In the supreme hours of the open life of the country those who are able to feel and see and enjoy reap a harvest that is beyond all sordid dreams. At such times they care little for your trusts and mergers, or for what the future may have in store. And though these days cannot last those who have once enjoyed them feel that they counterbalance all the failures and worries and bitterness of life.
A FARMER'S DEFENCE
The world is full of deeds of praise,
But what is that to me?
I work my fields and do my chores,
Nor care what deeds they be.
Year in, year out, with glare and gold,
The wonder world goes by,
And all my fellows of the fields
As little care as I.
But oh, it seems another world,
Out there where things are done,
Where glories worth a king's desire
We see so bravely won.
But something clutches at my heart
When I would rise and go—
Who wins the most shall lose the most!
The world is ordered so.
The children crowd about my knee
And question till I tell
About the golden wonder world
Where all their heroes dwell.
Their eager voices thrill my heart,
I see their eyes ashine,
And would not change for wonder worlds
This little world of mine.
So unashamed I stand with those
Who do no deeds of praise;
We work our fields and do our chores,
Unhonoured all our days.
We may not set the world on fire,
And yet we do our share!
Without our toil your wonder world
Would hungry go and bare.
INDEX
| Agricultural bulletins, | [34] |
| Apple blossoms, | [124] |
| Apples, | [1], [246] |
| Art of pruning, the, | [39] |
| Automobile ride, an, | [165] |
| Automobiles, | [193] |
| Autumn day, an, | [290] |
| Autumn evening, an, | [294] |
| Back to the land, | [162] |
| Balancing accounts, | [359] |
| Ballade of apples, a, | [244] |
| Ballade of nutting, a, | [310] |
| Barn-raising, a, | [202] |
| Bee-keeping, | [170] |
| Bees, | [107], [226] |
| Berry-picking, | [232] |
| Birds, the, | [46], [185] |
| Burden of labour, the, | [222] |
| Catching the driver, | [256] |
| Celery, | [220] |
| Celery and apples, | [26] |
| City farming, | [222] |
| Coon hunting, | [181] |
| Country from a hammock, the, | [210] |
| Country life, | [145], [314], [353] |
| Country swindles, | [22] |
| Cow's digestion, a, | [333] |
| Curing meat, | [34], [324] |
| Cutting corn, | [262] |
| Cutting the maple, | [78] |
| Danged farm, the, | [93] |
| December day, a, | [336] |
| Digging potatoes, | [291] |
| Dog story, a, | [159] |
| Ducks, the, | [299], [340] |
| Educating Sheppy, | [46] |
| Educating the farmer, | [28] |
| Exercise for hens, | [237] |
| Experiment, an, | [73] |
| Facts about Ontario, | [45] |
| Fallen tree, a, | [1] |
| Fall fairs, | [302] |
| Fall rain, a, | [311] |
| Fall weather, | [255] |
| Fall work, | [248] |
| Farmer's defence, a, | [360] |
| Farm profits, | [152] |
| Farm prospects, | [136] |
| Farm work, | [141], [214] |
| Fences, | [110] |
| Fox-hunt, a, | [51] |
| Good neighbours, | [47] |
| Good roads, | [105] |
| Grasshoppers, | [196] |
| Great day, a, | [77] |
| Hen, the, | [97] |
| High cost of living, the, | [177] |
| Hired men, | [88] |
| Hiving bees, | [173] |
| Hoar frost, | [350] |
| Horses, | [18] |
| Hunters, | [24] |
| Husking corn, | [272] |
| Indian fair, an, | [283] |
| Indian summer day, an, | [328] |
| January thaw, the, | [16] |
| Job of draining, a, | [147] |
| Landed pride, | [43] |
| Lime-sulphur wash, | [89] |
| Little pigs, | [264] |
| Live horse-hairs, | [245] |
| Lonesome calf, the, | [305] |
| Maple syrup, | [69] |
| Moving the hens, | [319] |
| Mudturtle, the, | [139] |
| My first stack, | [198] |
| Nature's poems, | [261] |
| New alarm clock, a, | [185] |
| October, | [279] |
| Old-fashioned winter, | [346] |
| Ontario farms, | [104] |
| Orchard, the, | [37] |
| Out to grass, | [130] |
| Overwork, | [120] |
| Packing apples, | [297] |
| Picking pears, | [276] |
| Picnics, | [154] |
| Piece of foolishness, a, | [325] |
| Pioneer days, | [58] |
| Pioneer spring, a, | [58] |
| Pitching oat-sheaves, | [230] |
| Planting apple trees, | [128] |
| Planting trees, | [111] |
| Playing checkers, | [12] |
| Potato bugs, | [192] |
| Pot herbs, | [99] |
| Quail, the, | [66] |
| Rabbit hunt, a, | [352] |
| Reforestation, | [36], [111] |
| Retired farmer, the, | [100] |
| Roses, | [197] |
| Round-headed bolts, | [190] |
| Rural telephones, | [32] |
| Sawing wood, | [7] |
| Selling farm stock, | [206] |
| Signs of fall, | [242] |
| Signs of spring, | [33] |
| Simple inventions, | [87] |
| Skating, | [349] |
| Skidding logs, | [62] |
| Spraying the orchard, | [133] |
| Spring, | [108] |
| Spring emotions, | [85] |
| Spring frost, | [117] |
| Spring rush, a, | [112] |
| Spring work, | [82] |
| Still morning, a, | [31] |
| Stone, the, | [233] |
| Strawberry season, the, | [169] |
| Sulky ride, a, | [250] |
| Sun-dogs, | [56] |
| Supply and demand, | [14] |
| Thinning apples, | [218] |
| Thoughts of cows, | [4] |
| Thoughts on Diogenes, | [156] |
| Ticklish load, a, | [268] |
| Turkeys, the, | [317] |
| Value of birds, the, | [150] |
| Visiting weasel, a, | [169] |
| Winter evening, a, | [343] |
| Winter food, | [322] |
| Wordsworth on the farm, | [125] |