DOW'S FLAT. 1856.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1724, 5 September 1873, Page 3

DOW'S FLAT. 1856.

«■ Dow's Flat. That's- it's name. And I reckon that you Are a stranger ? The same ? Well, I thought it was true — For thar isn't a man on the river as can't spot the place at Stst view. It was called after Dow — Which the same was an ass — And as to the how Thet the thiDg. kern to passJest tie up your hoss to that buckeye, and sit ye down here in the grass : You see this yer Dow Hed the worst kind of luck ; Be slipped up somehow On each thing thet he struck. Why, ef he'd a straddled thet fence-rail, the derned thing 'ed get up and buch. He mined on the bar Till he couldn't pay rates ; He was smashed by a car When he tunnelled with Bates ; And right on the top of his trouble kern his wife and five kids from the States. It was rough — mighty rough ; But the boys they stood by, j And they brought him the stuff For a house, on the sly } And the old woman— well she did washing, and took on when no one was nigh. But this yer luck of Dow's Was so powerful mean That the spring uear his house Dried right up on the green ; And he sunk forty feet down fbr water, but nary a drop to be seen. Then the bar petered out, Aud the boye wouldn't stay ; And the chills got about, And his wife fell away : ! But Dow, in his well, kept a peggin' in his usual ridikilous way. One day, — it was June, — And a year ago, jest, — This Dow kern at noon To his work like the rest, With a shovel and pick on his shoulder, and a derringer stuck in hia breast. L He goes to the well, Aud he stands on the brink, And stops for a spell Jest to listen and think : For the sun iv his eyes, (jest like this, sir 1) you see, kinder made the cuss blink. His two ragged gals In the gulch were afc play, And a gownd that was tfal's Kinder flapped on a bay : Nofc much for a man to be leavin', but his all,— as I've hetr'd the folks say. And— That's a peart hoss Thet you've got, — ain't it now ? What might be her cost ? Eh ? Oh >— Well, then, DowLet's see, — well, thafc forty-foot grave wasn't his, sir, that day, anyhow. For a blow of his pick Sorter caved in the side, Aud he looked and turned sick, Then he trembled and cried, For you see the derned cuss had struck — " Water ?"— Beg you parding, young man, there you lied ! It was Gold,— in the quartz, And it ran all alike ; And I reckon five oughts Was the worth of that strike ; And that house with the copilow's his'n,«— which tlie same isn't bad for a Pike. Thefc's why it's Dow's Flat ; And the thing of it is That he kinder got that Through sheer contrairiness : For 'twas water the derned cuss was seekin', and his luck made him certain to miss. Thet's so. Thar's your way To the left of yon tree ? But— a — look h'yur, say ? Won't you come up to tea f No ? Well, then the next time you're passin' ; and ask after Dow, — and thet's me. j Bbet Habte.