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[209] He led her through his dewy fields,
To where the swinging lanterns glowed,
And through the doors the huskers showed.
‘Good friends and neighbors!’ Esek said,
“I'm weary of this lonely life;
In Mabel see my chosen wife!
She greets you kindly, one and all;
The past is past, and all offence
Falls harmless from her innocence.
Henceforth she stands no more alone;
You know what Esek Harden is;—
He brooks no wrong to him or his.
Now let the merriest tales be told,
And let the sweetest songs be sung
That ever made the old heart young!
For now the lost has found a home;
And a lone hearth shall brighter burn,
As all the household joys return! “
Oh, pleasantly the harvest-moon,
Between the shadow of the mows,
Looked on them through the great elmboughs!
On Mabel's curls of golden hair,
On Esek's shaggy strength it fell;
And the wind whispered, ‘It is well!’
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888-89.
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