A row of cottages I know quite well,
And also much of their past history;
But former records of them fail to tell
Of such a rare and wondrous tenantry.
The building plain, without one touch of art,
Square and severe to an observant eye;
No strip of garden to relieve in part
The quiet country lane that passes by.
Three occupants are bachelors, indeed,
The fourth a widower – thrice married, though –
The fifth a man whose wife's an invalid,
The sixth a widow and her children, two.
You need not ask where live the bachelors,
Or which the widower's own domicile,
Nor why that wife does not as she prefers;
But where the widow lives is like a smile.
The doors and windows, where these sages dwell,
Show how they can their homes manipulate:
The blinds and curtains their own stories tell,
As do the floor, the furniture, and grate.
Men often boast of their domestic skill,
And keeping house as well as women can,
But women smile and say, – "They never will;
Strange that such thoughts should enter any man.'
Men say that things will do – and do they must,
But when a woman comes, she works a change;
And visitors, or passers-by will trust
Far more in what a woman's hands arrange.
The men of whom I speak are somewhat wise,
But surely not in household management-
A fact which they themselves do not disguise,
Thought they to woman's rule do not consent.
But what of that? It is their own affair.
And now of other things I wish to tell:
Five men there are, and I will ask you, where
Can such be found who in one building dwell?
They now are old and do not work to live;
But, hobby-like, their hands and brains employ:
The plainest evidence they strive to give
Of what they did in spheres they could enjoy.
One wrought in wood – most able in his way,
And an instructor wise in technic art:
In mathematics his chief interest lay,
And still delights such knowledge to impart.
His neighbour sought, amidst his busy life,
To travel much the gospel to declare,
And now, unhampered by life's toil and strife,
Goes forth to preach and does a worthy share.
Postmaster now, another might have been,
In some large town or city of the land;
But turned aside to choose another scene-
Able alike in brain as well as hand.
The fourth, whose mind perceptive and alert,
Grips like a vice – capacious as a store;
Logician and grammarian – an expert,
And of historic things, but few know more.
The last a tuner, but one highly skilled,
Who studied much, machinery to improve,
And things invented which his aim fulfilled;
An author now whose book is on the move.
These five, the like of which are rarely found
In one old building by a country lane:
We hope they'll strive to make it worthy ground
Which memory long will cherish to retain.
Their needs are small and easily supplied
As quietly they move along the way,
Not worried or confused, they set aside,
The fancies and the fashions of the day.
We wish them well, through their remaining years,
As evening sun descends the Western sky,
And may they trust in Him who scatters fears
With buoyant hope that glorious day is nigh.
Page Ref: LH_18
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