<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">The Little Home Paper</h1><p class="byline"> CHARLES HANSON TOWNE <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/><span class="smallcaps">IN The American Magazine</span><br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/> Permission to reproduce in this book</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The little home paper comes to me, </p><p class="line">As badly printed as it can be; </p><p class="line">It's ungrammatical, cheap, absurd--</p><p class="line">Yet, how I love each intimate word! </p><p class="line">For here am I in the teeming town, </p><p class="line">Where the sad, mad people rush up and down, </p><p class="line">And it's good to get back to the old lost place, </p><p class="line">And gossip and smile for a little space.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The weather is hot; the corn crop's good;</p><p class="line">They've had a picnic in Sheldon's Wood. </p><p class="line">And Aunt Maria was sick last week</p><p class="line">Ike Morrison's got a swollen cheek, </p><p class="line">And the Squire was hurt in a runaway--</p><p class="line">More shocked than bruised, I'm glad they say. </p><p class="line">Bert Wills--I used to play with him--</p><p class="line">Is working a farm with his Uncle Jim.</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">The Red Cross ladies gave a tea,</p><p class="line">And raised quite a bit. Old Sol MacPhee </p><p class="line">Has sold his house on Lincoln Road--</p><p class="line">He couldn't carry so big a load. </p><p class="line">The methodist minister's had a call </p><p class="line">From a wealthy parish near St. Paul. </p><p class="line">And old Herb Sweet is married at last--</p><p class="line">He was forty-two. How the years rush past!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">But here's an item that makes me see </p><p class="line">What a puzzling riddle life can be. </p><p class="line">"Ed Stokes", it reads, "was killed in France </p><p class="line">When the Allies made their last advance."</p><p class="line">Ed Stokes! That boy with the laughing eyes </p><p class="line">As blue as the early--summer skies! </p><p class="line">He wouldn't have killed a fly--and yet, </p><p class="line">Without a murmur, without a regret,</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">He left the peace of our little place, </p><p class="line">And went away with a light in his face; </p><p class="line">For out in the world was a job to do, </p><p class="line">And he wouldn't come home until it was through! </p><p class="line">Four thousand mires from our tiny town </p><p class="line">And its hardware store, this boy went down. </p><p class="line">Such a quiet lad, such a simple chap--</p><p class="line">But he's put East Dunkirk on the map!</p></div></body></html> · Great War