Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-09-19
THE BAREFOOT BOY
BY JOHN G.. WH1TT1pp

Blessings on thee, little man!
barefoot boy, with cheek of TAM
with thy turned up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes
With thy red lip, redder still,
Kissed by straw berries on the hill
With the sunshine on thy face.
Through thy torn brim's iaunty praoo.
From my heart give thee ioy-
was once barefoot boy
Prince thou art-the grown uD man
Only his republican.
Let the million-dollared ride
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of eur and eve
Outward sunshine, inward ioy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!
Oh! for boyhood's painless play.
Sleep that wakes in laughing dav:
Health that mocks the doctors ruIes.
knowledge, never learned of schools.
VI the wild bees morning chase,
VI the wild Il. wer' time and place,
flight OF fowl aid habitude
of the tenants of the wood.
How the tortoise bears his shell
How the woodchuck digs his cell.
And the ground mole sinks his we'll.
How the robin feeds her YOUNG
How the orioles nest is hung:
Where the whitest lilies blow.
Where the freshest berries grow.
Where the ground-nut trails its vine.
Where the wood grapes clusters shine:
VI the black waSp's cunning way,
Mason of his walls of CLAY.
And the architectural plans
Of grey hornet artizans !
For, eschewing books and tasks,
Nature answers all he asks
Hand IN hand with her he walks,
Face to face with her he talks,
Part and parcel of her joy,-
blessings on thee barefoot boyI
Oh! for boyhood's time of June,
CroWding years in one brief moon.
When all things l heard or saw,
Me, their master, waited for.
| was rich in flowers and trees,
Humming birds and honey bees:
For my sport the squirrel played,
Piled the shouted mole his spade:
For my taste the blackberry cone
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for nv delight
Through the day and through The picbt
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fall:
Mine the sand-rimmed pickereI pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond,
Mine the bending orchard trees,
Apples of Hesperides
Still, as my horizon grew,
Larger grew my riches too;
All the world | saw or knew,
Seemed complex Chinese toy.
Fashioned for barefoot boy!
Oh! for festal daiutics spread,
Like my bowl Of milk and bread
Pewter spoons and bowl of wood.
On the door stone gray and ruGe!
Ger ME like a regal tent,
ClOUdy-ribbcd the sunset bent.
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold.
Looped i'll many wind-swung fold:
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs orchestra;
And, to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire
was monarch: pOmp and joy
Waited on the bare DOT boy!
Cheerily, then my little man,
Live and laugh as boyhood can,
Though the fiinty slopes be hard,
Stubble-speared the neW-mOwn STard.
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool winds kiss the heat;
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride
Lost the freedom of the sod,
Like colts for work beshod,
Made to tread the mills of toll,
Up and down in ceaseless moil-
Happy if their track be found
Never on forbidden ground
Happy f they sink not in
Quick and treachcrouS sands of sim
All! that thou cOuldst know the JOY,
Ere it passes, barefoot bow