Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/154

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146
Leaves of Grass.

13. The wife—and she is not one jot less than the
husband,
The daughter—and she is just as good as the son,
The mother—and she is every bit as much as the
father.

14. Offspring of those not rich, boys apprenticed to
trades,
Young fellows working on farms, and old fellows
working on farms,
The näive, the simple and hardy, he going to the
polls to vote, he who has a good time, and he
has who a bad time,
Mechanics, southerners, new arrivals, laborers, sailors,
man-o'wars-men, merchantmen, coasters,
All these I see—but nigher and farther the same I
see,
None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape
me.

15. I bring what you much need, yet always have,
Not money, amours, dress, eating, but as good;
I send no agent or medium, offer no representative
of value, but offer the value itself.

16. There is something that comes home to one now and ::perpetually,
It is not what is printed, preached, discussed—it
eludes discussion and print,
It is not to be put in a book—it is not in this
book,
It is for you, whoever you are—it is no farther from
you than your hearing and sight are from you,