The weather is now cold and mild alternately. In our variable climate we
one day experience the severity of winter, and a genial warmth prevails
the next; and, indeed, such changes are not unfrequently felt in the
same day. Winter, however, at this time breaks apace, and we have
presages of the genial season.
Oxen, o’er the furrow’d soil,
Urging firm their annual toil;
Trim cottages that here and there,
Speckling the social tilth, appear:
And spires, that as from groves they rise,
Tell where the lurking hamlet lies:
Hills white with many a bleating throng,
And lakes, whose willowy banks along,
Herds or ruminate, or lave,
Immersing in the silent wave.
The sombre wood--the cheerful plain,
Green with the hope of future grain:
A tender blade, ere Autumn smile
Benignant on the farmer’s toil,
Gild the ripe fields with mellowing hand,
And scatter plenty through the land.
_Baron Smith._
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