ELIJAH BROWN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 135, 5 June 1909, Page 6

ELIJAH BROWN.

Elijah Brown, the cobbler, was enamoured of the muse, And all his time was given up to stanzas and to shoes. He scorned to live a tuneless life, ingloriously mute, And nightly laid his last aside to labor at his flute ; For he had registered an oath that lyrical renown Should trumpet to the universe the "worthy name of Brown. And, though his own weak pinions failed to reach the heights of song, His genius hatched a brilliant scheme to help his oath along; And all his little youngsters, as they numerously came, He christened after poets in the of fame, That their poetic prestige migth impress them, and inspire —A no^le emulation to adopt the warbling lyre. And Virgil Brown and Dante Brown and Tasso Brown appeared

And Milton Brown and Byron Brown and Shakspere Brown were reared. Longfellow Brown and Schiller Brown arrived at man's estate, And Wordsworth Brown and Goldsmith Brown filled up the family slate. And he believed his gifted boys, predestined to renown, In time would roll the boulder from the buried name of Brown. But still the epic is unsung, and still the worthy name Is missing from the pedestals upon the hills of fame; For Dante Brown's a pedlar in the vegetable line, And Byron Brown is pitching for the Tuscarora nine; Longfellow Brown, the lightweight, is a pugilist of note, And Goldsmith Brown's a deck-hand on a Jersey ferry boat; In Wordsworth Brown, Manhattan has an estimable cop, And Schiller Brown's an artist in a Brooklyn barber-shop; A roving tar in Virgil Brown upon the bounding seas, And Tasso Brown is usefully engaged in making cheese; The cobbler's bench is Milton Brown's, and there he pegs away, And Shakspere Brown makes cocktails in a Cripple Creek cafe. —Syracuse Courier.