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The Lesson

From the Newark Evening Star, August 19, 1914.

She gazes at her little brood,
    Their clamorous wants she must supply.
New tenderness is in her tones—
    “Oh, blest and happy mother I!

“But yesterday this humdrum life,
    Its homely burdens, wearied me.
Impatient I, and discontent,
    My cares were all that I could see!

“From dawn to dusk new tasks arose—
    How blessed each one seems today!
The plain farm duties! How I joy
    Here, safe, protected, dull to stay!

“The plenteous fields are stretching wide,
    The quiet village lies below,
No rumor comes of pillage, want,
    There’s no alarm of threatening foe!

“Gay hollyhocks nod by the wall,
    The boughs with ripening fruit hang low,
From yonder oat field sounds the voice
    Of one whose fealty well I know!

God pity women overseas,
    Whose husbands, sons, must give to die.
God make me thankful! They deserved
    Love, safety, peace as much as I!”

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