Jes’ below de Mastah’s tr’one,

An’ have lef’ my hea’t a-singin’

In a happy aftah tone;

But dem wu’ds so sweetly murmured

Seem to tech de softes’ spot,

When my mammy says de blessin’,

An’ de co’n pone’s hot.

—Copyright by Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, and used by arrangement.

THE COURTIN’

By James Russell Lowell