Iron-works, forge-fires in the mountains, or by the river-banksmen around feeling the melt with huge crowbarslumps of ore, the due combining of ore, limestone, coal -the blast-furnace and the puddling-furnace, the louplump at the bottom of the melt at last—the rolling-mill, the stumpy bars of pig-iron, the strong, clean-shaped Trail for railroads ;

Oil-works, silk-works, white-lead-works, the sugar-house, steamsaws, the great mills and factories;

Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for façades, or window or doorlintels-the mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the thumb,

Oakum, the oakum-chisel, the caulking-iron-the kettle of boiling vault-cement, and the fire under the kettle,

The cotton-bale, the stevedore's hook, the saw and buck of the sawyer, the mould of the moulder, the working-knife of the butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice,

The implements for daguerreotyping-the tools of the rigger, grappler, sail-maker, block-maker,

Goods of gutta-percha, papier-maché, colors, brushes, brushmaking, glazier's implements,

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In them themes, hints, provokers—if not, the whole earth has no themes, hints, provokers, and never had.

I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile-I do not advise you to stop,

I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,

But I say that none lead to greater, sadder, happier, than those lead to.

Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,

In things best known to you, finding the best, or as good as the best,

In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest, strongest, lovingest,

Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place-not for another hour, but this hour,

Man in the first you see or touch-always in your friend, brother, nighest neighbor-Woman in your mother, lover, wife,

The popular tastes and occupations taking precedence in poems or any where, You work women and workmen of These States having your own divine and strong life,

Looking the President always sternly in the face, unbending, nonchalant, Understanding that he is to be kept by you to short and sharp account of himself,

And all else thus far giving place to men and women like you.

O you robust, sacred!

I cannot tell you how I love you;

All I love America for, is contained in men and women like you.

The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner's ornaments, the decanter and glasses, the shears and flat-iron,

The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal-the making of all sorts of edged tools,

The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done by brewers, also by wine-makers, also vinegarmakers,

Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting, distilling, sign-painting, lime-burning, cotton-pickingelectro-plating, electrotyping, stereotyping,

Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines, ploughingmachines, thrashing-machines, steam wagons,

The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray; Pyrotechny, letting off color'd fire-works at night, fancy figures and jets;

Beef on the butcher's stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the butcher in his killing-clothes,

The pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the scalder's tub, gutting, the cutter's cleaver, the packer's maul, and the plenteous winter-work of pork-packing; Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice-the barrels and the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles on wharves and levees;

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The men, and the work of the men, on railroads, coasters, fishboats, canals;

The daily routine of your own or any man's life-the shop, yard, store, or factory;

These shows all near you by day and night—workman ! whoever you are, your daily life!

In that and them the heft of the heaviest-in them far more than you estimated, and far less also;

In them realities for you and me-in them poems for you and

me;

In them, not yourself—you and your Soul enclose all things, regardless of estimation;

In them the development good-in them, all themes and hints.

I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile-I do not advise you to stop ;

I do not say leadings you thought great are not great;
But I say that none lead to greater, than those lead to.

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7

Will you seek afar off? you surely come back at last,

In things best known to you, finding the best, or as good as

the best,

In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest; Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place-not for another hour, but this hour;

Man in the first you see or touch-always in friend, brother, nighest neighbor-Woman in mother, lover, wife; The popular tastes and employments taking precedence in poems or any where,

You workwomen and workmen of These States having your own divine and strong life,

And all else giving place to men and women like you.

THOUGHTS.

First published in 1860, being part of "Thought 4" in 1860 and 1867 editions.

I

OF ownership-As if one fit to own things could not at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them into himself or herself.

2

First published in 1860, being "Thought 2" in 1860 and 1867 editions.

Of waters, forests, hills;

Of the earth at large, whispering through medium of me; Of vista-Suppose some sight in arriere, through the formative chaos, presuming the growth, fulness, life, now attain'd on the journey;

(But I see the road continued, and the journey ever continued ;) -Of what was once lacking on earth, and in due time has become supplied-And of what will yet be supplied, Because all I see and know, I believe to have purport in what will yet be supplied.

THE SLEEPERS.

First published in 1855. In 1856 under title of "Night Poem." In 1860 '67 under title of "Sleep-Chasings."

I WANDER all night in my vision,

I

Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,

Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers,

Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill-assorted, contradictory,

Pausing, gazing, bending, and stopping.

How solemn they look there, stretch'd and still!

How quiet they breathe, the little children in their cradles !

The wretched features of ennuyés, the white features of corpses, the livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,

The gash'd bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their strongdoor'd rooms, the sacred idiots, the new-born emerging from gates, and the dying emerging from gates,

The night pervades them and infolds them.

ΙΟ

The married couple sleep calmly in their bed-he with his palm on the hip of the wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband,

The sisters sleep lovingly side by side in their bed,

The men sleep lovingly side by side in theirs,

And the mother sleeps, with her little child carefully wrapt.

The blind sleep, and the deaf and dumb sleep,

The prisoner sleeps well in the prison-the run-away son sleeps; The murderer that is to be hung next day-how does he sleep? And the murder'd person-how does he sleep?

The female that loves unrequited sleeps,
And the male that loves unrequited sleeps,

20

The head of the money-maker that plotted all day sleeps, And the enraged and treacherous dispositions-all, all' sleep.

2

I stand in the dark with drooping eyes by the worst-suffering and the most restless,'

I pass my hands soothingly to and fro a few inches from them, The restless sink in their beds-they fitfully sleep.

Now I pierce the darkness-new beings appear,3

The earth recedes from me into the night,

I saw that it was beautiful, and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.

I go from bedside to bedside-I sleep close with the other sleepers, each in turn,

I dream in my dream all the dreams of the other dreamers, 30 And I become the other dreamers.

3

I am a dance-Play up, there! the fit is whirling me fast!

I am the ever-laughing—it is new moon and twilight,

I see the hiding of douceurs-I see nimble ghosts whichever way I look,

Cache, and cache again, deep in the ground and sea, and where it is neither ground or sea.

Well do they do their jobs, those journeymen divine,

Only from me can they hide nothing, and would not if they could,

I reckon I am their boss, and they make me a pet besides,
And surround me and lead me, and run ahead when I walk,
To lift their cunning covers, to signify me with stretch'd arms,
and resume the way;

40

Onward we move! a gay gang of blackguards! with mirthshouting music, and wild-flapping pennants of joy!

1 "all, all" added in 1860.

2 1855'56 read "I stand with drooping eyes by the worst suffering and restless.'

8 Line 26 added in 1860.