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IN THE DEFENCES.
245
Content and quietude and plenty seem
Blessing the place, and sanctifying all;
And hark! how pleasantly a hidden stream
Sweetens the silence with its silver fall!
Blessing the place, and sanctifying all;
And hark! how pleasantly a hidden stream
Sweetens the silence with its silver fall!
The failing grasshopper chirps faint and shrill,
The cricket calls, in mossy covert hid,
Cheery and loud, as stoutly answering still
The soft persistence of the katydid.
The cricket calls, in mossy covert hid,
Cheery and loud, as stoutly answering still
The soft persistence of the katydid.
With dead moths tangled in its blighted bloom,
The golden-rod swings lonesome on its throne,
Forgot of bees; and in the thicket's gloom,
The last belated peewee cries alone.
The golden-rod swings lonesome on its throne,
Forgot of bees; and in the thicket's gloom,
The last belated peewee cries alone.
The hum of voices, and the careless laugh
Of cheerful talkers, fall upon the ear;
The flag flaps listlessly adown its staff;
And still the katydid pipes loud and near.
Of cheerful talkers, fall upon the ear;
The flag flaps listlessly adown its staff;
And still the katydid pipes loud and near.
And now from far the bugle's mellow throat
Pours out, in rippling flow, its silver tide;
And up the listening hills the echoes float
Faint and more faint and sweetly multiplied.
Pours out, in rippling flow, its silver tide;
And up the listening hills the echoes float
Faint and more faint and sweetly multiplied.
