Ida Frickey + 

Nothing in life is alien to you: + 

I was a penniless girl from Summum + 

Who stepped from the morning train in Spoon River. + 

All the houses stood before me with closed doors + 

And drawn shades⁠—l was barred out; + 

I had no place or part in any of them. + 

And I walked past the old McNeely mansion, + 

A castle of stone ’mid walks and gardens + 

With workmen about the place on guard + 

And the County and State upholding it + 

For its lordly owner, full of pride. + 

I was so hungry I had a vision: + 

I saw a giant pair of scissors + 

Dip from the sky, like the beam of a dredge, + 

And cut the house in two like a curtain. + 

But at the “Commercial” I saw a man, + 

Who winked at me as I asked for work⁠— + 

It was Wash McNeely’s son. + 

He proved the link in the chain of title + 

To half my ownership of the mansion, + 

Through a breach of promise suit⁠—the scissors. + 

So, you see, the house, from the day I was born, + 

Was only waiting for me. + 