I call her old. She has one family Whose claim is good to being settled here Before the era of colonization, And before that of exploration even. John Smith remarked them as he coasted by Dangling their legs and fishing off a wharf At the Isles of Shoals, and satisfied himself They weren’t Red Indians but veritable Pre-primitives of the white race, dawn people, Like those who furnished Adam’s sons with wives; However uninnocent they may have been In being there so early in our history. They’d been there then a hundred years or more. Pity he didn’t ask what they were up to At that date with a wharf already built, And take their name. They’ve since told me their name— Today an honored one in Nottingham. As for what they were up to more than fishing— Suppose they weren’t behaving Puritanly, The hour had not yet struck for being good, Mankind had not yet gone on the Sabbatical. It became an explorer of the deep Not to explore too deep in others’ business. Did you but know of him, New Hampshire has One real reformer who would change the world So it would be accepted by two classes, Artists the minute they set up as artists, Before, that is, they are themselves accepted, And boys the minute they get out of college. I can’t help thinking those are tests to go by. And she has one I don’t know what to call him, Who comes from Philadelphia every year With a great flock of chickens of rare breeds He wants to give the educational Advantages of growing almost wild Under the watchful eye of hawk and eagle— Dorkings because they’re spoken of by Chaucer, Sussex because they’re spoken of by Herrick. She has a touch of gold. New Hampshire gold—[2] You may have heard of it. I had a farm Offered me not long since up Berlin way With a mine on it that was worked for gold; But not gold in commercial quantities. Just enough gold to make the engagement rings And marriage rings of those who owned the farm. What gold more innocent could one have asked for? One of my children ranging after rocks Lately brought home from Andover or Canaan A specimen of beryl with a trace Of radium. I know with radium The trace would have to be the merest trace To be below the threshold of commercial, But trust New Hampshire not to have enough Of radium or anything to sell.