The House by the Side of the Rode

 

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn

In the place of their self-content;

There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,

In a fellow-less firmament;

There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths

Where highways never ran;

But let me live by the side of the road

And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

Where the race of men go by;

The men who are good and the men who are bad,

As good and as bad as I.

I would not sit in the scorners seat,

Or hurl the cynic's ban;

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,

By the side of the highway of life;

The men who press with the arbor of hope,

The men who are faint with the strife.

But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears,

Both part of an infinite plan;

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladden meadows ahead

And mountains of wearisome height;

That the road passes on through the long afternoon

And stretches away to the night.

But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,

And weep with the strangers that moan,

Nor live in my house by the side of the road

Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road;

It's here the race of men go by.

They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong.

Wise, foolish – so am I;

Then why would I seat in the scorners seat,

Or hurl the cynic's ban?

Let me live in my house by the side of the road

and be a friend to man.

Sam Walter Foss

1858 - 1911

The Spider and the Fly

 

“Will you walk into my parlor?” said the spider to the fly;

“’Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy.

The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,

And I have many pretty things to show when you are there.”

“O no, no,” said the little fly, “to ask me is in vain,

For who goes up your winding stair can ne’er come down again.”

“I’m sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;

Will you rest upon my little bed?” said the spider to the fly.

“There are pretty curtains drawn around, the sheets are fine and thin,

And if you’d like to rest awhile, I’ll snugly tuck you in.”

“O no, no,” said the little fly, “For I have often heard it said,

They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed.”

Said the cunning spider to the fly, “Dear friend, what shall I do,

To prove the warm affection I’ve always felt for you?

I have within my pantry good store of all that’s nice;

I’m sure you’re very welcome; will you please come take a slice?”

“O no, no,” said the little fly, “kind sir, that cannot be;

For I’ve heard what’s in your pantry, and I do not wish to see.”

“Sweet creature!” said the spider, “You’re witty and you’re wise,

How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!

I have a little looking glass upon my parlor shelf,

If you’ll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself.”

I thank you gentle sir,” she said, “for what you’re pleased to say,

And bidding you good morning now, I’ll call another day.”

The spider turn him round about, and went into his den,

For well he knew the silly fly would soon be back again:

So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,

And he set his table ready, to dine upon the fly.

Then out his door he came again, and merrily did sing,

“Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing;

Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead.”

Alas, alas! How very soon this silly little fly,

Hearing his wily flattering words, came slowly flitting by,

With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,

Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;

Thinking only of her crested head Poor foolish thing at last,

Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast,

He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,

Within his little parlor but she ne’er came out again!

And now, dear little children, who may this story read,

To idle silly, flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed;

Unto an evil counselor, close heart, and ear, and eye,

And take a lesson from this tale

Of the spider and the fly.

                                               Mary Howitt, 

Chicken Little

 

Narrator:   Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head.  It scared her so much she trembled all over.  She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out.

Chicken Little:   "Help! Help!  The sky is falling!  I have to go tell the king!"

Narrator:   So she ran in great fright to tell the king.  Along the way she met Henny Penny.

Henny Penny:  "Where are you going, Chicken Little?"

Chicken Little:   "Oh, help!  The sky is falling!"

Henny Penny:   "How do you know?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Henny Penny:  "This is terrible, just terrible!  We'd better hurry up."

Narrator:  So they both ran away as fast as they could.  Soon they met Ducky Lucky.

Ducky Lucky:   "Where are you going, Chicken Little and Henny Penny?"

Chicken Little & Henny Penny:  "The sky is falling!  The sky is falling!  We're going to tell the king!"

Ducky Lucky:  "How do you know?"

Chicken Little:  "I saw it with my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head."

Ducky Lucky:   "Oh dear, oh dear!  We'd better run!"

Narrator:   So they all ran down the road as fast as they could.  Soon they met Goosey Loosey walking down the roadside.

Goosey Loosey    "Hello there.  Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

Chicken Little:   "We're running for our lives!"

Henny Penny:  "The sky is falling!"

Ducky Lucky:   "And we're running to tell the king!"

Goosey Loosey:  "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:  "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Goosey Loosey:    "Goodness!  Then I'd better run with you."

Narrator:   And they all ran in great fright across a field.  Before long they met Turkey Lurkey strutting back and forth..

Turkey Lurkey:    "Hello there, Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Loosey.  Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

Chicken Little:   "Help!  Help!"

Henny Penny:   "We're running for our lives!"

Ducky Lucky:   "The sky is falling!"

Goosey Loosey:   "And we're running to tell the king!"

Turkey Lurkey:   "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Turkey Lurkey:   "Oh dear! I always suspected the sky would fall someday.  I'd better run with you."

Narrator:   So they ran with all their might, until they met Foxy Loxy.

Foxy Loxy:   "Well, well.  Where are you rushing on such a fine day?"

Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, Turkey Lurkey (together)   "Help!  Help!"  It's not a fine day at all.  The sky is falling, and we're running to tell the king!"

Foxy Loxy:   "How do you know the sky is falling?"

Chicken Little:   "I saw it with  my own eyes, and heard it with my own ears, and part of it fell on my head!"

Foxy Loxy:    "I see.  Well then, follow me, and I'll show you the way to the king."

Narrator:    So Foxy Loxy led Chicken Little, Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey across a field and through the woods.  He led them straight to his den, and they never saw the king to tell him that  the sky is falling.

 

August 31^st 2007

Dear Editor,

You know I hate to be a nay-sayer, because I hate nay-sayers. But in response to the article dated Thursday, August 23^rd All Aboard, and Friday, August 24^th, Word on the Street, in reference to the idea of introducing passenger rail service as a viable solution to the crowded highways and freeways forgets that the highways and freeways were the very element that put an end to passenger rail service in the first place. (How quickly we forget).

If you put a little thought into a few of the facts, you may find that the people doing these studies and selling you on the idea of rail service may in fact be selling good ole fashion snake oil.

First of all, I am not a slave to the internal combustion engine and the oil companies. I happen to like the little internal combustion engine that runs my Buick, and I like my Buick, which I would point out, is my slave, and takes me from inside my home, (garage) to most anywhere I would like to go. Most anywhere! Something a train simply cannot do. Nor do I feel like I am held hostage by the oil companies, (which I own, via stocks). Quite the contrary, I feel I am held hostage by my own government who won’t let my brothers in the oil companies build new refineries, or drill holes in Alaska or the Gulf of Mexico so they can better bring me the products I desire, namely fuel for my Buick at a reasonable cost! So right off I reject your premise completely.

Let us examine a simple fact that no one selling rail-systems is going to point out, that a railway system is empty space most of the time. Think about it??? It’s that simple, a rail system is empty space most of the time. That is to say that at any given time, there are no cars on any given stretch of track, whereas on the freeway, empty space is at a premium. Empty space doesn’t move anything; you have to occupy the space to make use of it.

Now let us look at a few numbers:

If we take a twenty mile stretch of track (let say Clear Lake to Galveston), and we run a 4 car commuter, lets say with 100 passengers per car and run it three times in an hour and it operates at full capacity, you have moved 1200 persons 20 miles from station to station, with the transportation to and from the stations left up to the passenger. You have now made the government responsible for the right-of-way, the rail, the railcars (engines), providing fuel, operators, maintenance and cost of insurance. That is to say you have made me, the taxpayer responsible for all these cost. Now if you have an engine break down, which never happens of course, you have lost 33% of your capacity, or the ability to move 400 passengers, and if it breaks down in route, you have shut down it’s entire capacity. And let us not forget, the track, between runs, for twenty minutes, is nothing more than empty space.

Now let us consider that same twenty mile stretch, but we move over to I-45, Now bear with me here: If your average car is 16’ long and you provide 6 car lengths between cars at 60 mph, then you have 112’ per car, over a distance of 1-mile (5280’) you have room for 47.2 cars per mile per lane, times three lanes, that’s 141.6 cars per mile, now don’t forget, we have a 20 mile commute so there is room for 2832 cars over the 20 mile stretch of commuted road, times lets say 1.5 passenger per automobile, that comes to 4248 commuters, but because it continues to flow, we cycle that stretch 3 times in an hour which brings your auto count up to 8496 and your commuter count up to 12,744 per hour. But least we over look the fact that I-45 flows in two different direction at the same time, which means it has the ability to move another 12,744 commuters in the same hour going the opposite direction, thus we have double duty from the same corridor. You also can go directly from your home to your destination without changing vehicles. You have shifted the cost of the vehicle, the fuel, the operator, maintenance and insurance to the user, and not to me the taxpayer, lowering my cost, increasing my convenience as well as the capacity of the overall system. And if a car breaks down you have lost .00011% of you capacity or the ability to move 1.5 commuters. And God forbid, should there be an accident in route, traffic slows and goes around it, and when you slow, you increase capacity per mile because you reduce the amount of empty space, thus your ability to move commuters for the most part remains static.

My question is, what the h’ ell did they (Houston-Galveston Area Council) do with that $600,000 dollars they spent on the study? Just what the h‘ ell did they study? If this was truly a viable solution, I promise you the private sector would already be doing it. (Union Pacific already owns the corridor, the rail and has locomotives; all they need are passenger cars)???

Now if you want to talk mass transit, you just look anywhere you want in the world, and nobody moves people like the American Freeway, highway, byway, local road, street, avenue and drive system that our fathers put in place, for I can go from inside my house to most anywhere in the country (and Canada), and not have to walk any more that a couple of hundred feet when I get there. So be careful what you wish for, you may get it, and you will pay for it. So quit looking at what’s on the other fellow’s plate, and look at your own, it’s full, enjoy it and beware of snake oil salesman for they have the uncanny ability to make sh’ it, sound just like shine-ola.

George Henry Nichols