To Ironquill.Why don't you start your rhyming mill? How can you keep the old thing still, I'd like to know? And, if the water ran up hill, I'd make her go. I have not seen a strain of rhyme Fresh from your pen for this long time; I '11 wage a nickel 'gainst a dime, You're thinkin' strong; And ere we think, you'll make us climb, To hear your song. As Burns once said, we're stringin' verse: That's bad enough, but might be worse; Though 't puts no penny in our purse, We scribble on; We'll ne'er abuse so kind a nurse__ And be alone. You 're, maybe, overhead in law, (For other folks,) a dull old saw You're used to drawing__yea, you draw Quite well, I s'pose; (But flattery is not worth a straw, As one well knows.) I like your "Washerwoman's Song"; "Kriterion's" measures glide along With cadence sweet__with thought so strong, It shows the will; I think, my friend, you do us wrong, By keeping still. I trust you will Pegasus stride, And cut the rope wherewith he's tied, Give the old nag a lick, and ride To win new bays, Away up steep Parnassus' side These latter days! The wildest flowers oft may bring The sweetest scent at christening; The shooting star sometimes may fling A radiant light; The bird, untaught, may often wing The grandest flight ! Friend Ironquill, ring out your lay, And help us sing of later day; Tune up your harp and give it sway, And strike it soon; Give us your merriest roundelay__ A Kansas rune! ___John W. Beebe
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