FAMILY HISTORY: POETRY Collection written by Elsie Strawn ARMSTRONG
  
  File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Les Howard Strawn
  
  Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/somerset/
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          CHAPTER SIXTH
  
  When we went to Ohio
      The snakes were very plenty,
  And while we lived in camp,
      We killed fifteen or twenty.
  
  My child went on all fours,
      And he could go a lively gait,
  And he could travel to the spring
      At a common walking rate.
  
  And of those big timber rattle snakes
      I killed two a day,
  I believe he could have caught them
      If they'd been trying to get away.
  
  One evening at my milk house,
      Putting my milk away,
  As it was growing dark,
      Just at the close of day.
  
  I heard an awful scream,
      Close by me it did sound,
  And I thought it was a panther
      All fixed on me to bound.
  
  You may guess I did leave sudden,
      And went straight to the fire,
  In order to improve it,
      And make the flames rise higher.
  
  That scream was so terrific,
      The sound so loud and shrill,
  It sounded in my ears
      And I seemed to hear it still.
  
  I looked upon my sleeping boy,
      And most sadly did I feel,
  As I thought 'twould take both him and me
      To make the beast a meal.
  
  At length it screamed again,
      And when I found it was a fowl,
  It was then I did feel fault
      To be frightened at an owl.
  
  I suffered much with fear
      When my husband was away;
  I was not afraid of spooks or ghosts,
      Neither by night nor day.
  
  But I feared voracious beasts,
      I was reared near Laurel Hill,
  Where the panther, wolf and bear
      Had pretty much their will.
  
  And my husband killed a wildcat
      The third day we'd come,
  And to see that ugly beast
      Increased my fears some.
  
  I remembered in my childhood
      Of hearing people say
  The smell of burnt gunpowder
      Would frighten beasts away.
  
  So I burned some powder
      On the stumps and logs around,
  In order to prevent them
      From coming on that ground.
  
  I hauled up lots of logs
      And limbs to make a fire,
  And when the most afraid,
      Wanted the flames higher.
  
  And in that open camp
      In that wild woods away,
  I stayed to guard the stuff
      Three months, both night and day.
  
  I hardly dared to leave for
      Fear the neighbor's hogs and cattle,
  Would come while I was gone,
      And destroy our goods and chattel.
  
  One night when alone
      With my baby on my arm,
  The ducks under the wagon bed
      Did give me alarm.
  
  A girl had penned some ducks
      Under the wagon bed,
  And she would come next day
      And take them away, she said.
  
  I heard the ducks moving,
      And I thought it was some beasts
  Affixing and preparing
      Of us to make a feast.
  
  The beasts could walk right in
      And take us out of bed,
  My little son and me,
      And then go straight ahead.
  
  The cowbell just had gone,
      And lonesome then were we;
  And oh! How unprotected
      My little son and me!
  
  But when the cows lay quiet,
      I was not so much afraid,
  For cows will run when wild beasts come,
      I had often heard it said.
  
  My child was much afflicted,
      And he would often cry,
  Then I was much afraid
      That he must shortly die.
  
  I was afraid the beasts would hear him,
      And they would come and us devour,
  And O how slow and tedious,
      Came and went the hour.
  
  And still I kept up my fire
      To keep the beasts away,
  And I was glad and thankful
      When I saw the light of day.
  
  Alone in that wild woods,
      And so young, with my sick child,
  It was but the grace of God,
      Kept me from going wild.
  
  For He was then my helper,
      And has been all the while,
  And I've trusted in His name
      Ever since I was a child.
  
  I have found Him "A present help
      In every time of need,"
  And through His loving kindness
      Thus far I did succeed.
  
  Sometimes my path was dark,
      And my way was hedged about,
  But he gently cleared my way
      And kindly led me out.
  
  The mercy of the Lord
      Has surely me surrounded;
  And they that trust His name
      Shall never be confounded.
  
  My trust was in my God,
      And in Him I was secure,
  Or those frights and fears and terrors
      I never could endure.
  
  But I am still among the living,
      My probation lengthened out,
  To see the fourth generation
      A-living round about.