Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 190, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1914 — the ONLOOKER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

the ONLOOKER

HENRY HOWLAND

5

Oh, smiling; lady, your jewels flash, Your furs are rich and your eyes are bright. With a lavish hand you are spending cash. You know no want and your heart ,1s light; Tou look so glad and you seem so free From the cares that worrying people know That I wonder, seeing your ecstasy. Who was paying your bills a year ago. Perhaps he lingers alone somewhere. Or another may bring him gladness now; The lines that are drawn by the hand of Care May be deeply etched in his aching brow; Remorse may gnaw at his lonely heart, Or another may hear him whisper lowt But you, made up with consummate art— Who was paying your Mils a year ago? You do, not wall o’er the cost of things, Whatever yo&r fancy craves you take; Your hands are laden with flashing rings And your Angers never from tolling ache; V You give no thought to the ones who shrink Where a chill creeps In when the mad winds blow Your furs are soft and your cheeks are pink; Who was paying your bills a year ago? Oh, lady fair, in another year You may wonder how, in your careless pride You forgot to pause and declined to hear The helpless who In their sadness cried; You may sit alone where the light is dim And mourn* the fate that has brought you low,. As you think sometimes with a pang of him Who was paying your bills a year ago.