The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1840-12-04
For The Spirit of the Age,
THE OLD PINE TREE,

Back of my fathers house by the h
Ona little green knoll that is seen there STILL
In the swamp, stood an old pine tree.
There the crow, and the hawk, and the eagle flew,
And the bnll.irog croaked and the cat.tai grew,
And the little wood-birds, dye see,
Would chirp Teach other with merry call,
As they swang in the wind on the weeds tall,
fine little company.
In the spring, when the winter had gone to the poles
And the flowers pccped up on the first bare knobs,
Still afraid orthc chilling rain;
When the farmer poughed his field for the seed
And the nocks, to the hills, their young would lead,
Away from the snowy plain;
From the winter school, and the lerule free,
The boys would flock to the old pine tree,
To lrolc and play again.
When the summer came, and the leaves were thick,
And their blood was Wild and warm, and quick,
The trainband company
With brake for plume, and wooden sword,
The wilds 9th mighty swamp explored,
With the pride OF re grande armc.'
With their hands full of stones and bricks broke in two
At their deadly fire how the ca-tals flew,
And the frogs and the birds would flee
Fore George what siege they had one time,
With a saucy old frog who lived in the slime
or lorlly pool at the south;
How he'd dodge of sight, till their hail had sped,
Then poke up, again, his great, green head,
the face ollhc cannons mouth
The bricks round his head went thud thud thul
Till the captain lispcd, all covered with bl--mud,
q" We Gamma tare down hh houth."
There, many nm hour Thanksgiving day,
When the ice was glare, the girls would stay,
To share in their glorious fun.
While the shouting boys, with their caps in hand,
Would chase them of from the ice to the land
Till the Governors meeting was done;
Till the grace was said, and the turkey carved
The hot pie cut, and the pudding sarped,
And the sauce too cold to run.
Oh how remember, sckly child,
Watched the freaks Of the troop so wild,
In a chair, by the window high,
As their merry shout and wild hurrah
Would echo among the hills afar;
And, on, with frightened eye,
The weary hours of pain passed,
Watching their SPORT till the moon, at last
Came up in the winter sky.
They are gone ali me those merry boys,
All gone from the scene Of their youthful joys,
Alas that it should be soj
Some have gone to the west to shake with the ague,
And some, to the south, to fight with that plague
Jack, yeiiow Jack, you know =
Ones made great spec in Missouri lead,
And one, they say, got broken head,
At the fall of Alamo.
And one has gone where the son winds blow,
Der the vine-clad hills of Val d. Arno,
With his wife aud children two,
And his cheek has gained the glow it lost
In the snowy North and the chilling frost.
Ones in Kalamazoo,-
And one, through the drifts Of North West snow
Tracks the wolfand the bear, and the buffalo,
With herd of wild Sioux.
And one, for the good of the Mountain State,
Wields the grey goose quill both early and late,
Not exactly the thing he was.
A man Of power, 1t would seem, and sage,
For he holds in his hand the fate Of "TnE AGg:r
Though, some folks say, without cause,
He's levellcr of the blacklist dye,
And wants to diride up property
And wears big horns and claws.
The swamp is dched where the leaves used to float
A Frcnchman has raised some vary fine oat,'
The frogs have all hoped Off
And the little green knoll, where the boys used play,
Through the spring, and the fall, and the winter day,
And the cares of manhood scot,
Is gougcd by fine little Berkshire brood;
And the old pine tree-by the great high road,
l. used for a watering trough.