"And never tenderer hand than hers
Unknits the brow of ailing;
Her garments to the sick man's ear
Have music in their trailing.
"And when, in pleasant harvest moons,
The youthful huskers gather,
Or sleigh-drives on the mountain ways
Defy the winter weather,--
"In sugar-camps, when south and warm
The winds of March are blowing,
And sweetly from its thawing veins
The maple's blood is flowing,--
"In summer, where some lilied pond
Its virgin zone is baring,
Or where the ruddy autumn fire
Lights up the apple-paring,--
"The coarseness of a ruder time
Her finer mirth displaces,
A subtler sense of pleasure fills
Each rustic sport she graces.
"Her presence lends its warmth and health
To all who come before it.
If woman lost us Eden, such
As she alone restore it.
"For larger life and wiser aims
The farmer is her debtor;
Who holds to his another's heart
Must needs be worse or better.
"Through her his civic service shows
A purer-toned ambition;
No double consciousness divides
The man and politician.
"In party's doubtful ways he trusts
Her instincts to determine;
At the loud polls, the thought of her
Recalls Christ's Mountain Sermon.
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