Farmer Stebbins Ahead Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBCCDD EEFFGG EEHHII JJAKLL IIEEKK KKMMEE DDNNOO PPQQRR SSTTEE UUVVJJ WWEECC XXKKYY BBCCZZ A2A2B2B2C2C2 D2D2QQYY R| DEAR COUSIN JOHN | A |
| - | |
| I'm very glad you sent that money through | B |
| By Cousin Seth an' not by mail as I requested you | B |
| The fam'ly's just so much ahead 'twere best it never came | C |
| If Jeroboam Jones had twined his fingers 'round the same | C |
| For that young man has principles fit only to abhor | D |
| And isn't the kind of relative that I was lookin' for | D |
| - | |
| My sakes Millennium's nowhere near when men so false can be | E |
| As to equivocate themselves into my family tree | E |
| An' on its honest branches graft the shoots of their design | F |
| An' make me think they're good because they're relatives of mine | F |
| While under those fraternal smiles a robber's frown is hid | G |
| But that's the inappropriate thing that Jeroboam did | G |
| - | |
| When Cousin Seth the tavern reached whose clerk o'ershadows me | E |
| He cried Where is my long lost son I've come so far to see | E |
| An' so to fill that father's heart with resurrected joy | H |
| I twisted 'round with him a bit to try an' find the boy | H |
| An' comin' where I had the luck that hymn book for to win | I |
| I opened quietly the door an' both of us went in | I |
| - | |
| The Superintendent still was there he gave a little start | J |
| But welcomed us apparently with overflowin' heart | J |
| An' told us all about the work an' how 'twas gettin' on | A |
| An' how much money those who gave unto the cause had won | K |
| But Cousin Seth though much impressed with what he heard an' saw | L |
| Said he didn't fix the envelopes an' b'lieved he wouldn't draw | L |
| - | |
| Just then the door was opened quick an' with a solemn grin | I |
| Young Jeroboam Jones appeared an' sidled softly in | I |
| An' with him was an older man who looked enough like me | E |
| To've been a reg'lar Stebbins too so far as one could see | E |
| But slappin' Seth upon the back I said My duty's done | K |
| For this is Jeroboam Jones your long lost oldest son | K |
| - | |
| My 'long lost oldest son ' said he he's 'bout as much my son | K |
| As you are the belov d babe of Gen'ral Washington | K |
| It strikes me that my married life was very much amiss | M |
| If I'm responsible for such a sneakin' face as this | M |
| He's blinded you by his supposed relationship to me | E |
| He's no one I have ever seen or ever want to see | E |
| - | |
| As when a fog above a field the sudden breezes tore | D |
| You spied a thousand things you did not even miss before | D |
| So all the facts of this affair as clear as summer skies | N |
| Straightway arranged themselves before my reconstructed eyes | N |
| That these were not veracious men an' this no Sunday school | O |
| An' naught was what it seemed except one old bald headed fool | O |
| - | |
| I held those two deceivers out with unassisted strength | P |
| An' by the collar shook each one to my arm's farthest length | P |
| They gasped an' danced an' skipped around without a word to say | Q |
| They put their heads together in a new an' painful way | Q |
| Due ninety dollars fifty cents an' not a penny less | R |
| I shouted an' I'll send you back your hymn book by express | R |
| - | |
| When finally in my discourse a breathin' pause occurred | S |
| The Superintendent counted out the cash without a word | S |
| Which with a manner dignified I coldly repossessed | T |
| An' still retainin' Jeroboam that scamp I thus addressed | T |
| An' so you are the bogus friend and relative so free | E |
| To spend his time a makin' fools of poor old men like me | E |
| - | |
| I'm Supervisor of the town where I have lived so long | U |
| There ain't a man in all that part will say I've done him wrong | U |
| There ain't a man will claim but what I'm ordinary keen | V |
| But when I plant myself in town I grow exceedin' green | V |
| An' any kind expressioned man who acts a civil part | J |
| Can always find my soul to home an' house room in my heart | J |
| - | |
| It's sad for such a smile as yours to find so mean a fate | W |
| An' there's some good in you at least enough to use for bait | W |
| Without some kindness in your heart you couldn't have landed me | E |
| An' as to how you've used your gifts just pause a bit an' see | E |
| I've gambled by you're callin' it a charitable name | C |
| And my self valuation sunk with unaccustomed shame | C |
| - | |
| I've done what I'd have whipped my boys for even lookin' at | X |
| An' don't suppose but what I own part of the blame for that | X |
| I thought I saw a chance to make five dollars out o' one | K |
| Which with strict justice all around is very seldom done | K |
| But up to that outrageous point remember I was led | Y |
| By your assumed relationship an' several things you said | Y |
| - | |
| Do you reflect young man upon the fruit you're growin' to | B |
| There's prison gates a waitin' now to stand in front of you | B |
| There's grief of unexpected kinds an' every sort of shame | C |
| To send you some time from this world much poorer than you came | C |
| Your guilty head you hang before us sinners standin' by | Z |
| What angle do you s'pose 'twould take 'mongst angels in the sky | Z |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| There's hope e'en on the death bed for a square straightforward thief | A2 |
| But Judases have always come to most peculiar grief | A2 |
| The Lord has pity I suppose for errin' men an' weak | B2 |
| But no good satisfact'ry place in which to put a sneak | B2 |
| An' when a man wins men's esteem then thrives by their mistakes | C2 |
| He makes himself a bigger fool than all the fools he makes | C2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| - | |
| Then my adopted relative I seated in a chair | D2 |
| With amply necessary help an' sev'ral pounds to spare | D2 |
| Then Seth an' I with dignity bade both the scamps good day | Q |
| Advisin' them to gain their bread in some dissimilar way | Q |
| An' as we thundered down the stairs with heavy rural tread | Y |
| I felt that I'd at last come out some several rods ahead | Y |
| - | |
| A S | R |
William Mckendree Carleton
(1)
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