The maiden rose from where she sat You may begin," she said. Tom Masson THE COURTIN' GOD makes sech nights, all white an' still Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown A fireplace filled the room's one side There warn't no stoves (tell comfort died) The wa'nut logs shot sparkles out Agin the chimbley crook-necks hung, The ole queen's-arm that Gran'ther Young The very room, coz she was in, Seemed warm f'om 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 A dogrose blushin' to a brook He was six foot o' man, A 1, He'd sparked it with full twenty gals, But long o' her his veins 'ould run She thought no v'ice hed sech a swing My! when he made Ole Hunderd ring, An' she'd blush scarlit, right in prayer, Thet night, I tell ye, she looked some! She heered a foot, an' knowed it tu, Like sparks in burnt-up paper. 111 He kin' o' l'itered on the mat, An' yit she gin her cheer a jerk "You want to see my Pa, I s'pose?" "To see my Ma? She's sprinklin' clo'es Agin to-morrer's i'nin'." To say why gals act so or so, He stood a spell on one foot fust, 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, For she was jes' the quiet kind Whose naturs never vary, Like streams that keep a summer mind Hiram Hover 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 113 James Russell Lowell. HIRAM HOVER A BALLAD OF NEW ENGLAND LIFE WHERE the Moosatockmaguntic She, a maiden fair and dapper, She, Pentucket's pensive daughter, "Why," he murmured, loth to leave her, "Go," she answered, "I'm not hasty, 66 Haughty Huldah!" Hiram answered, "Mind and heart alike are cancered; Jest look here! these peltries give Cash, wherefrom a pair may live. "I, you think, am but a vagrant, Trapping beasts by no means fragrant; Yet, I'm sure it's worth a thankI've a handsome sum in bank." Turned and vanished Hiram Hover, Huldah, with the yarbs she sold, Black and thick the furry cape was, And the girls, in all the town, Then at last, one winter morning, Either," said he, "you are blind, Huldah, or you've changed your mind. "Me you snub for trapping varmints, Yet you take the skins for garments; Since you wear the skunk and mink, There's no harm in me, I think." "Well," said she, "we will not quarrel, Hiram; I accept the moral, Now the fashion's so I guess Thus the trouble all was over |