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In blue heaven; an angel shape serene
Paused awhile to hear …
〃What good child is this;〃 the angel said;
〃That; with happy heart; beside her bed
Prays so lovingly?〃
Low and soft; oh! very low and soft;
Crooned the blackbird in the orchard croft;
〃Bell; dear Bell!〃 crooned he。
〃Whom God's creatures love;〃 the angel fair
Murmured; 〃God doth bless with angels' care;
Child; thy bed shall be
Folded safe from harm … Love deep and kind
Shall watch around and leave good gifts behind;
Little Bell; for thee!〃
Thomas Westwood '1814?…1888'
THE BAREFOOT BOY
Blessings on thee; little man;
Barefoot boy; with cheek of tan!
With thy turned…up pantaloons;
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip; redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face;
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy; …
I was once a barefoot boy!
Prince thou art; … the grown…up man
Only is republican。
Let the million…dollared ride!
Barefoot; trudging at his side;
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye; …
Outward sunshine; inward joy:
Blessings on thee; barefoot boy!
Oh for boyhood's painless play;
Sleep that wakes in laughing day;
Health that mocks the doctor's rules;
Knowledge never learned of schools;
Of the wild bee's morning chase;
Of the wild flower's time and place;
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;
How the tortoise bears his shell;
How the woodchuck digs his cell;
And the ground…mole sinks his well;
How the robin feeds her young;
How the oriole's nest is hung;
Where the whitest lilies blow;
Where the freshest berries grow;
Where the ground…nut trails its vine;
Where the wood…grape's clusters shine;
Of the black wasp's cunning way;
Mason of his walls of clay;
And the architectural plans
Of gray hornet artisans!
For; eschewing books and tasks;
Nature answers all he asks;
Hand in hand with her he walks;
Face to face with her he talks;
Part and parcel of her joy; …
Blessings on the barefoot boy!
Oh for boyhood's time of June;
Crowding years in one brief moon;
When all things I heard or saw;
Me; their master; waited for。
I was rich in flowers and trees;
Humming…birds and honey…bees;
For my sport the squirrel played;
Plied the snouted mole his spade;
For my taste the blackberry cone
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and through the night;
Whispering at the garden wall;
Talked with me from fall to fall;
Mine the sand…rimmed pickerel pond
Mine the walnut slopes beyond;
Mine; on bending orchard trees;
Apples of Hesperides!
Still as my horizon grew;
Larger grew my riches too;
All the world I saw or knew
Seemed a complex Chinese toy;
Fashioned for a barefoot boy!
Oh for festal dainties spread;
Like my bowl of milk and bread;
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood;
On the door…stone; gray and rude!
O'er me; like a regal tent;
Cloudy…ribbed; the sunset bent;
Purple…curtained; fringed with gold;
Looped in many a wind…swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs' orchestra;
And; to light the noisy choir;
Lit the fly his lamp of fire。
I was monarch: pomp and joy
Waited on the barefoot boy!
Cheerily; then; my little man;
Live and laugh; as boyhood can!
Though the flinty slopes be hard;
Stubble…speared the new…mown sward;
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat:
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride;
Lose the freedom of the sod;
Like a colt's for work be shod;
Made to tread the mills of toil;
Up and down in ceaseless moil:
Happy if their track be found
Never on forbidden ground;
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treacherous sands of sin。
Ah! that thou couldst know thy joy;
Ere it passes; barefoot boy!
John Greenleaf Whittier '1807…1892'
THE HERITAGE
Thee rich man's son inherits lands;
And piles of brick and stone; and gold;
And he inherits soft white hands;
And tender flesh that fears the cold;
Nor dares to wear a garment old;
A heritage; it seems to me;
One scarce would wish to hold in fee。
The rich man's son inherits cares;
The bank may break; the factory burn;
A breath may burst his bubble shares;
And soft white hands could hardly earn
A living that would serve his turn;
A heritage; it seems to me;
One scarce would wish to hold in fee。
The rich man's son inherits wants;
His stomach craves for dainty fare;
With sated heart; he hears the pants
Of toiling hinds with brown arms bare;
And wearies in his easy…chair;
A heritage; it seems to me;
One scarce would wish to hold in fee。
What doth the poor man's son inherit?
Stout muscles and a sinewy heart;
A hardy frame; a hardier spirit;
King of two hands; he does his part
In every useful toil and art;
A heritage; it seems to me;
A king might wish to hold in fee。
What doth the poor man's son inherit?
Wishes o'erjoyed with humble things;
A rank adjudged by toil…won merit;
Content that from employment springs;
A heart that in his labor sings;
A heritage; it seems to me;
A king might wish to hold in fee。
What doth the poor man's son inherit?
A patience learned of being poor;
Courage; if sorrow come; to bear it;
A fellow…feeling that is sure
To make the outcast bless his door;
A heritage; it seems to me;
A king might wish to hold in fee。
O rich man's son! there is a toil
That with all others level stands;
Large charity doth never soil;
But only whiten; soft white hands;
This is the best crop from thy lands;
A heritage; it seems to me;
Worth being rich to hold in fee。
O poor man's son! scorn not thy state;
There is worse weariness than thine;
In merely being rich and great;
Toil only gives the soul to shine;
And makes rest fragrant and benign;
A heritage; it seems to me;
Worth being poor to hold in fee。
Both; heirs to some six feet of sod;
Are equal in the earth at last;
Both; children of the same dear God;
Prove title to your heirship vast
By record of a well…filled past;
A heritage; it seems to me;
Well worth a life to hold in fee。
James Russell Lowell '1819…1891'
LETTY'S GLOBE
Or Some Irregularities In A First Lesson In Geography
When Letty had scarce passed her third glad year;
And her young artless words began to flow;
One day we gave the child a colored sphere
Of the wide Earth; that she might mark and know;
By tint and outline; all its sea and land。
She patted all the world; old Empires peeped
Between her baby fingers; her soft hand
Was welcome at all frontiers。 How she leaped;
And laughed and prattled in her world…wide bliss!
But when we turned her sweet unlearned eye
On our own Isle; she raised a joyous