I ran across the following old poem, and thought I’d share:<\/p>\n
’twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer
\nThought it scarcely worth his while
\nTo waste much time on the old violin,
\nBut he held it up with a smile: <\/p>\n
“What am bidden, good folks?” he cried,
\n“Who’ll start the bidding for me?”
\n“A dollar! A dollar!” then “Two! Only two?”
\n“Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?” <\/p>\n
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice . . .
\nAnd going for three . . . ” but no.
\nFrom the room, far back, a gray-haired man
\nCame forward and picked up the bow. <\/p>\n
Then, wiping the dust from the the old violin,
\nAnd tightening the loosened strings,
\nHe played a melody pure and sweet,
\nAs a carolling angel sings. <\/p>\n
The music ceased, and the auctioneer
\nWith a voice that was quiet and low
\nSaid, “What am I bid for the old violin?”
\nAnd he held it up with the bow. <\/p>\n
“A thousand dollars! And who’ll make it two?
\n“Two thousand! Who’ll make it three?
\n“Three going once? Three going twice?
\n“And going . . . and gone!” said he. <\/p>\n
The people cheered but some of them cried,
\n“We do not understand!
\nWhat changed its worth?” — Swift came the reply,
\n“The touch of the Master’s Hand.” <\/p>\n
And many a man with life out of tune
\nAnd battered and scarred with sin
\nIs auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
\nMuch like the old violin. <\/p>\n
A “mess ‘o pottage”
\nA glass of wine
\nA game and he travels on.
\nHe’s “going” once
\nAnd “going” twice
\nAnd “going” . . . and almost “gone” <\/p>\n
Then along comes the Master, and the foolish crowd
\nNever can quite understand
\nThe worth of a soul or the change that’s wrought
\nBy the touch of the Master’s Hand.<\/p>\n
By Myra Ross Welch (1926)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I ran across the following old poem, and thought I’d share: ’twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer Thought it scarcely worth his while To waste much time on the old violin, But he held it up with a smile: “What am bidden, good folks?” he cried, “Who’ll start the bidding for me?” “A dollar! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,3,4],"tags":[20,18,21,19,124,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thealpertstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}