Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/394

Rh I will plant cypress trees, I will.

And I will build a fence around,

And I will fertilize the ground

With tears enough to turn a mill."

She went and got a hired man.

She brought him forty miles from town,

And in the tall grass knelt down

And bade him build as she should plan.

But cruel cowboys with their bands

They saw and hurriedly they ran

And told a bearded cattle man

Somebody builded on his lands.

He took his rifle from the rack,

He girt himself in battle pelt.

He stuck two pistols in his belt,

And mounting on his horse's back,

He plunged ahead. But when they shewed

A woman fair, about his eyes

He pulled his hat, and he likewise

Pulled at his beard, and chewed and chewed.

At last he gat him down and spake:

"O lady, dear, what do you here?"

"I build a tomb unto my dear,

I plant sweet flowers for his sake."

The bearded man threw his two hands

Above his head, then brought them down

And cried, "O, I am William Brown,

And this the corner of my lands."

The preacher rode a spotted mare,

He galloped forty miles or more;

He said he never had before

Seen bride and bridegroom half so fair.

And all the Injuns they came down

And feasted as the night advanced,

And all the cowboys drank and danced,

And cried: "Big Injun! William Brown."