54 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1900. 



READING BY MISS ARLINE HALL. 



FARMER JOHN'S DREAM. 



Farmer John was a curious man — 

 He didn't belong to the Grange. 

 I am sure you will all unite with me 



In thinking this very strange. 

 A bigoted, crabbed, stern, old chap, 



His life was hard and plain; 

 And beauty of field, or wood, or sky, 



Appealed to his heart in vain. 

 His wife was a woman deft and neat, 



With the ghost of a vanished grace 

 In the shining waves of her soft brown hair, 



In the lines of her wasted face. 

 Early and late she had toiled with him, 



Smothering many a sigh 

 As she saw the dream of a beautiful home 



Slip steadily, surely by. 

 There were clothes to wash, and floors to scrub, 



Aud all the butter to make ; 

 And Farmer John was a hearty man — 



She must cook for his stomach's sake. 

 There was no room for a flower bed. 



Pictures and books were " all bosh"; 

 He had a love for the raising of pigs, 



And knew a good turnip or squash. 

 And Farmer John was sure in his mind 



That if you differed with him 

 You were the biggest, dullest of fools, 



Or yours was a woman's whim. 

 A fair faced girl and a sturdy son 



Were drilled to their father's mind, 

 While the old red house stood bleak and bare, 



Unshaded by tree or blind. 

 " I can't spare the time for fol-de-rols — 



The house don't leak, and is light. 

 Good enough for me," said Farmer John, 



And he screwed up his lips so tight — 

 " Shade trees, and shrubbery, Fiddle-sticks ! 



Want ter celebrate Arbor Day? 

 You'll hev ter want; thar's the medder lot 



Ter be ploughed— No time for play ! " 

 But he saw tears in his good wife's eyes, 



And after the chores were done, 

 He fell to thinking before the fire — 



Queer thoughts for old Farmer John ! 



