Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1873-08-01
$sIert portrp.
THE BAREFOOT Roy.
by JOHN q. WHITTIER.

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot Boy, with cheek oftan
With thy turncd-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes
With thy red lip, rcdder still
Kissed by Strawberries on the mill
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace
From my heart give thee joy
] was once II barefoot boy
Prince thou art-the grown up man
Only is republican.
Let the milion-dollared ride
Barefoot trudging ut his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye
Outward sunshine inward ioyi
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy
o for boyhood's painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctors rules,
knowledge never learned of schools,
OF the wild bees morning chase,
OF the wild-flowcr's time ana place,
Flight of fowl and 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 tho robin feeds her young,
How the orioles nest is hung;
Where the whitcst lilies blow,
Where the freshest berries grow,
Where the groundnut trails its vine,
Where the wood-grape's clusters shine;
OF the black wasp's cunning way,
Mason OF his walls of clay,
And the architectural plans
Of gray hornet artisans -
For eschewing books and tasks,
Nature answers all he asks
Hand in hand with her walks,
Face to face with her he talks,
Part and parcel of her joy.
Blessings on the barefoot boy
o for boyhood's time Of June,
Crowding years in one brief moon
When all things heard or saw
Me, their master, waited for.
| was rich in flowers and trees,
Iiummipg-bir 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 my delight
Through the day and through the night.
Whispered ut the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fall
Mine the sand-rimmcd pickered pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond,
Mine, on bending orchard trees,
Apples of Hcsperides
Still rs my horizon grew,
Larger grew nay riches too;
All the world saw or knew
Seemed a complex Chinese toy,
Fashioned for Il barefoot boy
o for the festal daintics spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread,
Pewter spoons and bowl of wood,
On the gray-stone, gray and rude.
O'er me, like Il regal tent,
Cloudy-rlbbcd, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold.
Looped in many Il wind-swung fold
While for music came the play
or 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 barefoot boy
Chccrily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh, as boyhOod can
Though the iiinty slopes be hard,
Stubble spcared the new w-mown sward,
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat!
All too soon these feet must hide
in the prison cells of pride,
Lose the freedom of the sod,
Like a colts for work be shod,
Made to tread the mills OF toll,
Up and down in cease!ess moil,
Happy If their track be found
Never on forbidden ground;
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treachcrOus sands of sin,
All that thou couldst know thy Joy,
Ere it passes, barefoot boy