WINTER EVENING'S AMUSEMENT FOR JANE AND ME.
In summer days I till the ground,
And tug and toil and get my bread—
No interval can there be found,
Between my labour and my bed,
My wife declines to knit by night,
And I to read by candle-light.
But when the south receives the sun
Beyond the equinoctial line—
When all my summer work is done
Substantial pleasures then are mine,
Then Jane begins to knit at night,
And I to read by candle-light.
I'm then content, and never sigh,
Nor fly from home some bliss to find;
And Jane is pleased as well as I,
It so completely feasts her mind,
To sit her down to knit by night,
And hear me read by candle-light.
For when I read she always hears,
And what she hears, she tries to scan;
When ought to her obscure appears,
Then I explain it if I can,
O how she loves to knit by night
And hear me read by candle-light!
But when she drops a stitch, and gapes,
Soon gapes again, and nods her head,
I close my book, and say, perhaps
'Tis time, my dear, to go to bed—
So knit again to-morrow night,
And hear me read by candle-light.
[Olive Branch.