own;

An' yit, ef 'tain't gut rusty in the jints,

It's safe to trust its say on certin pints:

It knows the wind's opinions to a T, An' the wind settles wut the weather'll be."

"I never thought a scion of our stock

Could grow the wood to make a weathercock;

When I wuz younger'n you, skurce more'n a shaver,

No airthly wind," sez he, "could make me waver!"

(Ez he said this, he clinched his jaw an' forehead,

Hitchin' his belt to bring his swordhilt forrard.) —

"Jes' so it wuz with me," sez I, "I SWOW,

When I wuz younger'n what you see me now,

Nothin' from Adam's fall to Huldy's bonnet,

Thet I warn't full-cocked with my jedgment on it;

Whether man's thought can find too

lofty steeps

For woman's scaling, care not I to know;

But when he falters by her side, or creeps,

She must not clog her soul with him to go.

Who weds me must at least with equal pace

Sometimes move with me at my being's height:

To follow him to his more glorious place,

His purer atmosphere, were keen delight.

You lure me to the valley: men should call

Up to the mountains, where the air is clear.

Win me and help me climbing, if at all!

Beyond these peaks rich harmonies I hear,