The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-10
lES{s from whittiers New volans.l
8 rAmong the Hills."
| look

Across the Apse Of half q century
And call to iflnd old homesteads, where no howe
Told that ttE spring had come, put evii weeds,
Nightshade, Snd rough-ieavea puroock Ia tne piac
Offbe sv &c adoorway greeting Of the rose
And honeyfAs kle, where the house walls seemed
Blistering 10 Sun, without tree or vine
To cast the Hemulous shadow of its leaves
Across the cSrtainless windows from whose pane
Fluttered ttf signal rags Of shiftlessness;
Within, es3uttered Kitchen floor, unwashed
(Broom-cleN, l think they called il y the bes
ROOM
Sitting wit1bellsr damp, shut from the air
In hot midi $mmer bookless, pictureless
Save the In. titable sampler hung
Over the 6 = place, or q mourning piece,
A green-bS led woman, peony-cheeked, beneath
ImpossibleSt FLOWS; the wide.throated hearth
Bristling w}!b faded pine. boughs hslf.concealing
= The piled-Y rubbish at the chmney's back;
And, in ss4 teeping with all things about them,
ehril, que, eous women, sour and sullen men,
Untidy, lotfsess, old before their time,
With scarcS human interest save their own
Northumberland of small economies,
Or the pooC sandal Of the neighborhood:
Blind to th ~ beauty everywhere revealed,
Treadng Df May. flowers with regardless feet;
For them to song-sparrow and the bokolink
Sang not, ~ winds made music In the leaves;
For them Twain 0ctober's holocaust
Burned, gosl aud crimson, over all the hills,
The sacrap1&ntal mystery of the woods.
Church god b, fearful Of the unseen powers,
But grumtSag over pulpit tax and pew-rent,
Saving, asS$rewd economists, their souls
And wintey pork with the least possible outlay
OF salt and sanctity; In daily life
Showing sEettle actual compensation
OF Christi9 character and love and duty,
As II the sfgnon on the mount had been
Outdated " q last years almanac;
Rich in bro&d woodlands and half-tilled fields,
And yet 30 finched and bare and comfortless,
The veriestSuaggler limping In his rounds,
The sun ab&air his sole Inheritance,
Laughed sSA poverty that paid his taxes
And huggcxits rags IN self.complacency
Not such s.&old be the homesteads of land
Where whtbo wisely Wills and acts may dwell
As king ar Claw iver In broad-acred state,
With benny art. taste, culture, books to make
His hour oSeisure richer than a life
OF four. sc 1t TO the barons OF old time,
Our yeomf should be equal to his home
Set In the Sh green valleys, purple walled;
A man TO Estch his mountains, not to creep,
Dwarfed af& abased, below them. l would fain
In this ligb ,lHay (of which must needs own
With the bs3te- grinder OF whom Canning sings,
"Story, g 4bless you have none to tell you ~
Invite the Nc to see and the heart to feel
The beauts ~ nd the joy within their reach
Home, ana {ome love, and the beautitudes
OF nature44ee to all. HAPPY in years
That waitSy take the places of our own,
Heard VIII some breezy balcony looks down.
On happy mes. or where the lake in the moon
Sleeps drtAning OF the mountains, fair as Ruth,
In the old debrew pastoral, at the feet
OF Boaz, Sen this simple lay of mine
May seem43a burden of prophecy,
Finding tbdate fulhllment In change
Slow as useioak's growth, lifting manhood up
Through ls;3ader culture, finer manners, love,
And reyegYee to the level of the hills.