University of Virginia Library

4   The log at the wood-pile, the axe supported by it;
The sylvan hut, the vine over the doorway, the space      clear'd for a garden,
The irregular tapping of rain down on the leaves,      after the storm is lull'd,
The wailing and moaning at intervals, the thought of      the sea,
The thought of ships struck in the storm, and put on      their beam-ends, and the cutting away of      masts;
The sentiment of the huge timbers of old-fashion'd      houses and barns;
The remember'd print or narrative, the voyage at a      venture of men, families, goods,
The disembarkation, the founding of a new city,
The voyage of those who sought a New England and      found it — the outset anywhere,
The settlements of the Arkansas, Colorado, Ottawa,      Willamette,
The slow progress, the scant fare, the axe, rifle, saddle-     bags;
The beauty of all adventurous and daring persons,
The beauty of wood-boys and wood-men, with their      clear untrimm'd faces,
The beauty of independence, departure, actions that      rely on themselves,
The American contempt for statutes and ceremonies,      the boundless impatience of restraint,
The loose drift of character, the inkling through ran-     dom types, the solidification;
The butcher in the slaughter-house, the hands aboard      schooners and sloops, the raftsman, the pioneer,
Lumbermen in their winter camp, day-break in the      woods, stripes of snow on the limbs of trees,      the occasional snapping,
The glad clear sound of one's own voice, the merry      song, the natural life of the woods, the strong      day's work,
The blazing fire at night, the sweet taste of supper      the talk, the bed of hemlock boughs, and the      bear-skin;
— The house-builder at work in cities or anywhere,
The preparatory jointing, squaring, sawing, mortising,
The hoist-up of beams, the push of them in their      places, laying them regular,
Setting the studs by their tenons in the mortises, ac-     cording as they were prepared,
The blows of mallets and hammers, the attitudes of      the men, their curv'd limbs,
Bending, standing, astride the beams, driving in pins,      holding on by posts and braces,
The hook'd arm over the plate, the other arm wielding      the axe,
The floor-men forcing the planks close, to be nail'd,
Their postures bringing their weapons downward on      the bearers,
The echoes resounding through the vacant building;
The huge store-house carried up in the city, well      under way,
The six framing-men, two in the middle, and two at      each end, carefully bearing on their shoulders      a heavy stick for a cross-beam,
The crowded line of masons with trowels in their      right hands, rapidly laying the long side-wall,      two hundred feet from front to rear,
The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click      of the trowels striking the bricks,
The bricks, one after another, each laid so workman-     like in its place, and set with a knock of the      trowel-handle,
The piles of materials, the mortar on the mortar-     boards, and the steady replenishing by the hod-     men;
— Spar-makers in the spar-yard, the swarming row of      well-grown apprentices,
The swing of their axes on the square-hew'd log,      shaping it toward the shape of a mast,
The brisk short crackle of the steel driven slantingly      into the pine,
The butter-color'd chips flying off in great flakes and      slivers,
The limber motion of brawny young arms and hips in      easy costumes;
The constructor of wharves, bridges, piers, bulk-heads,      floats, stays against the sea;
— The city fireman — the fire that suddenly bursts forth      in the close-pack'd square,
The arriving engines, the hoarse shouts, the nimble      stepping and daring,
The strong command through the fire-trumpets, the      falling in line, the rise and fall of the arms      forcing the water,
The slender, spasmic blue-white jets — the bringing to      bear of the hooks and ladders, and their      execution,
The crash and cut away of connecting wood-work, or      through floors, if the fire smoulders under      them,
The crowd with their lit faces, watching — the glare      and dense shadows;
— The forger at his forge-furnace, and the user of iron      after him,
The maker of the axe large and small, and the welder      and temperer,
The chooser breathing his breath on the cold steel.      and trying the edge with his thumb,
The one who clean-shapes the handle and sets it      firmly in the socket;
The shadowy processions of the portraits of the past      users also,
The primal patient mechanics, the architects and      engineers,
The far-off Assyrian edifice and Mizra edifice,
The Roman lictors preceding the consuls,
The antique European warrior with his axe in combat,
The uplifted arm, the clatter of blows on the helmeted      head,
The death-howl, the limpsey tumbling body, the rush      of friend and foe thither,
The seige of revolted lieges determin'd for liberty,
The summons to surrender, the battering at castle      gates, the truce and parley;
The sack of an old city in its time,
The bursting in of mercenaries and bigots tumultuously      and disorderly,
Roar, flames, blood, drunkenness, madness,
Goods freely rifled from houses and temples, screams      of women in the gripe of brigands,
Craft and thievery of camp-followers, men running, old      persons despairing,
The hell of war, the cruelties of creeds,
The list of all executive deeds and words, just or un-     just,
The power of personality, just or unjust.