Page:The Writings of John Green Whittier (v.1).pdf/284

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NARRATIVE AND LEGENDARY POEMS.
"For larger life and wiser aims The farmer is her debtor;Who holds to his another's heart Must needs be worse or better.
"Through her his civic service shows A purer-toned ambition;No double consciousness divides The man and politician.
"In party's doubtful ways he trusts Her instincts to determine;At the loud polls, the thought of her Recalls Christ's Mountain Sermon.
"He owns her logic of the heart, And wisdom of unreason,Supplying, while he doubts and weighs, The needed word in season.
"He sees with pride her richer thought, Her fancy's freer ranges;And love thus deepened to respect Is proof against all changes.
"And if she walks at ease in ways His feet are slow to travel,And if she reads with cultured eyes What his may scarce unravel,
"Still clearer, for her keener sight Of beauty and of wonder,He learns the meaning of the hills He dwelt from childhood under.
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