Few friends have I, and they are much to me,

Yet fly above my poor society.

"But all about me live New-England men,

Their humble houses meet my daily gaze,—

The children of this land where Life again

Flows like a great stream in sunshiny ways,

This is a joy to know them, and my days

Are filled with love to meditate on them,—

These native gentlemen on Nature's hem.

"That I could take one feature of their life,