A Farmer's Prayer Amidst Economic Ruin
A poem penned in Seattle during the difficult economic climate of 1891, reflecting on the loss of a farm and the indignity of a wealthy neighbor's hollow piety.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Yes, a dreadful run of luck, I know, we've both but lately had, but that's not a speck of reason we should go straight to the bad. 'There's Thomas Jones, he's busted,' all the neighbors frankly say, but, dear Tom, don't say bad words—let's both git down and pray. And the hardest part, I 'low, for both of us to swaller is the sight of that old hypocrite with heart so hard and holler; I hear him say, 'God's will be done, my dearest Christian friend; Your farm 'll have to go—I've no more time to spend.' Then rolled his one eye piously and strode away to meetin', with honeyed words and sickly cant the younger sisters greetin'—left us to fight Despair and Doubt throughout the live-long day; but, dear heart, don't say bad words—let's jist kneel down and pray. The Father knows the farm has gone, and all the other trouble—knows the critters, too, are sold—all gone up like a bubble; But He's bound to give us food and clothes, for don't the Scripters say He plenty has in store for us, if we but kneel and pray? So, Father, take us by the hand, we're only two old folks; we've seed a sight of trouble, and we've done with crackin' jokes; we want a quiet shelter for jist a few more days. Then we'll jine the heavenly chorus and forever sing Thy praise.
“The Father knows the farm has gone, and all the other trouble—knows the critters, too, are sold—all gone up like a bubble.”
This 1891 poem captures the raw anxiety of foreclosure and the divide between wealthy landowners and struggling neighbors, a dynamic that remains a central tension in Seattle's housing discourse today. It highlights how economic 'busts' hit the most vulnerable, leaving them to navigate institutional indifference.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.