The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-09-06


in the above sketch from the Transcript;
THE OLD oAKEN BUCKET.
How dear to this heart are the scenes of my
childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to vewl
The orchard, the meadow, the deel tangled
wildwood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew;
The wide. spreading pond, and the mill which
stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract
fell;
The cot of my father, the dairy house nigh it,
And cen the rude bucket which hung in the
WE'LL
The old oaken bucket, the iron bound bucket
The moss covered bucket, which hung in the
WE'LL
That moss-covered vessel hail as tresure
For often, at noon, when returned from the
field
found it the source of exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that Nature yield.
How ardent seized it, with hands that were
glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;
Then soon, with the emblem of truth over
flowing
And dripping with GOODNESS, it rose from the
well;
The old oaken bucket, the inbound buckle
The moss-covered bucket, arose from the WE'LL
How sweet from the green messy brim to re-
ceiye it,
As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!i
Not full blushing goblet could tempt me to
leave it,
Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips.
And now, far removed from the loved situa-
ton,
The tear of regret will iutrusively swell,
As fancy reverts to my fathers plantation,
And signs for the bucket which hangs in the
well;
The old oaken bucket, the iron. bound bucket,
The moss. covered bucket, which hangs in the
well!
School girls and school boys now
vergiug close on to three score years
with pleasurable feelings re-read this
poem, which WAS the favorite in the
reading books of their day and genera
ton, as pupils of the "district school"
The "Old Oaken Bucket was the Sc
lection frequently made for recitation,
or for "reading in concert" and the re-
frain,
9TH. old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket.
| The noss-cOyered bucket which hung in the WE'LL"
was repeated with the fervor peculiar
to youth In the expression of its liter
airy preferences, which are apt to be
we'll dashed with sentiment or patriot
sm,-to the lasting credit be this said
of the boys and girls of the generations
which built and maintained "the little
red school house."
Is anything so good, from a literary
point of view, produced in these timesf
Do the ways and customs of the times
favor the development of the lively
fancy, pure sentiment and vivid liter
airy expression of "The Old Oaker
Buckel?" Aren't the best things in
the magazines insufferably dry, dull
and stupid in comparison? Is there
anything in water elected from al
aqueduct pipe, through a faucet, tina
could suggest the poetry of the wei
with its sweep and the bucket which
"quick to the white. pebbled bottom
FELL"
"Then soou, with the emblem of truth overlooking
And dripping with GOODNESS, rose from the wen'?
This picture of GOODNESS and It'll
sound of dripping waters temper thu
heat and refresh droughty humanity il
these burning August days. In its ev
cry fancy, scene and expression, 9Th,
Old Oaken Bucket" appeals irresistabl,
to the heart of the coun ry born an,
. bred youth of a former generation
! Such the writer of the poem had been
and, as in many other similar instances
, in the circumstance that he was
} gifted poet OF nature the power and en-
' durance of his work lies.