Oklahoma Sunshine Part 47

Suns.h.i.+ne or shadow, Righteousness or wrong, Here we pluck a blossom, There we sing a song; Whether morn or even, Whether noon or night, Stars are there above us With their love and light!

Suns.h.i.+ne or shadow!

Through the changing years, There is love and laughter, There is toil and tears!

But the stars above us Blossom in the blue, And the days are singing Through the lips of you!

The great souls of human history have come from the deserts and the waste places of the earth to wield the sword and to hold the scepter, to sing the great song and prophesy of holiness and peace. Solitude is the true mother of dauntless men, and from her divine ministrations they walk forth to lead and conquer and make new epochs in the history of the race.

Dreams.

Day-dreams and night-dreams,-- All the dreams you will; Black dreams and bright dreams Up and down the hill!

What if nights are gloomy?

What if days are sad?

Life is always bloomy With the roses glad!

Day-dreams and night-dreams,-- All the dreams you will; Love is there with kisses Through the good and ill!

Love is there with music And her heart so true, And amid the shadows Still the eyes of you!

Caught on the Fly.

Back-bone is the chief ingredient in the hash mixture of greatness.

There may be plenty of room at the top, but it's a mighty cold place to spend the winter.

Love never has time to spare from joy while she demands or listens to explanations of a fault.

Teddy's on a Hunting Trip.

"Let the meeting be in order!" said the chairman, looking wise; (And a mountain lion was he of the most enormous size!) "There is business of importance to consider; for they say That a danger swift and sudden on a special comes this way; I can feel it in my whiskers, and I hear it in the air: Mister Teddy's gone a-huntin' and is loaded up for bear!"

Then old Bruin rose: "This Terror has no pets among the brutes, And the first thing in his path-way is the first thing that he shoots!

Even cotton-tails" (The rabbits in their burrows flattened out!) "Have no promises of safety when he wanders hereabout; From the grizzly to the chip-munk it is well to have a care; Mister Teddy's gone a-huntin' and he's loaded up for bear!"

Then up rose the wolf in wisdom: "I am sure that Bruin's right, And this Mister Man with Big Teeth slaughters every thing in sight!

Why, they say he wears a slicker and sleeps close beside his nag On the pommel of his saddle in a mammoth sleeping-bag!

We must watch him mighty careful or a common fate we share;-- Mister Teddy's on a huntin' trip and loaded up for bear!"

"Mister Chairman!" Said the Old Deer with broad antlers great and strong, "I have roamed the woods and prairies and endured the dangers long, I've escaped the hunter's rifle, I've survived the winter's cold And the summer's heat undaunted, with a courage brave and bold; But my coward legs now tremble, even I the panic share: Mister Teddy's on a-huntin' trip and loaded up for bear!"

"Mister Chairman!" cried the Woodchuck in a voice, defiant, shrill, "By what right does Mister Big Teeth come to slaughter us and kill?

Is not he our chosen ruler, sworn to keep the law intact, And to serve his faithful subjects with his every thought and act?

Let us fight if he would slay us! Turn about is only fair, When he comes around a-huntin' and is loaded up for bear!"

"Treason! Treason!" cried the rabbits; "Treason! Treason!" shouted they; "If he wants to come and hunt us, he must have his b.l.o.o.d.y way!

It would be the direst folly for the timid, helpless ones To combat the deadly bullets of his thunder-spitting guns!

There's a better way to foil him,--'tis a way beyond compare, When our Teddy's on a-huntin' trip and loaded up for bear!"

"Resolved by all the animals through all the South and West, When Mister Roosevelt comes along we'll take a quiet rest!

We'll stay at home delightedly and all his dogs and guns Will never find us where we dwell with wives and little ones!

Every rabbit in his burrow and each lion to his lair, When this Teddy comes a-huntin' and all loaded up for bear!"

They voted "aye" unanimous; and fast and far they hied O'er dale and desert, wood and plain, each to his ingle-side!

They hid themselves so closely that no hunter cared to roam Where these the timid subjects each had fas.h.i.+oned him a home!

They were too wise for Teddy and they still life's blessings share, Though Teddy went a-huntin' them all loaded up for bear!

Sooner Sayings.

Blood tells when it comes to annuities and allotments.

G.o.d made the country, but it never fruited till the boomer boomed it.

The greatest heroes of the world are not those extolled in song or glorified with monuments and statues. They are the undiscovered ones who in tears and darkness lived their uttermost for the accomplishments of lofty purposes and failed utterly just before the triumph came.

All town-sites look alike on the map.

A claim in the run is worth two in the lottery.

One contest beats a fire, and two are worse than a s.h.i.+p-wreck.

A stake on a home-stead is more valuable than a palace on an Indian allotment.

As smoke to the eyes and vinegar to the teeth, so is a contest to the poor man seeking a home.