Poems (Barker)/A Memory

by Alice J. Green Barker

For works with similar titles, see A Memory.

A Memory.

Two little girls, with faces bright,
 Went out in the field one frosty morn,
Wrapped in their jackets warm and snug,
 To help dear father husk the corn.
Merry their laugh, and gay their talk,
 While the eldest said in happy glee,
"Lucy and I will take one row,
 And you, dear papa, must carry three."

Into the wagon the ripe ears fell,
 And the father whistled a pleasant tune,
And the little ones worked with a ready will,
 From the early morn, till the call at noon.
Then home they rode, on the heaped up load,
 Filled with a joy, to them, sublime,
For was not the money they earned, to go
 For the father and mother, at Christmas time?

And they whispered the secret, soft and low
 Of the wonderful gifts their hands should earn,
And day after day in the frosty fields
 A lesson of love their young hearts learn.
"Papa and mamma will never guess
 What we will do with our money, dear,
And we'll give it to Grandma to keep," said one,
 "Till the beautiful Christmas time is near."

And never mind if the frost is cold,
 That lies so thick on the fields of corn,
We'll forget there ever was frost or snow
 When we bring our gifts on the Christmas morn."
****************
In the quiet peace of the dear old farm,
 The father and mother still remain,
But the daughters find in another field
 The work for their hands, be it joy or pain.

And they smile as they think of the frosty fields,
 And the two little girls in the early morn,
Riding away with such happy hearts
 To help the dear father husk the corn.
But they do not smile, as they think again
 Of their little offerings, laid away,
With such tender care in the dear old home,
 By the father and mother, now growing grey.