The Barefoot Boy Child, thy bed shall be Folded safe from harm-Love deep and kind 249 Thomas Westwood [1814?-1888] THE BAREFOOT BOY BLESSINGS on thee, little man, Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace; From my heart I give thee joy,— Prince thou art,-the grown-up man Let the million-dollared ride! Oh for boyhood's painless play, Where the whitest lilies blow, For, eschewing books and tasks, Oh for boyhood's time of June, Whispering at the garden wall, Talked with me from fall to fall; Mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond Mine the walnut slopes beyond, Mine, on bending orchard trees, Apples of Hesperides! Still as my horizon grew, Larger grew my riches too; Oh for festal dainties spread, The Heritage Pewter spoon and bowl of wood, On the door-stone, gray and rude! Cheerily, then, my little man, Shall the cool wind kiss the heat: Quick and treacherous sands of sin. Ere it passes, barefoot boy! 251 John Greenleaf Whittier [1807-1892] THE HERITAGE THE rich man's son inherits lands, And piles of brick and stone, and gold, And he inherits soft white hands, And tender flesh that fears the cold, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. The rich man's son inherits cares; The bank may break, the factory burn, A breath may burst his bubble shares, And soft white hands could hardly earn A living that would serve his turn; A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. The rich man's son inherits wants, His stomach craves for dainty fare; With sated heart, he hears the pants Of toiling hinds and brown arms bare, And wearies in his easy-chair; A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? A hardy frame, a hardier spirit, King of two hands, he does his part In every useful toil and art; A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? Wishes o'erjoyed with humble things, A rank adjudged by toil-won merit, Content that from employment springs, A heart that in his labor sings; A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? A patience learned of being poor, Courage, if sorrow come, to bear it, Letty's Globe A fellow-feeling that is sure To make the outcast bless his door; A king might wish to hold in fee. O rich man's son! there is a toil That with all others level stands; But only whiten, soft white hands; Worth being rich to hold in fee. O poor man's son! scorn not thy state; In merely being rich and great; A heritage, it seems to me, Worth being poor to hold in fee. Both, heirs to some six feet of sod, A heritage, it seems to me, Well worth a life to hold in fee. 253 James Russell Lowell [1819-1891] LETTY'S GLOBE OR SOME IRREGULARITIES IN A FIRST LESSON IN GEOGRAPHY WHEN Letty had scarce passed her third glad year, And her young artless words began to flow, One day we gave the child a colored sphere Of the wide Earth, that she might mark and know, By tint and outline, all its sea and land. She patted all the world; old Empires peeped |