Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/101

PETER STUYVESANT'S NEW YEAR'S CALL Sat growling at the twinge of gout

That kept him from his friend.

But Peter strapped his wooden peg,

When tea and cake were ended

(Meanwhile the sound remaining leg

Its high jack-boot defended),

A woolsey cloak about him threw,

And swore, by wind and limb,

Since Govert kept from Peter's view,

Peter would visit him;

Then sallied forth, through snow and blast,

While many a humble greeter

Stood wondering whereaway so fast

Strode bluff Hardkoppig Pieter.

Past quay and cowpath, through a lane

Of vats and mounded tans,

He puffed along, with might and main,

To Govert Loockermans;

Once there, his right of entry took,

And hailed his ancient crony:

Ve gets more snow as money!"

To which, and after whiffs profound,

With doubtful wink and nod,

There came at last responsive sound:

"Yah, Peter; yah, Myn Gód!"

Then goedevrouw Marie sat her guest

Beneath the chimney-gable,

And courtesied, bustling at her best

To spread the New Year's table.

She brought the pure and genial schnapps,

That years before had come—

In the "Nieuw Nederlandts," perhaps—

To cheer the settlers' home; 71