All past and vanquished in this sullen cold,

By sombre grays and browns, dead white and black.

The tall-spired meeting-house, the school,

The stiff white houses built by rigid rule,

Even the village store,

With hospitable, easily-opened door;

And their human owners reared in godly fear,

Austere, repressed,

Severe ...

How it all lies, before our modern eyes,