dder blood
Are sought among their stores.

The quivering curd, in panniers stowed,
Is loaded on the jade,
The stumbling beast supports the load,
While trickling whey bedews the road
Along the dusty glade.

As Cairo's slaves, to bondage bred,
The arid deserts roam,
Through trackless sands undaunted tread,
With skins of water on their head
To cheer their masters home,

So here full many a sturdy swain
His precious baggage bore;
Old misers e'en forgot their gain,
And bed-rid cripples, free from pain,
Now took the road before.

The widow, with her dripping mite
Upon her saddle horn,
Rode up in haste to see the sight
And aid a charity so right,
A pauper so forlorn.

The circling throng an opening drew
Upon the verdant-grass
To let the vast procession through
To spread their rich repast in view,
And Elder J. L. pass.

Then Elder J. with lifted eyes
In musing posture stood,
Invoked a blessing from the skies
To save from vermin, mites and flies,
And keep the bounty good.

Now mellow strokes the yielding pile
From polished steel receives,
And shining nymphs stand still a while,
Or mix the mass with salt and oil,
With sage and savory leaves.

Then sextonlike, the patriot troop,
With naked arms and crown,
Embraced, with hardy hands, the scoop,
And filled the vast expanded hoop,
While beetles smacked it down.

Next girding screws the ponderous beam,
With heft immense, drew down;
The gushing whey from every seam
Flowed through the streets a rapid stream,
And shad came up to town.

This spirited achievement of early democracy is commemorated today by
a sign set up at the ancient and honorable town of Cheshire, located
between Pittsfield and North Adams, on Route 8.

Jefferson's speech of thanks to the democratic people of Cheshire
rings out in history: "I look upon this cheese as a token of fidelity
from the very heart of the people of this land to the great cause of
equal rights to all men."

This popular presentation started a tradition. When Van Buren
succeeded to the Presidency, he received a similar mammoth cheese in
token of the high esteem in which he was held. A monstrous one, bigger
than the Jeffersonian, was made by New Englanders to show their
loyalty to President Jackson.