:And the old drunkard staggering home from the outhouse of the tavern, whence he had lately risen,

And the school-mistress that passed on her way to the school,

And the friendly boys that passed—and the quarrelsome boys,

And the tidy and fresh-cheeked girls—and the bare-foot negro boy and girl,

And all the changes of city and country, wherever he went.

4. His own parents.

He that had fathered him, and she that conceived him in her womb, and birthed him,

They gave this child more of themselves than that,

They gave him afterward every day—they and of them became part of him.

5. The mother at home, quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table,

The mother with mild words—clean her cap and gown, a wholesome odor falling off her person and clothes as she walks by;

The father, strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, angered, unjust,

The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the crafty lure,

The family usages, the language, the company, the furniture—the yearning and swelling heart,

Affection that will not be gainsayed—the sense of what is real—the thought if, after all, it should prove unreal,

The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time—the curious whether and how,