PLUCK AND PRAYER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1895, 22 January 1885, Page 3

PLUCK AND PRAYER.

There wa'ii' any use a' fretting, : And I told Obadinh so, For ef we couldn't hold on to things, We'd, jest got to let 'em go. There w'er'e lots of folks tlwt'd suffer Along with the rest of us. An' it didn't seem to be wurtli our while to mate such a dreffle fuss. jfjPhbe jure the barn was 'most, empty, corn an' pertaters sca'ce, much of anything plenty an' ■ • But water—an' apple-eass. ' But then—as I told Obadiah— It wa'n't any use to groan, Tor flesh and blood couldn't stand it; and he

' Waa nothing but skin an' bone. But, laws! of you'd only heord him, 'At any hour of tho night, . • A-prayin' out in that closet there, 'Twould have sot you crazy quite, 1 patched the knees of those trousers .With cloth that was noways thin, But it soemed as ef the pieces wore out ■ As fa6fc as I set'em in. To me lie said mighty little Of the thorny way wo trod, But ut least a dozen times a day . He talked it over with God. Down on his knees in that closet • The most of his time was passed; Per Qbadiah knew how to pray Mnch better than how to fast. But I'm that way contrairy . That ef things dun't go jest right, ■■ Afealliko rollin' my sleeves up high Rlilßgittin' ready to fight, Airtne giants I slew that winter I a'n't goin' to talk about; An I didn't even complain to God, Though I think that he found it out. With the point of a cambric noedle I druv the wolf from the door, For I knew that we needn't starve to death Or be lazy because we were poor, An' Obadiah he wondered, An' kept me patchin' his knees, An' thought it strange how the meal held out, An 1 stranger we didn't freezo, But I said to myself in whispers, " God knows where his gift descends ; An 1 ' 'tisn't always that faith gets down As far as the finger-ends." An' I would not have no one reckon My Obadiah a shirk: flor some, you know, have the give to pray, : And others the gift to work. IlißrEE'3 AVEEKLT,