324 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



"My babe so beautiful ! it thrills my heart 

 With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, 

 And think that thou shalt learn far other lore 

 And in far other scenes ! For I was reared 

 In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim, 

 And saw naught lovely but the sky and stars. 

 But thou, my babe ! shalt wander like a breeze 

 By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags 

 Of ancient mountains, and beneath the clouds, 

 Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores 

 And mountain crags. So shalt thou see and hear 

 The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible 

 Of that eternal language which thy God 

 Utters, who from eternity doth teach 

 Himself in all, and all things in himself. 

 Great universal Teacher! he shall mold 

 Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.' 



Things that are really quite expensive luxuries in the 

 city genuine, rich cream, for example are commonly 

 every-day affairs in the country. Any one who has 

 eaten strawberries from a cut-glass dish in the city, 

 even with the best of cream, and then at another time 

 has plucked them himself from the vines, fresh and 

 sweet and juicy, and had the cream and sugar of the 

 country with them, will not hesitate to say which is the 

 more delightful, which the more natural to the taste. 

 Even in a railroad dining car, when skimming across 

 the country meadows, I have eaten corn on the cob 

 which, notwithstanding its silver handles, many a 

 farmer would have been ashamed to have on his table, 

 much less to offer to a guest. 



What a long succession of pleasurable delicacies 

 is to be had in the country throughout the year: begin- 

 ning with maple syrup and sugar, then the garden and 

 the early strawberries and raspberries, wild blackberries, 



