So much poetry has come into the off
ice that it has been impossible to work it
in with the news items, so we have decidod
to devote an entire page to verses written
by those who express their interest in
verse.
John Herman of tract 45, a veteran of
the World War, put these thoughts to paper
on:
ARMISITICE DAY
Listen, fellows, can’t you see...
I’d rather not sit in the light.
No, nothing, please, not even one drink;
I’m staying sober tonight.
It’s seventeen years and past
Since that night in the Argonne hell...
iiy buddy walked beside me,
And that was the night he fell.
No, not a thing.,.I told you that,
And I feel I’m doing right.
I’ll be going home very shortly,
And I’m staying sober tonight.
My brain burns with the memory
Of his last weak-whispered prayer,
^s I sat beside him and held his head,
’Neath the star shells flickering glare.
I’d like a drink, and I’d like to join
Your little party so bright,
But somehow today recalls my buddy
And I’m staying sober tonight.
Maybe you, too, had pals go down,
Their lives closed with war’s red seals.
Maybe they died like my buddy died,
And are sleeping in Flanders fields,
30..good night boys, I hate to leave,
But you see I’m doing right.
•Bod.’ This rain,...I need a drink,,.
But I’m staying sober tonight.
J. G. Miller, Engineer with the survey
crew' of the Alaska Road Commission, evi
dently sees political interference as the
only shadow over the bright future of the
new settlers in the valley and expresses
it in:
A COLONIST’S FRAYER
Lord...if you have time to spare...
please look upon humble me.
Do grant me a little share
From your great generosity.
Give me, in this valley wide,
Some place to call my own,
And there let me reside
In a place I can call my ’’Home ’”
Give me strength to work and toil,..
From year unto year;
Let me reap from this rich soil
A living,,.full of cheer.
But let not politicians arrive,
To cause me doubt and pain;
lust let me in peace reside,
Outside of their domain,
O -vji - 0
Another surveyor, Olaf Haivorsen, who
helped cut the valley up into forty acre
tracts, also versifies his thoughts about:
THE MATAMJSKA VALLEY
In Alaska far away,
The"M~tanuska still holds sway.
Far and vide on either side
The fertile lands are stretching wide.
Here has come a colonial band,
To till the soil,.subdue the land
From far away, across the foam,
They have come to build a home.
The land of forty acre tracts
Must be surveyed to meet contracts,
And so with level, rod and chain,
Tie survey out the last U. S. domain.
A tented city over night,
Has sprung within our very sight.
Like Pilgrims of an earlier day,
A church war built without delay.
The first trip lit Sunday’s text
Was Atraham’s 3all to the distant west,
And the forest falls beneath the sway
Cf 1 ielded axe throughout the day.
Flowers grow on every hand
Throughout this charming northern land.
Currents wild and cranberries high,
Are found in roods by roadside nigh.
The mountain stream with trout abound,
And in their season the salmon found
Large moose, wild bear and caribou,
May sometimes come within their view.
And still the north holds out its lore
Of Future gold land to explore.
So here’s a hand to the happy ones,
Who have settled down to see it won.
May the years that come and go
Reap a bounteous harvest from seeds you sew
That a future empire may he built
By hardy men who will not wilt.
Alaska’ A salute to the northern land,
That has found a home for this colonial
band,
This looks like a good place to run a
couple of verses submitted by Mrs, Finer
Huseby of Tract #34.
I will start anew this morning with a
higher, fairer creed;
I will cease to stand complaining of my
ruthless neighbor’s greed;
I will cease to sit repining while my
duty’s call is clear;
I will waste no moment whining, and my
heart shall know no fear.
I will not be swayed by envy when my
rival’s strength is shown;
j v;ili not deny his merit, hut I’ll strive
to prove my own.
I will try to sep the beauty spread, before
me, rain or shine;
I will cease to preach your duty, and he
more concerned with mine.