The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes Part 54

A LOGICAL STORY

HAVE you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it--ah, but stay, I 'll tell you what happened without delay, Scaring the parson into fits, Frightening people out of their wits,-- Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.

_Georgius Secundus_ was then alive,-- Snuffy old drone from the German hive.

That was the year when Lisbon-town Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown.

It was on the terrible Earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always _somewhere_ a weakest spot,-- In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace,--lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will,-- Above or below, or within or without,-- And that 's the reason, beyond a doubt, That a chaise breaks down, but does n't wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do, With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou ") He would build one shay to beat the taown 'n' the keounty 'n' all the kentry raoun'; It should be so built that it couldn' break daown "Fur," said the Deacon, "'t 's mighty plain Thut the weakes' place mus' stan' the strain; 'n' the way t' fix it, uz I maintain, Is only jest T' make that place uz strong uz the rest."

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk Where he could find the strongest oak, That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,-- That was for spokes and floor and sills; He sent for lancewood to make the thills; The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees, The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese, But lasts like iron for things like these; The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum,"-- Last of its timber,--they could n't sell 'em, Never an axe had seen their chips, And the wedges flew from between their lips, Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips; Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw, Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too, Steel of the finest, bright and blue; Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide; Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide Found in the pit when the tanner died.

That was the way he "put her through."

"There!" said the Deacon, "naow she 'll dew!"

Do! I tell you, I rather guess She was a wonder, and nothing less!

Colts grew horses, beards turned gray, Deacon and deaconess dropped away, Children and grandchildren--where were they?

But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED;--it came and found The Deacon's masterpiece strong and sound.

Eighteen hundred increased by ten;-- "Hahnsum kerridge" they called it then.

Eighteen hundred and twenty came;-- Running as usual; much the same.

Thirty and forty at last arrive, And then come fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

First of November, 'Fifty-five!

This morning the parson takes a drive.

Now, small boys, get out of the way!

Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,

Little of all we value here Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year Without both feeling and looking queer.

In fact, there 's nothing that keeps its youth, So far as I know, but a tree and truth.

(This is a moral that runs at large; Take it.--You 're welcome.--No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER,--the Earthquake-day,-- There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay, A general flavor of mild decay, But nothing local, as one may say.

There couldn't be,--for the Deacon's art Had made it so like in every part That there was n't a chance for one to start.

For the wheels were just as strong as the thills, And the floor was just as strong as the sills, And the panels just as strong as the floor, And the whipple-tree neither less nor more, And the back-crossbar as strong as the fore, And spring and axle and hub encore.

And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt In another hour it will be worn out!

Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.

"Huddup!" said the parson.--Off went they.

The parson was working his Sunday's text,-- Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed At what the--Moses--was coming next.

All at once the horse stood still, Close by the meet'n'-house on the hill.

First a s.h.i.+ver, and then a thrill, Then something decidedly like a spill,-- And the parson was sitting upon a rock, At half past nine by the meet'n'-house clock,-- Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!

What do you think the parson found, When he got up and stared around?

The poor old chaise in a heap or mound, As if it had been to the mill and ground!

You see, of course, if you 're not a dunce, How it went to pieces all at once,-- All at once, and nothing first,-- Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-hoss shay.

Logic is logic. That's all I say.

PARSON TURELL'S LEGACY

OR, THE PRESIDENT'S OLD ARM-CHAIR

A MATHEMATICAL STORY

FACTS respecting an old arm-chair.

At Cambridge. Is kept in the College there.

Seems but little the worse for wear.

That 's remarkable when I say It was old in President Holyoke's day.

(One of his boys, perhaps you know, Died, _at one hundred_, years ago.) He took lodgings for rain or s.h.i.+ne Under green bed-clothes in '69.

Know old Cambridge? Hope you do.-- Born there? Don't say so! I was, too.

(Born in a house with a gambrel-roof,-- Standing still, if you must have proof.-- "Gambrel?--Gambrel?"--Let me beg You'll look at a horse's hinder leg,-- First great angle above the hoof,-- That 's the gambrel; hence gambrel-roof.) Nicest place that ever was seen,-- Colleges red and Common green, Sidewalks brownish with trees between.

Sweetest spot beneath the skies When the canker-worms don't rise,-- When the dust, that sometimes flies Into your mouth and ears and eyes, In a quiet slumber lies, _Not_ in the shape of umbaked pies Such as barefoot children prize.

A kind of harbor it seems to be, Facing the flow of a boundless sea.

Rows of gray old Tutors stand Ranged like rocks above the sand; Rolling beneath them, soft and green, Breaks the tide of bright sixteen,-- One wave, two waves, three waves, four,-- Sliding up the sparkling floor.

Then it ebbs to flow no more, Wandering off from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e With its freight of golden ore!

Pleasant place for boys to play;-- Better keep your girls away; Hearts get rolled as pebbles do Which countless fingering waves pursue, And every cla.s.sic beach is strown With heart-shaped pebbles of blood-red stone.

But this is neither here nor there; I'm talking about an old arm-chair.

You 've heard, no doubt, of PARSON TURELL?

Over at Medford he used to dwell; Married one of the Mathers' folk; Got with his wife a chair of oak,-- Funny old chair with seat like wedge, Sharp behind and broad front edge,-- One of the oddest of human things, Turned all over with k.n.o.bs and rings,-- But heavy, and wide, and deep, and grand,-- Fit for the worthies of the land,-- Chief Justice Sewall a cause to try in, Or Cotton Mather to sit--and lie--in.

Parson Turell bequeathed the same To a certain student,--SMITH by name; These were the terms, as we are told: "Saide Smith saide Chaire to have and holde; When he doth graduate, then to pa.s.se To ye oldest Youth in ye Senior Cla.s.se.

On payment of "--(naming a certain sum)-- "By him to whom ye Chaire shall come; He to ye oldest Senior next, And soe forever,"--(thus runs the text,)-- "But one Crown lesse then he gave to claime, That being his Debte for use of same."

Smith transferred it to one of the BROWNS, And took his money,--five silver crowns.

Brown delivered it up to MOORE, Who paid, it is plain, not five, but four.

Moore made over the chair to LEE, Who gave him crowns of silver three.

Lee conveyed it unto DREW, And now the payment, of course, was two.

Drew gave up the chair to DUNN,-- All he got, as you see, was one.

Dunn released the chair to HALL, And got by the bargain no crown at all.

And now it pa.s.sed to a second BROWN, Who took it and likewise claimed a crown.

When Brown conveyed it unto WARE, Having had one crown, to make it fair, He paid him two crowns to take the chair; And Ware, being honest, (as all Wares be,) He paid one POTTER, who took it, three.

Four got ROBINSON; five got Dix; JOHNSON primus demanded six; And so the sum kept gathering still Till after the battle of Bunker's Hill.

When paper money became so cheap, Folks would n't count it, but said "a heap,"

A certain RICHARDS,--the books declare,-- (A. M. in '90? I've looked with care Through the Triennial,--name not there,)-- This person, Richards, was offered then Eightscore pounds, but would have ten; Nine, I think, was the sum he took,-- Not quite certain,--but see the book.

By and by the wars were still, But nothing had altered the Parson's will.

The old arm-chair was solid yet, But saddled with such a monstrous debt!

Things grew quite too bad to bear, Paying such sums to get rid of the chair But dead men's fingers hold awful tight, And there was the will in black and white, Plain enough for a child to spell.

What should be done no man could tell, For the chair was a kind of nightmare curse, And every season but made it worse.