The Courtin'.

OD makes sech nights, all white an' still
Fur'z you can look or listen,
Moonshine an' snow on field an' hill,
All silence an' all glisten.

Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown,
An' peeked in thru' the winder,
An' there sot Huldy all alone,

'Ith no one nigh to hender.

A fireplace filled the room's one side
With half a cord o' wood in,—
There warn't no stoves (tell comfort died)
To bake ye to a puddin'.

The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out

Towards the pootiest, bless her!
An' leetle flames danced all about
The chiny on the dresser.

Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung,
An' in amongst 'em rusted

The ole queen's arm thet Gran'ther Young
Fetched back from Concord busted.

The very room, coz she was in,

Seemed warm from floor to ceilin',

An' she looked full ez rosy agin
Ez the apples she was peelin'.

THE COURTIN'.

"Twas kin' o' kingdom-come to look

On sech a blessed cre'tur', A dogrose blushin' to a brook

Ain't modester nor sweeter.

He was six foot o' man, A 1,

Clean grit an' human natur'; None couldn't quicker pitch a ton Nor dror a furrer straighter.

He'd sparked it with full twenty gals,

Hed squired 'em, danced 'em, druv 'em, Fust this one, an' then thet, by spells,All is, he couldn't love 'em.

But long o' her his veins 'ould run
All crinkly like curled maple,
The side she breshed felt full o' sun
Ez a south slope in Ap'il.

She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing
Ez his'n in the choir;

My! when he made Ole Hundred ring
She knowed the Lord was nigher.

An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer,
When her new meetin'-bunnet
Felt somehow thru' its crown a pair
O' blue eyes sot upon it.

Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some!

She seemed to've gut a new soul,

21.9

For she felt sartin-sure he'd come,
Down to her very shoe-sole.

She heered a foot, an' knowed it, tu,
A-raspin' on the scraper,-
All ways to once her feelin's flew
Like sparks in burnt-up paper.

He kin' o' l'itered on the mat,
Some doubtfle o' the sekle;

His heart kep' goin' pity-pat,

But her'n went pity Zekle.

An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk

Ez though she wished him furder, An' on her apples kep' to work, Parin' away like murder.

"You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?"

"Wal. no I come dasignin"".

"To see my Ma? She's sprinklin' clo'es Agin to-morrer's i'nin'.

To say why gals act so or so,
Or don't, 'ould be presumin';
Mebby to mean yes an' say no
Comes nateral to women.

He stood a spell on one foot fust,
Then stood a spell on t'other,
An' on which one he felt the wust

He couldn't ha' told ye, nuther.

1

THE COURTIN'.

Says he, "I'd better call agin";

Says she, "Think likely, Mister":
Thet last word pricked him like a pin,
An'... Wal, he up an' kist her.

When Ma bimeby upon 'em slips,

Huldy sot pale ez ashes,

All kin' o' smily roun' the lips
An' teary roun' the lashes.

For she was jes' the quiet kind

Whose naturs never vary,

Like streams that keep a summer mind
Snowhid in Jenooary.

The blood clost roun' her heart felt glued
Too tight for all expressin',

Tell mother see how metters stood,
An' gin 'em both her blessin'.

Then her red come back like the tide
Down to the Bay o' Fundy,

An' all I know is, they was cried

In meetin' come nex' Sunday.

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At Anchor.

H, many a year ago, dear wife,

We floated down this river,

Where the hoar willows on its brink

Alternate wave and shiver;

With careless glance we viewed askance

The king-fisher at quest,

And scarce would hear the reed-wren near,

Who sang beside her nest;

Nor dreamed that e'er our boat would be

Thus anchored, and at rest,
Dear love,

Thus anchored, and at rest!

Oh, many a time the wren has built

Where those green shadows quiver,-
And many a time the hawthorn shed
Its blossoms on the river,-
Since that sweet noon of sultry June,
When I my love confessed,
While with the tide our boat did glide

Adown the streamlet's breast,

Whereon our little shallop lies

Now anchored, and at rest,
Dear love,

Now anchored, and at rest!