Cottage and elm began their day together;
The one is breaking in the century's blast;
Looming triumphant over wind and weather,
The other shields its comrade to the last.

Five generations in their home-nest here,
Beneath the tree, have waxed to manhood's might;
Where still the boughs caress the ruin sere,
The sun with lingering kiss still bids good-night.

Grant us the gracious gift of lengthening days,
More winning and more mellow year by year;
Give us the home hearth with its cheering blaze,
And crown us with such comradeship as here!

"Seven years after that delightful day the old house had burned and the great elm had fallen in a storm. Musing on the twin disasters, we added these lines as a sequel."

The flame has claimed the relics of my rhyme;
The earth has called the elm back to her breast;
I ponder in the ruins, past my prime,
Upon the mysteries of change and rest.

But other suns will raise up elms more fair,
Beneath which better homes will rise;
And stronger hearts will weave the life-thread there,
And better minds will worthier rhymes devise.

On June 26, 1923, Wallace Nutting penned a verse from this poem to speak of his freindship with Frank Winslow, of Hardwick, Vermont. The poem reads:

(Of an old fireside with an elderly couple):

"Grant us the gracious gift of lengthening days,
More winning and more mellow year by year;
Give us a home hearth with its cheering blaze,
And crown us with such comradeship as here."

(My dearest friend was a Frank Winslow,
born in Hardwick)
Wallace Nutting
Jun 26, 1923