Felix SchmidtIt was only a little house of two rooms—Almost like a child’s play-house—With scarce five acres of ground around it;And I had so many children to feedAnd school and clothe, and a wife who was sickFrom bearing children.One day lawyer Whitney came alongAnd proved to me that Christian Dallman,Who owned three thousand acres of land,Had bought the eighty that adjoined meIn eighteen hundred and seventy-oneFor eleven dollars, at a sale for taxes,While my father lay in his mortal illness.So the quarrel arose and I went to law.But when we came to the proof,A survey of the land showed clear as dayThat Dallman’s tax deed covered my groundAnd my little house of two rooms.It served me right for stirring him up.I lost my case and lost my place.I left the court room and went to workAs Christian Dallman’s tenant.
It was only a little house of two rooms—Almost like a child’s play-house—With scarce five acres of ground around it;And I had so many children to feedAnd school and clothe, and a wife who was sickFrom bearing children.One day lawyer Whitney came alongAnd proved to me that Christian Dallman,Who owned three thousand acres of land,Had bought the eighty that adjoined meIn eighteen hundred and seventy-oneFor eleven dollars, at a sale for taxes,While my father lay in his mortal illness.So the quarrel arose and I went to law.But when we came to the proof,A survey of the land showed clear as dayThat Dallman’s tax deed covered my groundAnd my little house of two rooms.It served me right for stirring him up.I lost my case and lost my place.I left the court room and went to workAs Christian Dallman’s tenant.