THE PADDOCK
Felt the tardy blossoms blow,
Ay—and now can bask and glow
In your glowing ripening fruit!
We were young—too young, I said,
When he first proposed the plan;
Mother blind, my hands were full;
We could wait awhile to wed?
Andrew smiled, and shook his head,
Took the section, and began,
Working on the road the while,
As he could, to fall and burn.
—Eh! we had a lot to learn.
We were young and hopeful-hearted.
Ten years we’ve been married now—
But it’s twenty since we started.
First, there came his accident:
Weeks of Hospital: next year,
Debt, instead of Bush, to clear!
Then, wet seasons, and he had
No help, and the “burns” were bad.
Next, his father died, and Don’
Was but quite a laddie, so
Andrew took their farming on,
And his own had just to go.
Then, at length, when years had seen
Mostly all the young ones wed:
When the land was coming clean,
Fences up, and shearing-shed,
Apple-trees in bearing round
Such a well-stock’d garden-ground,
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