Up And Down Old Clark's Run.

Bright visions of childhood! How dear to the heart     Are the scenes which from memory can never depart!     Undimmed by the sorrows, the grief and the tears     Which have shadowed the pathway of life's later years,     They come like the rainbow which follows the storm--     On remembrance reflected with colors as warm--     And in dreams of delight they picture the fun     That we had long ago when we fished in Clark's Run!     With a can full of worms and a heart full of joy,     Up and down the old stream, a bare-footed boy,     A truant from school, my footsteps would stray     To the deep-shaded pool, or where ripples at play,     As they flowed over beds of smooth-polished stones,     Sang a lullaby sweet in soft undertones!     From the dawn of the day to the set of the sun     What pleasures we've had when we fished in Clark's Run!     Equipped with a pole, a hook and a line,     And stowed in some pocket a long piece of twine     On which you could string, if you seined for a week,     Every fish that was found up and down the old creek--     With one "gallus" to pants that were rolled to the knee,     And holes in our hats through which you could see     Where the sunbeams had turned the light hair to dun--     We hied us away to the banks of Clark's Run!     There we baited the hook and threw out the line,     And watched the cork disappear with a rapture divine!     And felt just as proud as a prince or a king     When we landed high up, with a jerk and a swing,     A fish that would measure two inches or more,     Then anchored him fast with the string to the shore!     But unnumbered now are the silver strands spun     With the hair of the head since we fished in Clark's Run!     O who can there be with a heart in his breast     Would forget the dear scenes which so lovingly rest     In the bosom when life has grown old and cold,     And feel no delight when such pictures unfold,     And would blot out forever from memory's page     The records of childhood which solace old age?     'Till time ends for me and with life I have done,     I'll dream of the days when we fished in Clark's Run!