, arched brows, uplifted eye.
Now blessed be good counsel!
His wife helped.
The slight, shawled figure with the sunny face
Found welcome at the Ashbys; lively chat
The Browers held with her; and she talked around
With Butterpaugh, Embree, and Himmelblau,
Casey, Flynn, Boyd, O’Reilley, Mclntyre,
Oltrogge, Davis, Matzybon, and Trinque,
Fox, Martin, Marsh, King, Anderegg and more,
They should uphold the interests of the Ridge
By starting a literary.
Pettigrew
Helped by objecting. Four or five gave ear
To his hoarse voice on mail-day as he sat
On the puncheon bench outside, with big hat slouching
To drooping shoulders. Thin, unsmiling lips
Moved in that bony face, as steeped in sourness
As if his soul were lined with colic-cramp.
” Worthless performance – crude! Hoary debate
On Fire and Water. Let the children speak
At Christmas, Decoration, last of school.
Paper bound to be bad; learns younger folk
To disrespect their elders. And remember,
‘For every idle word – in that last day’.”
Casey was holding match to his dudeen,
Delaying answer; from the inner room
A woman’s tones: “”I’m glad you told me, Janet,
How to make that melon pickle; Mister Dwiggins
Has praised it over and over.”” Then, in the door,
Black lisle gloves found adjustment, and a smile
Sentenced the culprit:
”O, there will be faults –
Our faults which make us humble. But I like
To work with those who put their whole hearts in,-
And the spirit of the neighborhood, communion
In sympathy, and in laughter -“”
“”Vanity, woman!
Folly and sin increase, while we pursue
Idle frivolity.””
“”Come and make that speech
At the literary! ‘Thoughts, shut up, want air,
And spoil like bales unopened to the sun’.””
” ‘Let the women keep a silence in the churches’!””
“”Nor laugh with one another. I pity his wife,-
Married to such a bully! But we ‘ll sing
Together, Janet, nor mind if pessimists
Wear scratchy woolens.””
Deep, unbroken silence;
Dazed by the indelicate word, Jim Pettigrew
Kept glum eyes on the ground. His auditors
Moved chuckling forth with gossip for their wives.
Standing room only, that November night;
The aisles were full, the windows. Cheering rocked
The schoolhouse when Bill Dwiggins, flushed with pride,
As president-elect ended his speech,-
There are who hint a woman wrote it for him,-
And introduced the dentist to orate
On Aaron Burr. The genial worthy stepped
Square to mid-platform, gestured right and left –
A college medal glittering on his coat –
Boomed in brave language:
“”Lo, the bea-uteous
Aurora had arisen in the majestic east,
And shed long garnet beams across the surface
Of the waters rippling in the morning breeze
Like a sea of broken mirrors, and reflecting
The shattered scintillations. Hudson’s cliffs
With violets were sprinkled.”” Fifteen minutes
Of artificial flowers. His applause
Was nigh an uproar.
Now two sisters sang;
Their voices overflowed the little room,
The bell-like alto lifting hopeless grief
Till many eyes had tears. Next, children spoke
Breitmann and Carleton ballads.
A recess.
Young lads rushed out for moonlit pullaway;
The organ drew the singers: Vacant Chair,
The Little Old Sod Shanty, Billy Boy,
Tenting To-night, Sweet Afton, Rosy Nell,
And Rocking on the Billows had their turns;
Then business meeting.
Truly, a success,
This literary! Mister Dwiggins won
The place of constable two successive years.
Next fall he will be sheriff if he minds
The counsel of Mrs. Dwiggins, – so men say;
They call him Billy yet, but change the tone.
(Edwin Ford Piper)”
More Poetry from dwin Ford Piper):
dwin Ford Piper) Poems based on Topics: Man, Place, Morning, Faces, Water, Fire, Mind, Woman, Soul, Laughter, Flowers- The Driver (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- In The Canyon (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Claim Jumper (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Party (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Well (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
- The Ridge Farm (Edwin Ford Piper Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Man Poems, Night Poems, Mind Poems, Soul Poems, Faces Poems, Youth Poems, Christianity Poems, Place Poems, Flowers Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Fire PoemsBased on Keywords: dentist, performance, knotty, melon, good-natured, patronage, garnet, schoolhouse, constable, mustache, slouching