Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THOMPSON'S VERMONT, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THOMPSON'S VERMONT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The book, by george! I'd rather own
Last Line: "in zadock thompson's book ""vermont."
Subject(s): Authors & Authorship; Books; History; Native Americans; Travel; Vermont; Reading; Historians; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America; Journeys; Trips


THE book, By George! I'd rather own
Than almost any book I've known;
The book that lifts to local fame
The little towns from whence we came,
And shows where most of us may find
The nest that hatched our kin and kind;
That proves we needn't faint or fuss
With honest settlers back of us;
The book Vermonters ought to want
Is Zadock Thompson's book "Vermont."

The book whose linen leaves delight
The reader's thirst and appetite,
And shame the green and heavy clay
That loads the books we buy today;
The book the hand can hold with ease
That wouldn't warp a lady's knees,
And whose bepolished calf outside
Is less like anything than hide—
The book a "native" ought to want,
That is, a native of Vermont.

The book whose wondrous woodcuts show
The bear and hare and carrion crow;
The lamprey with his rubber mouth,
The flying squirrel pointing South;
And eels and owls and ducks and drakes,
And loons and coons and snails and snakes;
The lynx with wide and German jowl,
The panther on his Prussian prowl—
The book a sportsman ought to want
If he's a-sporting 'round Vermont.

Here every kind of pout and trout
And perch are also pictured out,
With salmon, shad and wall-eyed pike,
And sturgeon long as Uncle Ike;
And all the leaves that ever stirred,
And every single sort of bird;
The weasel, shrew and star-nosed mole,
And orange-breasted oriole—
You get the kind of game you want
In Zadock Thompson's book "Vermont."

Those pictures that I used to see
Are just as fresh as they can be;
That Indian with the great long bow
Is fine as silk, as Indians go;
That "Yorker" rising through the air
With dangling arms and standing hair,
To greet the catamount on high,
Still cheers and charms my ageing eye—
You find the pictured facts you want
In Zadock Thompson's book "Vermont."

The book wherein the reader reads
Of all the former faiths and creeds;
Each kind of meetinghouse and pew
Receives its orthodoxic due;
The Holy Roller tries the floor,
The Millerite prepares to soar;
The settled ministers are thick
As knots along a hickory stick—
Oh! it's a book the wise should want,
A book of books, that book "Vermont."

Great book! wherein each pig and pup
And horse and hen are added up,
With scores of pearl and potash kilns,
And cider, saw and carding mills;
The darkest day, the hardest freeze,
The thickest ice, the worst disease,
The waterfalls and mineral springs,
With forty thousand other things—
You'll find 'em here just where you want
In Zadock Thompson's book "Vermont."





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