Such a debate could never be decided, but the subject was well suited to the fantastic school of poets because it afforded an opportunity for much ingenuity of argument and for far-fetched comparisons, which led nowhere. Late in life, in her poem, _Contemplations_, she wrote some genuine poetry, little marred by imitation of the fantastic school. Spenser seems to have become her master in later years. No one without genuine poetic ability could have written such lines as:-- "I heard the merry grasshopper then sing, The black-clad cricket bear a second part, They kept one tune, and played on the same string, Seeming to glory in their little art." These lines show both poetic ease and power:-- "The mariner that on smooth waves doth glide Sings merrily, and steers his bark with ease, As if he had command of wind and tide, And now become great master of the seas." The comparative excellence of her work in such an atmosphere and amid the domestic cares incident to rearing eight children is remarkable. NATHANIEL WARD, 1578?-1652 [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF TITLE PAGE TO WARD'S "SIMPLE COBBLER OF AGAWAM"] In 1647 Nathaniel Ward, who had been educated for the law, but who afterward became a clergyman, published a strange work known as _The Simple Cobbler of Agawam, in America_ "willing," as the sub-title continues, "to help mend his native country, lamentably tattered, both in the upper leather and sole, with all the honest stitches he can take." He had been assistant pastor at Agawam (Ipswich) until ill health caused him to resign. He then busied himself in compiling a code of laws and in other writing before he returned to England in 1647. The following two sentences from his unique book show two points of the religious faith of the Puritans: (1) the belief in a personal devil always actively seeking the destruction of mankind, and (2) the assumption that the vitals of the "elect" are safe from the mortal sting of sin. "Satan is now in his passions, he feels his passion approaching, he loves to fish in roiled waters. Though that dragon cannot sting the vitals of the elect mortally, yet that Beelzebub can fly-blow their intellectuals miserably." He is often a bitter satirist, a sort of colonial Carlyle, as this attack on woman shows:--