CONTENTS

PAGE

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN[9]
CHRISTMAS TREES[11]
AN OLD MAN’S WINTER NIGHT[14]
A PATCH OF OLD SNOW[15]
IN THE HOME STRETCH[16]
THE TELEPHONE[24]
MEETING AND PASSING[25]
HYLA BROOK[26]
THE OVEN BIRD[27]
BOND AND FREE[28]
BIRCHES[29]
PEA BRUSH[31]
PUTTING IN THE SEED[32]
A TIME TO TALK[33]
THE COW IN APPLE TIME[34]
AN ENCOUNTER[35]
RANGE-FINDING[36]
THE HILL WIFE[37]
ILONELINESS––HER WORD[37]
IIHOUSE FEAR[37]
IIITHE SMILE––HER WORD[38]
IVTHE OFT-REPEATED DREAM[38]
VTHE IMPULSE[39]
THE BONFIRE[41]
A GIRL’S GARDEN[45]
THE EXPOSED NEST[48]
“OUT, OUT––”[50]
BROWN’S DESCENT OR THE WILLY-NILLY SLIDE[52]
THE GUM-GATHERER[56]
THE LINE-GANG[58]
THE VANISHING RED[59]
SNOW[61]
THE SOUND OF THE TREES[75]

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THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

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