20. HERE THEY BUILT THEIR LONELY CABIN.

By Lewis Sprague Mills

One ford above, one ford below,

Easy crossings of the Tunxis,

For shallow there the water's flow

In the Town of fair Barkhamsted.

Here they built their lonely cabin

In a Paradise of Beauty.

Shaded by a spreading larch tree,

Midst the spring time's rich profusion,

Near the Tunxis winding southward,

Like a pathway through the forest,

With two fords for easy crossing,

Where the leafy boughs are parted

And the slanting rays of sunlight

Glisten on the tiny wavelets

As they dance along the shallows

O'er the pebbles and the boulders.

Here the mountain bending eastward,

Leaves a place for habitation

Midst the rocks and mighty ledges —

“Light-House Flats” beside the river,

On the side of Ragged Mountain,

In the town of fair Barkhamsted.