Explore "The Ancestral Dwellings (Songs for America)" by Henry Van Dyke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Dear to my heart are the ancestral dwellings of America, / Dearer than if they were haunted by ghosts of royal splendour; / They are simple enough to be great in their friendly dignity, -- / Homes that were built by the brave beginners of a nation.
I love the old white farmhouses nestled in New England valleys, / Ample and long and low, with elm-trees feathering over them: / Borders of box in the yard, and lilacs, and old-fashioned roses, / A fan-light above the door, and little square panes in the windows, / The wood-shed piled with maple and birch and hickory ready for winter, / The gambrel-roof with its garret crowded with household relics, -- / All the tokens of prudent thrift and the spirit of self-reliance.