Page:Leaves of Grass (1860).djvu/50

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-
opened 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;)
The President, holding a cabinet council, is surrounded
by the Great Secretaries,
On the piazza walk five friendly matrons with twined
arms,
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 gathered—it is the Fourth of Seventh Month
—What salutes of cannon and small arms!