And laid it tenderly away, Then roused himself to safely cover The dull red brand with ashes over. And while, with care, our mother laid The work aside, her steps she stayed One moment, seeking to express Her grateful sense of happiness
For food and shelter, warmth and health, And love's contentment more than wealth, With simple wishes (not the weak,
Vain prayers which no fulfilment seek, But such as warm the generous heart, O'er-prompt to do with Heaven its part) That none might lack, that bitter night, For bread and clothing, warmth and light
Within our beds awhile we heard The wind that round the gables roared, With now and then a ruder shock, Which made our very bedsteads rock. We heard the loosened clapboards tost, The board-nails snapping in the frost; And on us, through the unplastered wall, Felt the lightsifted snow-flakes fall; But sleep stole on, as sleep will do When hearts are light and life is new; Faint and more faint the murmurs grew, Till in the summer-land of dreams They softened to the sound of streams, Low stir of leaves, and dip of oars, And lapsing waves on quiet shores.
Next morn we wakened with the shout Of merry voices high and clear; And saw the teamsters drawing near To break the drifted highways out. Down the long hillside treading slow We saw the half-buried oxen go,
Shaking the snow from heads uptost, Their straining nostrils white with frost. Before our door the straggling train Drew up, an added team to gain. The elders threshed their hands a-cold, Passed, with the cider-mug, their jokes From lip to lip; the younger folks Down the loose snow-banks, wrestling, rolled, Then toiled again the cavalcade
O'er windy hill, through clogged ravine, And woodland paths that wound between Low drooping-pine-boughs winter-weighed. From every barn a team afoot,
At every house a new recruit,
Where, drawn by Nature's subtlest law, Haply the watchful young men saw Sweet doorway pictures of the curls And curious eyes of merry girls, Lifting their hands in mock defense Against the snow-balls' compliments, And reading in each missive tost The charm which Eden never lost.
We heard once more the sleigh-bells' sound; And, following where the teamsters led, The wise old Doctor went his round, Just pausing at our door to say, In the brief autocratic way Of one who, prompt at Duty's call, Was free to urge her claim on all,
That some poor neighbor sick abed At night our mother's aid would need. For, one in generous thought and deed, What mattered in the sufferer's sight The Quaker matron's inward light, The Doctor's mail of Calvin's creed? All hearts confess the saints elect
Who, twain in faith, in love agree, And melt not in an acid sect
The Christian pearl of charity!
So days went on: a week had passed
Since the great world was heard from last. The Almanac we studied o'er,
Read and reread our little store
Of books and pamphlets, scarce a score; One harmless novel, mostly hid From younger eyes, a book forbid, And poetry, (or good or bad,
A single book was all we had,)
Where Ellwood's meek, drab-skirted Muse, A stranger to the heathen Nine, Sang, with a somewhat nasal whine, The wars of David and the Jews. At last the floundering carrier bore The village paper to our door. Lo! broadening outward as we read, To warmer zones the horizon spread; In panoramic length unrolled We saw the marvel that it told. Before us passed the painted Creeks, And daft McGregor on his raids In Costa Rica's everglades. And up Taygetus winding slow Rode Ypsilanti's Mainote Greeks, A Turk's head at each saddle bow! Welcome to us its week-old news, Its corner for the rustic Muse,
Its monthly gauge of snow and rain, Its record, mingling in a breath The wedding bell and dirge of death; Jest, anecdote, and love-lorn tale, The latest culprit sent to jail; Its hue and cry of stolen and lost, Its vendue sales and goods at cost,
And traffic calling loud for gain. We felt the stir of hall and street, The pulse of life that round us beat;
The chill embargo of the snow Was melted in the genial glow;
Wide swung again our ice-locked door, And all the world was ours once more!
Clasp, Angel of the backward look And folded wings of ashen gray And voice of echoes far away, The brazen covers of thy book; The weird palimpsest old and vast, Wherein thou hid'st the spectral past; Where, closely mingling, pale and glow The characters of joy and woe; The monographs of outlived years, Or smile-illumined or dim with tears,
Green hills of life that slope to death, And haunts of home, whose vistaed trees Shade off to mournful cypresses
With the white amaranths underneath. Even while I look, I can but heed
The restless sands' incessant fall, Importunate hours that hours succeed, Each clamorous with its own sharp need, And duty keeping pace with all. Shut down and clasp the heavy lids; I hear again the voice that bids The dreamer leave his dream midway For larger hopes and graver fears: Life greatens in these later years, The century's aloe flowers today!
Yet, haply, in some lull of life,
Some Truce of God which breaks its strife, The worldling's eyes shall gather dew,
Dreaming in throngful city ways
Of winter joys his boyhood knew ; And dear and early friends-the few Who yet remain-shall pause to view
These Flemish pictures of old days; Sit with me by the homestead hearth, And stretch the hands of memory forth
To warm them at the wood-fire's blaze! And thanks untraced to lips unknown Shall greet me like the odors blown From unseen meadows newly mown, Or lilies floating in some pond,
Wood-fringed, the wayside gaze beyond; The traveler owns the grateful sense Of sweetness near, he knows not whence, And, pausing, takes with forehead bare The benediction of the air.
HELPS TO STUDY Notes and Questions
What does "snow-bound" mean? Find a line in the poem which explains the title.
Where is the scene of the poem laid? Find lines in the poem that tell you this.
Of whom did the circle gathered
around the fire consist?
What members of the family are
not described in the poem? Why? Which one of the group can you
see most plainly? Why? Select the lines which please you
most in the description of each. Read four lines which show that the evening's pleasure was not disturbed by the storm.
In what respects does the room described differ from one in your home?
How long was the family " snowbound''?
Of what did their library consist?
What does Whittier tell us about the brook? What other poem have you read
which describes a brook in Winter? By whom was it written? What messenger put the household again in touch with the outside world? What did he bring? Explain what Whittier means by saying the family looked on nothing they could call their own after the heavy snow?
What is the meaning of the reference to "Pisa's leaning miracle''?
Who was Aladdin?
What were his "lamp's supernal powers''?
What effect did the moonlight have upon the night?
Of what are cypress trees a symbol?
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