th void of state--
And yet the threshold of my door
Is worn by the poor
Who hither come, and freely get
Good words or meat.

Like as my parlor, so my hall
And kitchen's small.
A little buttery, and therein
A little bin.
Which keeps my little loaf of bread
Unchipt, unfled.

Some brittle sticks of thorn or brier
Make me a fire
Close by whose living coal I sit,
And glow like it.
Lord, I confess too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine,
And all those other bits that be
There placed by thee.

'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth
With guiltless mirth,
And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,
Spiced to the brink.
Lord, 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand
That soils my land,
And giv'st me for my bushel sown
Twice ten for one.

All these and better thou dost send
Me to this end,--
That I should render for my part,
A thankful heart;
Which, fired with incense, I resign
As wholly thine--
But the acceptance, that must be,
My God, by thee.

FOOTNOTE:

[Footnote 21: By Robert Herrick, an English poet (1591-1674).]

FIRST DAYS AT WAKEFIELD[22]

_A proof that even the humblest fortune may grant happiness, which
depends not on circumstances but constitution._

The place of our retreat was in a little neighborhood consisting of
farmers, who tilled their own grounds, and were equal strangers to
opulence and poverty. As they had almost all the conveniences of life
within themselves, they seldom visited towns or cities in search of
superfluity. Remote from the polite, they still retained the primeval
simplicity of manners; and frugal by habit, they scarcely knew that
temperance was a virtue.

They wrought with cheerfulness on days of labor; but observed festivals
as intervals of idleness and pleasure. They kept up the Christmas carol,
sent true love knots on Valentine morning, ate pancakes on Shrovetide,
showed their wit on the first of April, and religiously cracked nuts on
Michaelmas Eve.

Being apprised of our approach, the whole neighborhood came out to meet
their minister, dressed in their finest clothes, and preceded by a pipe
and tabor. A feast also was provided for our reception, at which we sat
cheerfully down; and what the conversation wanted in wit was made up in
laughter.

Our little habitation was situated at the foot