This is Throwback Thursday #308. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to  esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks!  email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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This poem appeared in the February 1963 edition of the ESCONI newsletter. It seems to originated with “Agate Pete”, which was a feature in the newsletter of El Paso Mineral and Gem Society. They are still alive and kicking… since 1947, which is 2 years before the founding of ESCONI. Unfortunately, no mention of their newsletter, Harry Zollars, or “Agate Pete” on the website.

This message is clear… Help out your fellow club members, but remember to return the help in kind!

“OH! DO THIS ROCK FOR ME”.

I bought myself a diamond saw
And Boy! Was it a honey!
I figured long and late and hard
Before I spent the money.
But now it’s worn, the blade is dull-
I think I was a bit too free-
Too oft I yielded when they said
“Oh! Slab this rock for me.”

I bought an arbor, “doubled barrelled”,
With bearings made of balls
And each time I view it now
A tear-drop forms and falls.
The wheels are worn down to the hubs
And now I clearly see
The grit was spent for those who said
“Oh! Grind this rock for me.”

I made a lap and was I proud
to see it smoothly run?
I visioned bookends nicely made
And hours of Rockhound fun.
But now it rattles, the disc is thin,
And sorrowfully I see
Too oft I heard that old appeal
“Oh! Lap this rock for me.”

To those who’ve never spent a dime
For saws or wheels or laps,
A word from one who’s suffered long
May do some good, (perhaps).
Those whirling things cost lots of dough
So ere you make your plea T
hink of the cost your friend incurs
To Shape those rocks for thee.

from “THE AGATE PETE -STORIES AND POEMS” via Evansville
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