The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-07-21
THE BAREFOOT Boy.
Br joHs c. WHITTIER.

Blessings on thee, little mani
Barefoot boy with cheek Of tan!
With thy turned up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes
With thy red lip, redder still,
Kissed by strawberries on the hill
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brims jaunty grace,
From my heart give thee joy
was once a barefoot boy
Prince thou art-the grOwn.up man
Only is republican.
Let the milion.dollared ride
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy,
In the reach of car and eye
Outward sunshine, inward joy;
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!
Oh! for boyhood's painless play,
sleep that wakes in laughing day;
Health that inOcks the Doctors rules;
knowledge, never learned Of schools,
or the wild bees morning chase,
OF the wild flowers time and place,
Flight Of fowls, and habitude
or 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 nat trails its vine,
Where the wood.grapes cluster shine
or the black wasp's cunning way,
Mason OF his walls Of clay,
And the architectural plans
or grey hornet artizans:--
For, eschewing books and tasks
Nature answers all he asks
Hand in hand with all he walks,
Face to face with all he talks,
Part and parcel Of her joy
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!
Oh ! for hoyhood's time Of June.
Crowding years in one brief moon,
When all things heard or saw,
Ne, their master, waited for.
was rich in flowers and trees,
liumming birds and honey bees;
For my sport the squirrel played,
Piled the shouted mole his spade;
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and thro' the night,
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fail;
Mine the sand.rimmed pickercl pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond
Mine the bending orchard trees,
Apples Of Iiesperides
Still, as my horizon grew,
Larger grew my riches too;
Al the world | saw or knew,
Seemed a complex Chinese toy,
Fashioned for barefoot boy
Oh for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl Of milk aud bread -
Pewter spoons and bowl Of wood,
On the door.stone, 1ray and rude
Ger me like regal tent,
Cloudy ribbed the sunset bend,
Purpc.curtaincd, fringed with gold,
Looped in many wind.swung fold;
While for music came the play
OF the pied frogs orchestra;
ARG, % lign! thc NOISY chOH,
Lit the fy his lamp Of fire.
was monarch f; pomp and Joy
Waited on the barefoot boy
Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh as boyhood can
Though the ilinty slopes be hard,
Stubblc.speared the new-morn sward
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the COO, winds kiss the heat;
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of PRIDE
Lost the freedom Of the sod,
Like a colts for work beshod,
Made to tread the mills Of toll,
Up and down in ccaseleSs moll-
Happy iftheir track be found
Never on forbidden ground
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treachcrous sands OF sin.
All that thou couldst know the joy,
Ere it passes, barefoot boy