Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/412

 396 FRANCES D. GAGE. [1840-50. And there's the cream, 'tis getting sour, And must forthwith be churning, And here's Bob, wants a button on — Which way shall I be turning ? 'Tis time the meat was in the pot. The bread was worked for baking, The clothes were taken from the boil — Oh dear ! the baby's waking ! Hush, baby dear ! there, hush-sh-sh ! I wish he'd sleep a little, Till I could run and get some wood, To hurry up that kettle. Oh dear ! oh dear ! if P — comes home, And finds things in this pother, He'll just begin and tell me all About his tidy mother ! How nice her kitchen used to be, Her dinner always ready Exactly when the noon bell rang — Hush, hush, dear httle Freddy. And then will come some hasty word, . Right out before I'm thinking, — They say that hasty words from wives Set sober men to drinking. Now isn't that a great idea, That men should take to sinning. Because a weary, half-sick wife. Can't always smile so winning? When I was young I used to earn My living without trouble. Had clothes and pocket-money, too, And hours of leisure double. I never dreamed of such a fate. When I, a-lass ! was courted — Wife, mother, nurse, seamstress, cook, housekeeper, chamber-maid, laundress, dairy-woman, and scrub generally, doing the work of six. For the sake of being supported ! LIFE'S LESSONS. Chasing after butterflies, hunting after flowers. Listening to the wild bu-ds, through the sunny hours — Looking up the hen's nests on the fragrant mows. Tending to the lambkins, driving up the cows. Mixing play and labor in my childish glee. Learned I life's first lessons — learned I to be free. Waving on the tree-tops, roaming o'er the hills ; Wandering through the meadows, fishing in the rills ; Floating on the rivers, riding o'er the plains, Plodding through the corn fields, dropping golden grains. Mixing play and labor, with a childish glee. Learned I life's first lessons — learned I to be free. Laughing 'mong the green leaves as the ripe fruit fell ; Gathering the brown nuts in the woody dell; Tripping at the spinning-wheel, ever to and fro ; Dancing at the paring -bee, on a merry toe ; Mixing play and labor, with a youthful glee, Learned I life's best lessons — learned I to be free. Singing o'er my milk-pail while the dews were bright. Toiling in the dairy with a spirit light, Using mop and duster, washboard, oven- broom. Scissors, thread and needle, as might chance to come :