12 
ARBOR DA V MANUAL. 
THE DREAMER AND REAPER. 
[Extract from a poem read by Rev. Dr. James H. Ecob, of Albany, before the 
Society of the Alumni of Hamilton College on the 26th of June, 1889. The 
theme of the poem was suggested by the visit of Dr. Ecob to the home of his 
childhood, after an absence of many years.] 
M Y father loved a tree as men 
Are wont to love their kind; so, when 
He left the hot and hated life 
Of city streets and city strife, 
As flies the nesting bird, he flew. 
On eager wing, by instinct true, 
To build and rear his little brood, 
Deep in the wood’s green solitude. 
A young bird in the nest first lifts 
His wondering eyes thro’ sunny rifts 
Of happy leaves ; about his nest 
The russet arms are strongly pressed. 
The springing arches, high and dim, 
Are haunted by the whispered hymn 
Of summer winds, while far below 
The voices of the great world flow. 
So nested all my early years 
Among the trees. The wood enspheres 
My first, my fairest memories. 
And deep as life in Druid trees. 
Lie hidden founts of tears and love, 
That answer to the hymn above, 
Of softly stirring boughs and leaves. 
Bethesda-like, my soul receives ' 
New life and healing, quickening moods. 
When troubled by the angel of the woods. 
So slipped those lovely, shadowy years, 
As slips a wandering wind one hears 
Among the trees ; a sudden stir 
Of startled leaves ; upon the floor 
Of moss and flowers, a tangled sheen 
Of light and shade, and then, between 
Your breaths, ’tis gone. You hear its feet 
Retreating airily and fleet, 
And wonder if it e’er had been, 
Or if a gust of dreams broke in 
Upon the soul. 
I turned again, 
When I had been with time and men, 
