The Old Hanging Fork and Other Poems   By: George W. Doneghy

OLD HANGING FORK

and

OTHER POEMS.

BY

GEORGE W. DONEGHY.

FRANKLIN, OHIO: The Editor Publishing Co. 1897.

Copyright, 1897, By George W. Doneghy.

CONTENTS.

PAGE THE OLD HANGING FORK, 9

SWEET SEPTEMBER DAYS, 11

YER OLD COB PIPE, 13

TIM BLUSTER'S DREAM, 15

APPLE BLOSSOMS, 18

CHICKAMAUGA, 20

GEN. JOHN B. GORDON, 22

UP AND DOWN OLD CLARK'S RUN, 23

ROBERT BURNS (A Paraphrase) 25

WISHING FISHING, 27

POE, 28

A BARREN "IDEALTY," 29

A CHERISHED RELIC, 31

"RESTLAND," 33

MY VALENTINE, 35

A SMOKE, 36

PERRYVILLE, 37

LONGINGS, 39

DOWN ABOUT OLD SHAKERTOWN, 40

MEMORIA IN ÆTERNA, 41

A MOTHER'S GRAVE, 43

A FRECKLE FACED BOY, 44

THE DAM BELOW THE MILL, 46

THE SERENADE, 47

"IS IT HOT ENOUGH FER YOU?" 49

THE TOKEN, 50

TO SCENES I USED TO KNOW, 52

BEREFT, 54

THE "BULL SPRING," 56

FAMILIAR HAUNTS, 58

A FADED LETTER, 60

THE HERMIT, 61

THE "MEDICAL SPRING," 63

AN "IDYL" OF THE BALL, 64

DREAMS, 65

A TWIST OF "NATURAL LEAF," 66

GEORGE W. CHILDS, 68

THE OLD SPRING HOUSE, 69

CAMPING ON THE CUMBERLAND, 71

AN EASTER FLOWER, 73

THE STAGE COACH, 74

DICK'S RIVER, 76

TO A LITTLE BOY, 78

WHEN THE COAL HOUSE'S FULL, 79

DECEMBER, 81

SOLACE, 82

FRANK L. STANTON, 84

THE OLD CHURCH BELL, 85

A SUMMER EVENING, 87

FATHER RYAN, 88

THE MEADOW PATH, 89

THE FOX HUNTERS, 91

THE CHARMING GIRL OF SOMERSET, 93

IN JULY, 94

TO J. R. M., 95

TWILIGHT, 96

OUT UV "POLITICKS," 98

JONES' MARE, 100

THAT OLD STRAW HAT OF MINE, 103

TOM BARBEE'S POND, 105

WHERE? 107

THE HILLS OF LINCOLN, 109

LOVED AND LOST, 111

A TRUE STORY, 112

The

Old Hanging Fork

and

Other Poems.

THE OLD HANGING FORK.

I.

O don't you remember those days so divine, Around which the heart strings all tenderly twine, When with sapling pole and a painted cork We fished up and down the old Hanging Fork From the railroad bridge, with its single span, Clear down to the mill at Dawson's old dam From early morn till the shades of night, And it made no difference if fish didn't bite?

II.

What pleasure it gives to think and to dream Of those long, happy days, and the old winding stream, When we waded the creek with our pants to the knee, And got our lines tangled in a sycamore tree, And were most scared to death when out from the root The long, wriggling snake through the water did shoot, And you lost your line, your hook and your cork, And I slipped and fell in the old Hanging Fork!

III.

The years they have come, and the years they have fled, And frosted with silver the hairs of the head, But still in fond memory there lingers the joy Of scenes such as these, when a bare footed boy I wandered away to the clear rippling stream No cankering care to trouble life's dream; And we spit on our bait and in whispers we'd talk, As we threw out our lines in the old Hanging Fork!