Life in the Clearings versus the Bush

I sketch from Nature, and the draught is true.
Whate'er the picture, whether grave or gay,
Painful experience in a distant land
Made it mine own.
TO JOHN WEDDERBURN DUNBAR MOODIE, ESQ. SHERRIFF OF THE COUNTY OF HASTINGS, UPPER CANADA, THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, BY HIS ATTACHED FRIEND AND WIFE, SUSANNA MOODIE
Dear foster-mother, on whose ample breast
The hungry still find food, the weary rest;
The child of want that treads thy happy shore,
Shall feel the grasp of poverty no more;
His honest toil meet recompense can claim,
And Freedom bless him with a freeman's name!
S.M.