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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Page 594

 
 
Thomas Hood. (1799–1845) (continued)
 
6087
    With fingers weary and worn,
  With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags
  Plying her needle and thread,—
  Stitch! stitch! stitch!
          The Son of the Shirt.
6088
    O men with sisters dear,
  O men with mothers and wives,
It is not linen you’re wearing out,
  But human creatures’ lives! 1 
          The Son of the Shirt.
6089
    Sewing at once a double thread,
  A shroud as well as a shirt.
          The Son of the Shirt.
6090
    O God! that bread should be so dear,
  And flesh and blood so cheap!
          The Son of the Shirt.
6091
    No blessed leisure for love or hope,
  But only time for grief.
          The Son of the Shirt.
6092
    My tears must stop, for every drop
  Hinders needle and thread.
          The Son of the Shirt.
6093
    A wife who preaches in her gown,
And lectures in her night-dress.
          The Surplice Question.
6094
    I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like silence, listening
To silence.
          Ode. Autumn.
6095
    Peace and rest at length have come
  All the day’s long toil is past,
And each heart is whispering, “Home,
  Home at last.”
          Home at last.
6096
    Ben Battle was a soldier bold,
  And used to war’s alarms;
But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
  So he laid down his arms.
          Faithless Nellie Gray.
6097
    Pity it is to slay the meanest thing.
          Plea of the Midsummer Fairies.
 
Note 1.
See Scott, page 493. [back]