Page:Pocahontas, and Other Poems.djvu/50

 34 CONNECTICUT RIVER.

See ! where amid the cultured vales they stand, The generous offspring of a simple land ; Too rough for flattery, and all fear above, King, priest, and prophet, 'mid the homes they love. On equal laws their anchored hopes are stayed, By all interpreted, and all obeyed ; Alike the despot and the slave they hate, And rise, firm columns of a happy state. To them content is bliss and labour health, And knowledge power, and meek religion wealth.

The farmer, here, with honest pleasure sees His orchards blushing to the fervid breeze, His bleating flocks, the shearer's care that need, His waving woods, the wintry hearth that feed, His hardy steers that break the yielding soil, His patient sons, who aid their father's toil, The ripening fields, for joyous harvest drest, And the white spire that points a world of rest.

His thrifty mate, solicitous to bear An equal burden in the yoke of care, With vigorous arm the flying shuttle heaves, Or from the press the golden cheese receives : Her pastime, when the daily task is o'er, With apron clean, to seek her neighbour's door, Partake the friendly feast, with social glow, Exchange the news, and make the stocking grow \

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