He smiled, and stooping down,

Kissed her cheek—“’twas this, that you were the best

And the dearest wife in town!”

The farmer went back to the field, and the wife,

In a smiling, absent way,

Sang snatches of tender little songs

She’d not sung for many a day.

And the pain in her head was gone, and the clothes

Were white as the foam of the sea;

Her bread was light, and her butter was sweet,