Journeys Through Bookland, Volume 7 | Page 4

weet, Wi' spreckled[8-3] breast, When
upward springing, blithe, to greet The purpling east.
Cauld blew the bitter biting north Upon thy early, humble birth; Yet
cheerfully thou glinted forth Amid the storm, Scarce reared above the
parent earth Thy tender form.
[Illustration: THOU BONNY GEM]
The flaunting flowers our gardens yield, High sheltering woods and
wa's maun shield. But thou beneath the random bield[9-4] O' clod or
stane, Adorns the histie[9-5] stibble-field, Unseen, alane.
There, in thy scanty mantle clad, Thy snawie bosom sunward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head In humble guise; But now the share
uptears thy bed, And low thou lies!
Such is the fate of artless maid, Sweet floweret of the rural shade! By
love's simplicity betrayed, And guileless trust, Till she, like thee, all

soiled, is laid Low i' the dust.
Such is the fate of simple bard, On life's rough ocean luckless starred!
Unskilful he to note the card Of prudent lore, Till billows rage, and
gales blow hard And whelm him o'er!
Such fate to suffering worth is given, Who long with wants and woes
has striven, By human pride or cunning driven To misery's brink, Till
wrenched of every stay but Heaven, He, ruined, sink!
Even thou who mourn'st the daisy's fate, That fate is thine,--no distant
date: Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives, elate, Full on thy bloom, Till
crushed beneath the furrow's weight, Shall be thy doom!
FOOTNOTES:
[8-1] Maun is the Scotch word for must.
[8-2] Stoure is the Scotch name for dust.
[8-3] Spreckled is the Scotch and provincial English form of speckled.
[9-4] Bield means shelter.
[9-5] Histie means dry or barren.

THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET[11-1]
By SAMUEL WOODWORTH
How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond[11-2]
recollection presents them to view; The orchard, the meadow, the deep,
tangled wild-wood, And every loved spot that my infancy[11-3] knew.
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill[11-4] that stood by it; The
bridge and the rock where the cataract fell; The cot of my father, the
dairy house[11-5] nigh it, And e'en the rude bucket which hung in the
well-- The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered

bucket which hung in the well.
That moss-covered bucket I hail as a treasure; For often at noon, when
returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it,
with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white-pebbled bottom
it fell[12-6]; Then soon with the emblem of truth[12-7] overflowing,
And dripping with coolness it rose from the well-- The old oaken
bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket arose from the
well.
[Illustration: INCLINED TO MY LIPS]
How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it, As poised on the
curb,[12-8] it inclined to my lips! Not a full blushing goblet[13-9]
could tempt me to leave it, Though filled with the nectar[13-10] that
Jupiter sips. And now, far removed from the loved situation,[13-11]
The tear of regret will oftentimes swell, As fancy returns to my father's
plantation, And sighs for the bucket which hangs in the well-- The old
oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, The moss-covered bucket which
hangs in the well.
If we compare The Old Oaken Bucket with The Daffodils (page 1), we
will see that the lines of the former are longer, and when we read aloud
a few lines from the one and compare the other, we see that the
movement is very different. In The Old Oaken Bucket the accents are
farther apart, and the result is to make the movement long and smooth,
like that of a swing with long ropes.
Let us examine more closely the lines of The Old Oaken Bucket in a
manner similar to that suggested on page 2, for The Daffodils. If we
place the accent on the proper syllables in the first four lines, they will
read as follows:
How dear´| to my heart´| are the scenes´| of my child´|hood, When
fond´| rec-ol-lec´|tion pre-sents´| them to view'; The or´|chard, the
mead´|ow, the deep´| tan-gled wild´|-wood, And ev´|'ry loved spot´| that
my in´|fan-cy knew.´

The vertical lines above are drawn at the ends of the feet. How many
feet are there in the first line; how many in the second; how many in
the third; how many in the fourth? How many syllables in the first foot
in the first line? How many other feet do you find containing the same
number of syllables? How many syllables are there in the second foot
in the first line? How many other feet are there containing the same
number of syllables? Examine the feet that contain three syllables. On
which syllable is the accent placed when there are three syllables in the
foot?