Felix Schmidt

It was only a little house of two rooms -         Almost like a child's play-house -         With scarce five acres of ground around it;         And I had so many children to feed         And school and clothe, and a wife who was sick         From bearing children.         One day lawyer Whitney came along         And proved to me that Christian Dallman,         Who owned three thousand acres of land,         Had bought the eighty that adjoined me         In eighteen hundred and seventy-one         For eleven dollars, at a sale for taxes,         While my father lay in his mortal illness.         So the quarrel arose and I went to law.         But when we came to the proof,         A survey of the land showed clear as day         That Dallman's tax deed covered my ground         And my little house of two rooms.         It served me right for stirring him up.         I lost my case and lost my place.         I left the court room and went to work         As Christian Dallman's tenant.