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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."

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