The Cornflower, and Other Poems. Jean Blewett

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      A woman with a heart of gold

      I heard her called before I knew

      How noble was that heart and true,

      How full of tenderness untold.

      Her sympathies both broad and sure,

      Her one desire to do the right —

      Clear visioned from the inner light

      God gives to souls unworldly, pure.

      A heart of gold that loves and gives,

      God's almoner from day to day,

      Of her there is but this to say:

      The world is better that she lives.

      The day she came we were planting corn,

      The west eighty-acre field, —

      These prairie farms are great for size,

      And they're sometimes great for yield.

      "The new school-ma'am is up to the house,"

      The chore-boy called out to me;

      I went in wishing anyone else

      Had been put in chief trustee.

      I was to question that girl, you see,

      Of the things she ought to know;

      As for these same things, I knew right well

      I'd forgot them long ago.

      I hadn't kept track of women's ways,

      'Bout all I knew of the sex

      Was that they were mighty hard to please,

      And easy enough to vex.

      My sister Mary, who ruled my house —

      And me – with an iron hand,

      Was all the woman I knew real well —

      Her I didn't understand.

      But I'd no call to grumble at fate,

      Fifty, well off, and unwed;

      Young as a lad in spite of the dust

      Old Time had thrown on my head.

      I engaged the school-ma'am on the spot,

      And the reason, I surmise,

      Was this, she didn't giggle or blush,

      But looked me fair in the eyes.

      The planting over, why, every lad

      In a space of ten good mile

      Was off for the school with a sudden zeal

      That made all us old folks smile.

      How she took to our wide prairie

      After towns with narrow streets!

      To watch that west eighty-acre field

      Was one of her queer conceits.

      "You planted that corn the day I came,"

      She said, "and I love to go

      And watch the sun-mother kiss and coax

      Each slim green stalk to grow."

      I called her "Cornflower" when she took

      To wearing 'em in her belt.

      The young chaps were all in love with her —

      And I knew just how they felt.

      Oh, I tell you that was a summer,

      Such sunshine, such dew, such rain;

      Never saw crops grow so in my life —

      Don't expect I will again.

      To watch that west eighty-acre field,

      When the fall came clear and cold,

      Was something like a sermon to me —

      Made me think of streets of gold.

      But about that time the new school-ma'am

      Had words with the first trustee;

      A scholar had taken the fever

      And she was for blaming me.

      That schoolhouse should be raised from the ground —

      Grave reason there for alarm;

      A new coat of plaster be put on

      That the children be kept warm.

      A well – a good one – should take the place

      Of the deathtrap that was there.

      "This should all be done at once," she said.

      Cost five hundred dollars clear!

      I told her I couldn't think of it,

      But, when all my work was through,

      If the taxes came in middling good,

      I would see what I could do.

      "Remember you're only the steward,"

      She said, "of your acres broad,

      And that the cry of a little child

      Goes straight to the ears of God."

      I remarked that it wasn't her place

      To dictate to the trustee,

      And Cornflower lifted her eyes of blue

      And looked what she thought of me.

      That night as we came up from the fields,

      And talked of the threatened frost,

      The chore-boy called out, half pleased, half scared:

      "The school-ma'am's got herself lost."

      I turned me about and spoke no word;

      I'd find her and let her see

      I held no spite 'gainst a wayward girl

      For lecturing a trustee.

      For I knew before I found the knot

      Of ribbon that she had worn,

      That somehow Betty had lost her way

      In the forest of ripened corn.

      The sun went down and left the world

      Beautiful, happy and good;

      True, the girl and myself had quarrelled,

      But when I found her and stood

      With silver stars mistily shining

      Through the deep blue of the skies,

      Heard somebody sob like a baby,

      Saw tears in somebody's eyes.

      Why, I just whispered, "Betty, Betty,"

      Then whispered "Betty" some more;

      Not another word did I utter —

      I'll stick to this o'er and o'er.

      You needn't ask me to explain, friends,

      I don't know how 'twas myself,

      That first "Betty" said I was ashamed

      Of my greedy love of pelf.

      The second one told her I'd be glad

      To raise the old schoolhouse up,

      And be in haste to put down a well,

      With a pump and drinking cup.

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