ISBN: 9781286475652

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ASH… Plus…

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ASHES ON THE SLIDE WHEN Jim and Bill and I were boys a many years ago, How gayly did we use to hail the coming of the snow! Our sleds, fresh painted red and with their runners round and bright, Seemed to respond right briskly to our clamor of delight As we dragged them up the slippery road that climbed Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www. million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ASHES ON THE SLIDE WHEN Jim and Bill and I were boys a many years ago, How gayly did we use to hail the coming of the snow! Our sleds, fresh painted red and with their runners round and bright, Seemed to respond right briskly to our clamor of delight As we dragged them up the slippery road that climbed the rugged hill Where perched the old frame meetin'-house, so solemn-like and still. Ah, coasting in those days - those good old days - was fun indeed! Sleds at that time I 'd have you know were paragons of speed! And if the hill got bare in spots, as hills will do, why then We 'd haul on ice and snow to patch those bald spots up again; But, oh! with what sad certainty our spirits would subside When Deacon Frisbee sprinkled ashes where we used to slide! The deacon he would roll his eyes and gnash his toothless gums, And clear his skinny throat, and twirl his saintly, bony thumbs, And tell you: "When I wuz a boy, they taught me to eschew The godless, ribald vanities which modern youth pursue! The pathway that leads down to hell is slippery, straight, and wide; And Satan lurks for prey where little boys are wont to slide! " Now, he who ever in his life has been a little boy Will not reprove me when he hears the language I employ To stigmatize as wickedness the deacon's zealous spite In interfering with the play wherein we found delight; And so I say, with confidence, not unalloyed of pride: "Gol durn the man who sprinkles ashes where the youngsters slide!" But Deacon Frisbee long ago went to his lasting rest, His money well invested in farm mortgages out West; Bill, Jim, and I, no longer boys, have learned through years of strife That the troubles of the little boy pursue the man through li. Books, History~~General, writings-in-prose-and-verse-of-Eugene-Field~~Eugene-Field, , , , , , , , , , Nabu Press<