The Lay of the Band 
She, harvest done, to char work did aspire, 
Meat, drink, and twopence were her daily hire. 
And who has not known the same aspiration? has 
not had a longing for mere chores, and their ample 
compensation ? It is such a reasonable, restful, satis- 
fying aspiration! Harvest done! Done the work and 
worry of the day! Then the twilight, and the even- 
ing chores, and the soft closing of the door! At 
dawn we shall go forth again until the evening; 
but with a better spirit for our labor after the fine 
discipline of the morning chores. The day should 
start and stop in our own selves; labor should begin 
and come to an end in the responsibility of the whole- 
some, homely round of our own chores. 
Summer is gone, the harvest is done, and winter 
is passing on its swiftest days. So swift, indeed, are 
the days that morning and evening meet, bound up 
like a sheaf by the circle of the chores. For there is 
never an end to the chores; never a time when they 
are all done; never a day when the round of them 
is not to be done again. And herein lies more of 
their virtue as a winter cure. 
Life is not busier here than elsewhere; time is not 
swifter, but more enjoyable, because so much of life 
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