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MR. J. H. BARROWS OF BETHEL.

I USED to love the rocking chair, a rocking to and fro;
A lullaby to slumber, on the edges of the dark.
I used to have a notion that its oscillating motion
Was invented by old Noah, in the Ark.
But I've learned, with satisfaction, that is born of local pride,
That the rocking-chair was cradled up in Maine;
For its author's personality, is located with finality,
'Twas Barrows, as I hasten to explain.

Did I say that he invented the earliest rocking-chair?
Permit me!  Such a thing I'd not suggest,
For the slumb'rous "to and fro" must have started long ago,
On its mission for the toiling sons of rest.
But I want you all to know that for more than fifty years,
He has made 'em at an undiminished pace,
And has started up a stock, of the happy chairs that rock,
For the welfare and the comfort of the race.

Tho he's done a lot of other things that speak for humankind;
Tho he's labored for the "folks" for many a day;
Tho he's had a warlike mission as a sergeant, non-commission,
In the armies of the blue against the gray;
Tho he's filled the chairs of office in the ancient lodge that's blue;
Tho he's labored for the church with zeal and care,
I climax the aggregation of his well-earned reputation—
"He has built for us the perfect rocking-chair."