The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-06-15
The oId HARDWOOD Homo.

tHC OAd fFai WOSd ffStNSt
[By Sarah Harwood Hall, a great
granddaughter of Peter Harwoodl
In seventeen-hundred sixty-one,
The Harwoods came to Bennington;
They settled here upon this hill,
Resolved its fertile soil to TILL
They built their cabin in the wood,
OF great hewn logs so strong and
good,
And there beside their new hearth
stone,
Declared that this should be their
home.
Though plain their fare and raiment
too,
They ever here contentment knew,
Though rough the pathway that they
trod,
They'd freedom here to worship
God.
The hillside echoed to the stroke,
OF axe upon the sturdy oak,
And giant pine, and birch tree fair
And beech and maple standing there,
| The woodman felled them one by one
Until his weary work was done.
Where once the forest monarchs
stood,
Were fertile fields that looked so
good,
So fresh and green with grateful
cheer,
! To greet the hardy pioneer
Who in his cabin doorway stands,
And shades his eyes with calloused
hands
To view the change his hands had
wrought
Upon the acres he had bought.
And summers come and winters go,
The sunshine and the drifting snow,
Til one proud day the new home
stood,
All ready for his wife and brood
OF sturdy youngsters numbering five,
In this new home to live and thrive,
And master ere the day did wane.
In kitchen fireplace hung the crane
| And on 1t placed the several hooks
That needed we're by every cook.
They placed the wood with greatest
care
Upon the flre-dogs standing there,
Then put between the fire-dogs' feet
The cones and fragrant pine-knots
sweet.
With Goals from the old cabin home,
The blaze shot to the chimney dome.
Then water from the spring was
brought,
That flowed from under Shadow Rock
The mistress then the kettle took
To I'LL and hang upon the hook
To simmer, boil and bubble up
To make the tea. and fill the cup,
That cheers us at the close of day.
And drives our aches and cares
away.
The table then with cloth was spread
And on 1t placed were plates OF
bread,
With bowls of milk and pewter
spoons,
And crisp brown doughnuts like full
moons
The chairs then at the table place
And each one fills his wonted space,
And master then with reverence bent
To thank God for His blessings sent,
For wife so dear, and children fair,
For life. and health, and strength Il
bear
The heavy burdens that must come,
To those who fain would make a
, home
. In country new and strange.
Alacki How great change.
And grandma in her old arm chair,
She tells the children clustered there
About the famous ride she took
Through bosky dell and shady nook,
From Amherst many miles away,
To Bennington the other day,
And how the sturdy horse she rode
Was driven with an apple goad,
And how she planted it-so rare,
And watched and tended II with care
And saw It sprout, and grow anC
spread.
SO good with soil and rain twas fed
And how sometime when 1t wa'
grown,
II would bear fruit to cheer the home
How they with merry joke and quip,
Would roast the fruit from grandma
whip.
And how the amber juice some day
1t would not be so far away
4. Would simmer in the pewter mug,
On hearthstone by the blazing log.
All. years they come, and years the!
. go,
And grandma sleeps beneath tn,
= snow,
{ And master brave, and mistress fair