Select Poetry.

Bruce Herald, Volume VII, Issue 650, 17 November 1874, Page 2

Select Poetry.

DEACON JONES'S EXPERIENCE.

[Arkansas conference, 1874.] By Bret Hartk. Ye'r right when you Liys it down, Paraon, Thet the flesh is weak and a snare ; And to keep yer plow in the furrow When yer cattle begins to rare — Ain't no sure thing. And between us, The same may be said of prayer • Why, T stood the jokes, on the river, Of the boys, when the critters found Thr.t I'd jined the- Uhurch, and the snicker Thet. may be ye miud, went round, The day I sat down with the mourners, In the old camp-meetin' ground J I stood all that, and I reckon 1 might, at a pinch, stood more — For the boys, they represents Baal, And 1 stands as the Rocfc i»f the Law, And it seemed like a moral scrimmagd, la holdiu' agin their j tw. But thar's crosses a Christian suffers, As hfzu't goc that pre'eace — Things with no n><>ral purpose, Things ez hez got no sense, Things ez. somehow, no profit Will co^er their first expense. Ez how ! T was jest last evening Addressiu' the Throne of (x r ace, And mother knelt iv the corner, And each of the boys iv his placeWhen that sneaking pup of Keziah's To Jonathan's cat giv chase ! I never let on to mind 'era, I never letou to hear, But drove that prayer down the furrow, With the cat hidin' under my cheer. And K.ezifth a whtsperia', ** ->ie he- ?'* And mother a sayin', " You dare 1" I asked fer a light fer the heathen, To guide on his narer track, Wir.h that dog and that cat jest waltzin', And Jonathan s 'ace j -at black, When the pup ma'ie a rush, and the kittenDropped down on the small of ray back. Yet, I think, with the Lud's assistance, I mi^ht have cont'uered then, If, getiin' her holt, that kitten flcdn't dropped her claws in me — when. It somehow reached the "Old Adam." And I jumped to my feet with •• Amen.'' So, ye'r right when you says it, Parson, That the flesh is weak and a snare, Ar.d to keep yer plow in the furrow When jer cattle begins to rare Ain't no sure thing. And between us, I say it's jist so with prayer.