Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/50

42 The pedler sweats with his pack on his back, the
 * purchaser higgling about the odd cent,

The camera and plate are prepared, the lady must sit
 * for her daguerreotype,

The bride unrumples her white dress, the minute-
 * hand of the clock moves slowly,

The opium-eater reclines with rigid head and just-
 * opened lips,

The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on
 * her tipsy and pimpled neck,

The crowd laugh at her blackguard oaths, the men
 * jeer and wink to each other,

(Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths, nor jeer
 * you;)

The President, holding a cabinet council, is surrounded
 * by the Great Secretaries,

On the piazza walk five friendly matrons with twined
 * arms,

The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of
 * halibut in the hold,

The Missourian crosses the plains, toting his wares
 * and his cattle,

As the fare-collector goes through the train, he gives
 * notice by the jingling of loose change,

The floor-men are laying the floor—the tinners are
 * tinning the roof—the masons are calling for
 * mortar,

In single file, each shouldering his hod, pass onward
 * the laborers,

Seasons pursuing each other, the indescribable crowd
 * is gathered—it is the Fourth of Seventh Month
 * —What salutes of cannon and small arms!