II d ETk " .

For the Arkansas Intolligencer.
MY ANCIENT QUILL.
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l" AANSlt.Nl w ILL.
Mine ancient quill! mine ancient quill! r,


How many lines we've scratched together
Blu. now thou 'rt short and worn-olt too. ;


Though still love thee, gray goose feather.
Ah, here thou art, old scribbing friend,


All daubed with ink so thick and black;
Thou'lt save mo from Ennuye fierce,


And bring my truant pleasures back.
Yes, have grasped thee oft before, 81


Then needing not LIES outward care;
And well hast thou fulfilled my tasks,
But now art soiIed and worse for wear.
Shall aside cast thee, old friend,


Blunt as thou art, thy trimness gone?
Thy fretled stump once more III mend,


And pen the lines few love as well.
With thee my wayward tastes trace


When Sorrows fall hath DER me fell,
When beaming joys Ii, up my face,


Or holy dreams dyed bright the past.
s Old grey goose quill--thou bring'st to mind


The thoughts of days long flown and gone,
OF childhood hours, Of loved ones kind,


By men'ry kept, still treasured on.
? Yes. thou art here, my dabbed quill,
-,r Which half score Of knives have pruned,
& And will thy drops inditing spill,


Though not as freely as of yore.
Thee, comely quill of greyest hue


That well might win an authors love,
Thy parent bird as wild he flew,


Did moult beside lonely lake.
= AS on thee, ink worn quill, gaze,


My mind recalls my fathers stand,
The studious hour that gained his praise,
The learning child, that eopy-book.
And home-reared joys, they too, come by,


With voices sisterIy and dear, s5-
. And brother lads with true-bent bows,
With other by-past forms appear.
Oh! who shall deem it weak in me, s.. a....
Or rldicule my humble song, ...r7.
Because lprizo--with poets plea e.
a. Aqulll that's true to me so long2 ...
cannot fling thee off, my pen, .., .,..
Though thou art old and useless too,
faithful friend e'er hast thou been


OF such the world, I've found, hath fewl
~ $685.. ....a.i r." ABSALOM.
Van Baren. august 20, 1874. a......
