Snow-Bound | Page 6

John Greenleaf Whittier
faith, in love agree,?And melt not in an acid sect?The Christian pearl of charity!
So days went on: a week had passed?Since the great world was heard from last.?The Almanac we studied o'er,?Read and reread our little store,?Of books and pamphlets, scarce a score;?One harmless novel, mostly hid?From younger eyes, a book forbid,?And poetry, (or good or bad,?A single book was all we had,)?Where Ellwood's meek, drab-skirted Muse,?A stranger to the heathen Nine,?Sang, with a somewhat nasal whine,?The wars of David and the Jews.
[Illustration]?At last the floundering carrier bore?The village paper to our door.?Lo! broadening outward as we read,?To warmer zones the horizon spread;?In panoramic length unrolled?We saw the marvels that it told.?Before us passed the painted Creeks,?And daft McGregor on his raids?In Costa Rica's everglades.?[Illustration]?And up Taygetos winding slow?Rode Ypsilanti's Mainote Greeks,?A Turk's head at each saddle-bow!?Welcome to us its week-old news,?Its corner for the rustic Muse,?Its monthly gauge of snow and rain,?Its record, mingling in a breath?The wedding knell and dirge of death;?Jest, anecdote, and love-lorn tale;?The latest culprit sent to jail;?Its hue and cry of stolen and lost,?Its vendue sales and goods at cost,?And traffic calling loud for gain.?We felt the stir of hall and street,?The pulse of life that round us beat;?The chill embargo of the snow?Was melted in the genial glow;?Wide swung again our ice-locked door,?And all the world was ours once more!
Clasp, Angel of the backward look?And folded wings of ashen gray?And voice of echoes far away,?The brazen covers of thy book;?The weird palimpsest old and vast,?Wherein thou hid'st the spectral past;?Where, closely mingling, pale and glow?The characters of joy and woe;?The monographs of outlived years,?Or smile-illumed or dim with tears,?Green hills of life that slope to death,?And haunts of home, whose vistaed trees?Shade off to mournful cypresses?With the white amaranths underneath.?Even while I look, I can but heed?The restless sands' incessant fall,?Importunate hours that hours succeed,?Each clamorous with its own sharp need,?And duty keeping pace with all.?Shut down and clasp the heavy lids;?I hear again the voice that bids?The dreamer leave his dream midway?For larger hopes and graver fears:?Life greatens in these later years,?The century's aloe flowers to-day!
Yet, haply, in some lull of life,?Some Truce of God which breaks its strife,?The worldling's eyes shall gather dew,?Dreaming in throngful city ways?Of winter joys his boyhood knew;?And dear and early friends--the few?Who yet remain--shall pause to view?These Flemish pictures of old days;?Sit with me by the homestead hearth,?And stretch the hands of memory forth?To warm them at the wood-fire's blaze!?And thanks untraced to lips unknown?Shall greet me like the odors blown?From unseen meadows newly mown,?Or lilies floating in some pond,?Wood-fringed, the wayside gaze beyond;?The traveller owns the grateful sense?Of sweetness near, he knows not whence,?And, pausing, takes with forehead bare?The benediction of the air.
[Illustration]
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Snow-Bound, by John Greenleaf Whittier
? END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SNOW-BOUND ***
? This file should be named 20226-8.txt or 20226-8.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
? http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/2/2/20226/
Produced by Louise Hope, David Newman, Chuck Greif and the?Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial?redistribution.
? START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE?PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 10
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.