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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
EARLY DAYS IN VERMONT, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY Poet's Biography First Line: I've read the settlers, bless their souls Last Line: To borrow jest a carpet tack. Subject(s): Borrowers & Lenders; Farm Life; Vermont; Loans; Agriculture; Farmers | |||
I'VE read the settlers, bless their souls, Would take an iron pan or pot And go and borrow living coals, And fetch 'em home alive and hot; Jest think of coming through the woods, With beasts a-following on your path, And nothing but a can of coals Between you and a panther's wrath! But what I started out to say Is, that in newly settled earth, You're borrowing something every day And lending, too, for all you're worth; It gets to be a habit soon, Like that unthrifty city streak, Of hocking whatsoe'er you have With Uncle Abraham every week. In them dependent days, I s'pose, That what he saw and didn't own, Upset a settler's eyes and nose And instantly he "forced a loan" Of footstove, emptyings, hetchel, swifts, A bearmeat sirloin, sampler, sled, And e'en the copper coins they laid Upon the eyelids of the dead. They borrowed runnet, milk and tub, And kettle, paddle, lye and corn; They borrowed mug and apple shrub And shot and gun and powderhorn; A parish wedding meant a shower Of strictly drummed-up benefits, For to and fro the spoused ones went A-borrowing griddle, grease and grits. But, as the man who owns two pigs Abjures his socialistic views, So settler Smart and settler Spriggs, A-getting wealthy, oft refused To lend their chattels, goods and wares To settlers Squawman, Dub and Slack, Till now it takes about a week To borrow jest a carpet tack. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KICKING THE LEAVES by DONALD HALL THE FARMER'S BOY: WINTER by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: SPRING by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: SUMMER by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: AUTUMN by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD A VERMONT 'DONATION' by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY |
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