Excerpt from Dusty Lyrics In the days when the Lowly Nazarene was on earth, many people wondered at the marvelous things that some of His followers said and did, Seeing that they were unlearned and ignorant men. The author of this book of poems is of that class. His schooling consisted of two or three months each winter in a dis triet school until he was fourteen years old. He was the fourth in a family of nine boys, and the father died when six of these were minors, leaving the mother with a wonderful care and responsibility. How loving ly and tenderly the mother-love impressed this father less lad is told in many of the verses. Shortly after the death of his father the wander lust took hold upon him. Then, in poor health, and practically penniless, he went from home, and for a few years was cast among the rougher element in society. His reclamation from this life; his happy marriage, and unselfish devotion to an invalid wife, prove true what the writer of this introduction has often observed: That a youth, or young man, may spurn the counsel of a father; forget the companion ship of a brother, or the affection of a sister; but he never strays so far, or sinks so low that a mother's love may not reach and reclaim him. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.