675

680

685

690

695

700

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 marvels 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 knell and dirge of death:

705

710

715

720

725

730

735

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
An 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-illumed 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;

740

745

750

755

Life greatens in these later years,
The century's aloe flowers to-day!

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 FOR STUDY

Read Emerson's "Snowstorm," and compare his description of the coming of the storm with Whittier's.

What things foretold the coming of the storm?

What were the "nightly chores"?

What is meant by the "cock's querulous challenge"?

Explain lines 43-46.

Describe the "universe of sky and snow."

What is a Chinese roof?

Where do we find the story of "Aladdin"? Tell what you know of him and his "wondrous cave."

Describe how the boys made the path, and the scene at the stable. What was the day after the storm? Quote lines to prove your answer?

Explain "dreary-voiced elements," "shrieking of the mindless wind," "moaning tree-boughs swaying blind," "unmeaning beat of ghostly finger-tips of sleet."

What preparations were made for the coming of night?

Tell how the fire was laid in the fireplace. What are 'cranes and "andirons"?

Explain "clean-winged hearth.”

Study the picture of the pleasant home evening enjoyed by the Whittier family circle.

How did they pass the evening?

What did the father tell them about? Explain "samp,' " "St. Francois' hemlock trees,' "Salisbury's level marshes,' "Boar's Head,” “Isles of Shoals,” “hake-broil,” “ 'chowder," and "gundalow." What was the nature of the. tales told by the mother? How did she busy herself as she talked?

Explain "wizard's conjuring book," "duck's black squadron anchored lay," "faith fire-winged by martyrdom," "water butt and bread cask failed,” “ 'casting lots for life and death," "school of porpoise" (dolphin).

How did the uncle contribute to the evening's enjoyment? Do you not imagine that his stories were eagerly listened to?

What stories did Aunt Mercy tell? Draw a word picture of her as Whittier paints her.

Describe the elder sister, Mary. Study the lines in which Whittier seeks consolation for her untimely death.

Study the description of Elizabeth and the lines on her death. Describe the Schoolmaster. How did he seem when off duty? How did he add to the evening's entertainment?

Describe the second guest at the fireside.

In what lines does Whittier seek to show that we must not judge this woman.

Describe the ushering in of the new day. Tell how the neighbors "broke" the roads.

Describe the doctor's round. Quote the devotion to duty.

Was the sufferer of Mrs. Whittier's faith?

your answer.

lines which show his

Quote lines to explain

What news was contained in the village paper borne to them by the carrier? How was the paper received?

99 66

Explain "Angel of the backward look," "voice of echoes far away," weird palimpsest old and vast,' monographs of outlived years,' green hills of life that slope to death," "haunts of home whose vistæed trees shade off to mournful cypresses with the white amaranths underneath."

The Flemish pictures were chiefly those of homely interiors. Such being the case, may the pictures drawn in "Snow-Bound" all be termed Flemish pictures?

NOTES

65 Pisa's leaning miracle. A beautiful bell-tower of white marble, which leans a little more than six feet in eighty. This leaning is said to be the result of accident due to the character of the soil on which it is built. The cathedral to which the tower belongs has settled so much that there is not a straight line in it.

90 Amun. An Egyptian deity, represented in various ways: sometimes as a ram with large, curving horns; sometimes with a ram's head and human body, and as a man enthroned or standing erect.

215 Chief of Gambia. Gambia is a British colony in Africa; it is situated near the mouth of the River Gambia. This line and lines 220-223 are from a poem by Mrs. Sarah Wentworth -Morton, entitled "The African Chief."

259 Cochecho. Formerly the name of Dover, New Hampshire. 286 Sewell's ancient tome. This was the "History of the Quakers," by William Sewell; it was held in great esteem by the Quakers.

289 Chalkley's Journal. This Journal was published first in 1747, by Thomas Chalkley, who was born in England in 1675, of Quaker parents. After traveling as a preacher, he settled in Philadelphia.

He died in 1749.

305 Tangled ram. A reference to the ram caught in a thicket by his horns, which Abraham beheld just as he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac. For an account of this, see Genesis XXII.

320 Apollonius. Apollonius Tyanæus, an ancient Greek 'philosopher and magician. He was said to have conversed with the birds and beasts.

322 Hermes. Hermes Tresmegistus, the "thrice greatest," an Egyptian priest and philosopher, learned in art and mathematics. 332 White of Selborne. Gilbert White, an English clergyman, was the author of "Natural History of Selborne,' an English classic. It describes in a charming manner what he saw in his own parish of Selborne.

683 Ellwood's meek, etc. Thomas Ellwood, a Quaker and friend of Milton, wrote a poem on the life of King David of Israel, called Davideis.

693 Painted Creeks. The Creek Indians were removed from their original home in Georgia, to the country west of the Mississippi. 694 Daft McGregor. This was a Scotchman, Sir George McGregor, who, in 1822, was the leader of an expedition to found a colony in Costa Rica, which resulted in failure.