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I am enamour'd of growing out-doors,

Of men that live among cattle, or taste of the ocean or woods, Of the builders and steerers of ships, and' the wielders of axes and mauls, and the drivers of horses;

I can eat and sleep with them week in and week out.

250

What is commonest, cheapest, nearest, easiest, is Me;
Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns ;
Adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me ;
Not asking the sky to come down to my good will;
Scattering it freely forever.

15

The pure contralto sings in the organ loft;

The carpenter dresses his plank-the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild ascending lisp;

The married and unmarried children ride home to their Thanksgiving dinner;

The pilot seizes the king-pin-he heaves down with a strong

arm;

The mate stands braced in the whale-boat-lance and harpoon

are ready;

The duck-shooter walks by silent and cautious stretches;
The deacons are ordain'd with cross'd hands at the altar;

260

The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big

wheel;

3

The farmer stops by the bars, as he walks on a First-day loafe, and looks at the oats and rye ;

The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum, a confirm'd case, (He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's

bed-room ;)

The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his

case,

He turns his quid of tobacco, while his eyes blurr1 with the manu

script;

The malform'd limbs are tied to the surgeon's table,
What is removed drops horribly in a pail ;

The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand—the drunkard

nods by the bar-room stove;

1 1855'56 read "of the wielders," etc., "of the drivers," etc.

2 1855 reads " and cheapest and nearest and easiest."

270

1855'56 read "The farmer stops by the bars of a Sunday, and looks," etc.

3

4

1855'56 read his eyes get blurred."

1855 '56 '60 read "anatomist's table."

The machinist rolls up his sleeves-the policeman travels his beat the gate-keeper marks who pass;

The young fellow drives the express-wagon--(I love him, though I do not know him ;)

The half-breed straps on his light boots to compete in the race; The western turkey-shooting draws old and young-some lean on their rifles, some sit on logs,

Out from the crowd steps the marksman, takes his position, levels his piece;

The groups of newly-come immigrants cover the wharf or levee ; As the woolly-pates hoe in the sugar-field, the overseer views them from his saddle;

The bugle calls in the ball-room, the gentlemen run for their partners, the dancers bow to each other;

The youth lies awake in the cedar-roof'd garret, and harks to the musical rain;

The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron ;' 280

The squaw, wrapt in her yellow-hemm'd cloth, is offering moccasins and bead-bags for sale;

The connoisseur peers along the exhibition-gallery with halfshut eyes bent sideways;

As the deck-hands make fast the steamboat, the plank is thrown for the shore-going passengers;

The young sister holds out the skein, while the elder sister winds it off in a ball, and stops now and then for the knots;

The one-year wife is recovering and happy, having a week ago borne her first child ;3

The clean-hair'd Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine, or in the factory or mill;

The nine months' gone is in the parturition chamber, her faintness and pains are advancing;

The paving-man leans on his two-handed rammer-the reporter's lead flies swiftly over the note-book-the sign-painter is lettering with red and gold;

The canal boy trots on the tow-path-the book-keeper counts at his desk-the shoemaker waxes his thread;

11855'56 '60. After line 280 reads "The reformer ascends the platform, he spouts with his mouth and nose,

The company returns from its excursion, the darkey brings up the rear and bears the well-riddled target."

2

while" added in 1860.

3 1855 '56 "A week ago she bore," etc.

The conductor beats time for the band, and all the performers

follow him;

290

The child is baptized-the convert is making his first profes

sions;

The regatta is spread on the bay-the race is begun1-how the white sails sparkle!

The drover, watching his drove, sings out to them that would stray;

The pedler sweats with his pack on his back, (the purchaser higgling about the odd cent ;)

The camera and plate are prepared, the lady must sit for her daguerreotype;

The bride unrumples her white dress, the minute-hand of the clock moves slowly;

The opium-eater reclines with rigid head and just-open'd lips; The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on her tipsy and pimpled neck;

The crowd laugh at her blackguard oaths, the men jeer and wink to each other;

(Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths, nor jeer you ;) 300 The President, holding' a cabinet council, is surrounded by the Great Secretaries;

On the piazza walk three matrons stately and friendly with twined arms;3

The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of halibut in the hold;

The Missourian crosses the plains, toting his wares and his cattle ;

As the fare-collector goes through the train, he gives notice by the jingling of loose change;

The floor-men are laying the floor-the tinners are tinning the roof-the masons are calling for mortar;

In single file, each shouldering his hod, pass onward the laborers;

Seasons pursuing each other, the indescribable crowd is gather'd -it is the Fourth of Seventh-month'-(What salutes of cannon and small arms!)

Seasons pursuing each other, the plougher ploughs, the mower mows, and the winter-grain falls in the ground;

1 "the race is begun " added in 1867.

21855 '56 read "holds," "he is surrounded," etc.

1855 '56 '60 read "On the piazza walk five friendly matrons with twined arms."

1855 '56 read "July.”

Off on the lakes the pike-fisher watches and waits by the hole in the frozen surface;

310 The stumps stand thick round the clearing, the squatter strikes deep with his axe;

Flatboatmen make fast, towards dusk, near the cottonwood or pekan-trees;

Coon-seekers go' through the regions of the Red river, or through those drain'd by the Tennessee, or through those of the Arkansaw;

Torches shine in the dark that hangs on the Chattahoochee or Altamahaw;

Patriarchs sit at supper with sons and grandsons and greatgrandsons around them;

In walls of adobie, in canvas tents, rest hunters and trappers after their day's sport;

The city sleeps, and the country sleeps;

The living sleep for their time, the dead sleep for their time; The old husband sleeps by his wife, and the young husband sleeps by his wife;

And these one and all tend inward to me, and I tend outward

to them;

And such as it is to be of these, more or less, I am.

320

And of

16

I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise;
Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,

Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,

Stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse, and stuff'd with the stuff

that is fine;

One of the Great Nation, the nation of many nations, the smallest the same, and the largest the same;

A southerner soon as a northerner-a planter nonchalant and hospitable, down by the Oconee I live;"

A Yankee, bound by my own way, ready for trade, my joints the limberest joints on earth, and the sternest joints on earth;

A Kentuckian, walking the vale of the Elkhorn, in my deerskin leggings-a Louisianian or Georgian ;3

1 1855 reads "go now through."

2" down by the Oconee I live" added in 1867
3 "Louisianian or Georgian" added in 1867.

1

A boatman over lakes or bays, or along coasts-a Hoosier, Badger, Buckeye ;1 330 At home on Kanadian snow-shoes, or up in the bush, or with fishermen off Newfoundland;

At home in the fleet of ice-boats, sailing with the rest and tacking;

At home on the hills of Vermont, or in the woods of Maine, or the Texan ranch;

Comrade of Californians-comrade of free north-westerners, (loving their big proportions ;)

Comrade of raftsmen and coalmen-comrade of all who shake hands and welcome to drink and meat;

A learner with the simplest, a teacher of the thoughtfullest ;
A novice beginning, yet' experient of myriads of seasons;
Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion ;*
A fariner, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, quaker ;5
A prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician," priest.

I resist anything better than my own diversity;
I breathe' the air, but leave plenty after me,
And am not stuck up, and am in my place.

(The moth and the fish-eggs are in their place;

340

The suns I see, and the suns I cannot see, are in their place; The palpable is in its place, and the impalpable is in its place.)

17

These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands-they are not original with me;

If they are not yours as much as mine, they are nothing, or next to nothing;

1 1855 '56 '60. After line 330 read "A Louisianian or Georgian, a Pokeeasy from sand-hills and pines." See line 229.

2.66 'yet'
"added in 1860.

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3 1855 reads "Of every hue and trade and rank, of every caste and religion.' 1856 reads "Of every hue, trade, rank, of every caste and religion." 1860 reads "Of every hue, trade, rank, caste and religion."

1855 '56 '60. After line 338 read "Not merely of the New World, but

of Africa, Europe, Asia-a wandering savage."

5 1855 reads "A farmer, mechanic, or artist-a gentleman, sailor, lover or quaker." 1856 '60 read "A farmer, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, lover, quaker.'

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1855 reads " or priest."

1855'56 '60 read "And breathe."

8 1855'56 '60. After line 348 read "If they do not enclose everything, they are next to nothing."

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