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 NINTH
  
  And when they cleared six acres
      He sowed that ground in wheat,
  In order that the next year
      We might have bread to eat.
  
  We raised our beef and cabbage,
      And we raised our pork and beans,
  And we were blessed and prospered
      When're we used the means.
  
  And thus our time went on,
      From one year to another,
  And every other year
      My children had a brother.
  
  In the year of fourteen
      My husband bought a farm,
  With fifty acres cleared,
      An orchard, house and barn.
  
  In the year of seventeen
      He would get rich at stilling,
  He bought a set of stills,
      And then he needed drilling.
  
  He hired different men
      To superintend the stilling,
  But he lost more than five dollars
      Whene'er he gained a shilling.
  
  The trouble was, my husband
      Did always love the drops,
  Then home would do as well
      As other whiskey shops.
  
  Then when he was at home,
      And the whiskey was so handy,
  With plenty of good company
      It did as well as brandy.
  
  After he had been stilling,
      The sheriff came around,
  And attaching other property
      He also attached that ground.
  
  But I managed to redeem it
      Out of the sheriff's hand,
  By the help of my younger brother
      We still retained the land.
  
  It was under execution
      From one time to another,
  But was still redeemed and saved
      By Jacob Strawn, my brother.
  
  Till one evening in his absence
      Came in a false-hearted friend,
  He said, "I'll pay your sons in live stock
      Their father cannot spend."
  
  He said, "Give yourself no trouble,
      For I will pay you well
  In young horses and young cattle
      Your sons can keep or sell."
  
  By his false flattering promises
      At sheriff's sale it went,
  He bid it off and kept it,
      And never paid a cent.
  
  In the year of twenty-two
      We built a house of brick,
  We built it large and strong
      In order it might stick,
  
  For I plainly saw by that time
      My sons could nothing have,
  Unless it was something there
      That I could for them save.
  
  For the sheriff and the constable,
      They were coming round,
  And attaching all the property
      Except it was the ground.
  
  And to make all I could secure there
      I thought I ought to learn,
  And in the year of twenty-seven
      We got a woolen factory,
  The rest on the plantation.
  
  But for costs and fines and lawyer's fees
      We paid five hundred yearly,
  With drunken rants and drams and sprees
      We were discouraged clearly.
  
  And when we strove the hardest
      His supreme command to mind,
  It was then we failed the farthest,
      And sometimes he was unkind.
  
  I often though I'd leave him
      And leave the farm and stuff,
  For of such a life of trouble
      I felt I had enough.
  
  My oldest son, discouraged,
      Said, "Let me go away
  For here it is no use
      For me to longer stay".
  
  "I am tired of this teaming
      And hauling on the pike,
  For my father comes and spends it
      And that I don't much like".
  
  "He comes down there and drinks,
      And makes me so much ashamed,
  If I should leave this country
      I ought not to be blamed".
  
  "Oh, bind me to a trade, mother!
      Something with me do,
  For here I can do nothing
      Either for myself or you."
  
  I said, "If you were older
      You might go to Illinois,
  Or now go with my brother,
      His family and boys."
  
  At first it seemed to stagger him,
      To go so far away,
  But on the second thought he said,
      "I'll go without delay."
  
  I mentioned to his father,
      "John will go to Illinois,
  And now go with my brother,
      For we have other boys."
  
  At first he did oppose it,
      And said he should not go,
  But the boy was not discouraged,
      He thought at first it would be so.
  
  But I employed a tailor
      And worked with all my might,
  A sewing and knitting
      Almost all day and night.
  
  By planning and persuasion,
      His father gave consent,
  And off to Illinois
      With my brother John, he went.
  
  Then I felt so unprotected
      And lonely all the while,
  For he was my chief company
      And was my oldest child.
  
  The second in the factory,
      A doing what he could
  To take care of the property,
      And also learn the trade.
  
  About two thousand dollars worth
      Of machinery then in it,
  Besides the cost of buildings
      And of digging race and seat.
  
  My trials and my sorrows
      Were increasing every day,
  And I was still a planning
      How we might get away.
  
  And so we struggled on
      To the year of twenty-nine,
  No hope of reformation,
      No, not the smallest sign.
  
  Two days before we left,
      The sheriff came again,
  And attached the sheep and hogs
      That were running in the lane.
  
  The cattle in the pasture,
      The corn upon the ground,
  The things about the farm and barn,
      All that could be found.
  
  Then came into the house,
      And from room to room he went,
  And attached the beds and furniture,
      All that were worth a cent.
  
  And also twelve fat hogs
      We were fattening in a pen,
  And we thought it was our time
      To be leaving then.
  
  Then we had little but our clothing,
      And that was rather scant,
  For two year's wool was in the factory,
      Though still no pinching went.
  
  But Oh!  It was a trial
      To leave my house and property,
  And turn into the world
      With so large a helpless family.
  
  But I roasted him some beef
      And baked some good light bread,
  And left it in the cupboard
      From whence he had oft been fed.
  
  I gathered up his clothing,
      Left them in the case of drawers,
  Wound the clock, picked up my babe,
      Stepped out and shut the doors.
  
  I felt the act was desperate
      But resolved I would be free,
  And all that I possessed I'd give
      For freedom for my sons and me.
  
  That we might enjoy some peace,
      And be freed from servile fear
  And be blessed with family freedom,
      As families mostly are.
  
  For all that a man hath
      Will he five for his life,
  And I resolved I'd live no longer
      In so much fear and strife.
  
  And so I took my little ones
      When he was gone from home,
  And went off to my fathers
      Where he did seldom come.