And before the frost touches the flowers”—
Here she held the boy to her breast—
“I’ll be sleeping too soundly to care,
And this dear one—ah, God knows best!”
Now I’m not soft-hearted as some folks,
But an odd catch came in my breath,
She seemed such a lone little creature,
With nothing to wait for but death.
But Abner, he rose up and buttoned
His great coat, and smiled so benign,
“Missus,” he said, “I’ve brought you some wood,
There’s no kinder heart—hem! than mine.”
Them limbs may be just a little tough,
But no fire is tougher, I guess,
Don’t thank me, I know what you mean now,
An’ feelin’s are hard to express.
Perhaps I’ve a penny about me
To give to that boy that’s asleep,
Don’t let him be foolish at spendin’,
But teach him to hold and to keep.
There’s likely some things at the house, too,
I can either send up, or bring,
Don’t thank me, you’re poor but you’re honest,
You can work it out in the spring.
I’m not so well-grounded as some folks,
An’ I took a tumble from grace,
To talk of her working to pay him,
An’ death in her pretty young face.
He followed me out as I started—
My head pretty high—down the lane,
But just as I came to the thorn-hedge,
He caught up, and said he, “Now Jane,
I’ve something special to tell you,
You needn’t go hurrying through;
Say, I’m thinkin’ of marryin’, Jane,
An’ the lucky woman is—you.
Yes, I might have found one much younger
If I had gone lookin’ around,
But you can keep house, little woman,
With the best of them, I’ll be bound.