Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard! Let other lands, exulting, glean We better love the hardy gift To cheer us when the storm shall drift We dropped the seed o'er hill and plain Through vales of grass and meads of flowers, Our plows their furrows made, While on the hills the sun and showers Of changeful April played. We dropped the seed o'er hill and plain Beneath the sun of May, And frightened from our sprouting grain The robber crows away. All through the long, bright days of June And waved in hot midsummer's noon. Its soft and yellow hair. And now, with autumn's moonlit eves, Its harvest time has come, There, richer than the fabled gift Fair hands the broken grain shall And knead its meal of gold. Where'er the wide old kitchen hearth Sends up its smoky curls, Who will not thank the kindly earth, And bless our farmer girls! Then shame on all the proud and vain, The blessing of our hardy grain, Let earth withhold her goodly root, Give to the worm the orchard's fruit, But let the good old crop adorn Send up our thanks to God! Hoard (hōrd), a supply laid up for the future; lăv'ish, plentiful; hôrn, according to an old story a goat's horn was given the power of furnishing its possessor, who had befriended Zeus, with everything desired; ex ult'ing (eg zŭlt'ing), in high spirits; glean, gather; här'dy, able to withstand cold; fa'bled, told of in old stories; Apollo, the golden-haired god of the sun, patron of the new crops of the spring; văp'id, dull, empty headed; loll, to move about in a lazy manner; sămp, a coarse kind of broken corn or hominy; mil'dew, mold. STUDY HELPS Why does the poet call the corn a "wintry hoard"? How does the corn compare with other gifts of autumn? The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh stanzas tell the story of the corn crop. Name the steps in its production as the poet states them. What is meant by "its soft and yellow hair"? Do you know which is the harvest moon? What is done with the ripened corn? (Stanza 8.) With what kind of life is the simple farmer's life contrasted? (Stanza 9.) Read three passages from stanzas 8, 9, and 10 that show that the pleasures of home life are connected with the food made from corn. What lines tell you about old-fashioned methods of cooking? Upon what class of people does the poet call down shame? (Stanza 11.) What crops is he willing to lose rather than the corn? (Stanza 12.) Study these expressions: (1) "apple from the pine"; (2) "rugged vales"; (3) "changeful April"; (4) "robber crows"; (5) "meal of gold"; (6) "homespun beauty"; (7) "golden corn"; (8) "goodly root.' JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER On the wide lawn the snow lay deep, |