INTRODUCTORY.' IT 



I have seen him on trees chopping, that was four feet through ; 



All aloue, coat, vest, and liat off, no matter how hard the wind blew. 



And this, too, after he had got to be quite old. 



I never heard him say, I cannot go to the woods to-day, it is too 



cold. 

 Day after day to the woods to chop he would go, 

 And his hair had got to be now as white as the snow. 



And at night he would by this old fireplace sit down, 

 "With his children help form a half circle around. 

 First there must be a big back-log put on, 

 And that too he almost invariably done. 



I have thought what fools on this earth some folks must be ; 



Such a man as that his worth they cannot see. ' 



He would work early and late, and it was not for gold ; 



He would suffer himself to feed and shelter others from the cold 



My poor father passed away many years ago. 



Whether he will be rewarded in the next life I do not know. 



I would as lief take his chance as any man I ever see. 



To be a better man than he was I can't see how it could be. 



The course he took, it always seemed right to me ; 

 And never in life did he and I ever disagree. 

 We did business together for a very long time ; 

 A more honorable, honest man no man can find. 



To forget my father, that will be impossible to be. 

 His life must always be stamped indelible with me; 

 And after I pass from this life, if him I do not see, 

 In the next life, heaven will be no heaven to me. 



When I was a small boy, to help my father I would try; 

 I would make him some ax-helves, them he all had to buy, 

 I made a lot, put them up garret in a barrel to dry ; 

 There is no telling what a boy can do if he \vill try. 



My father used up many ax-helves, you must know; 

 There was many ways they would give, and sometimes by a misblow. 

 This stock of ax- helves I did not show him or have them around; 

 They were not dry yet, in a short time them I see he had found. 



