Will Carleton
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"William McKendree Carleton" was an American poet. Carleton's poems were most often about his rural life.[http://www.hillsdalecounty.info/history0053.asp Will Carleton The Poet and the Poem Over the Hill to the Poor House]

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Things at home are crossways, and Betsy and I are out.

So I have talked with Betsey and Betsey has talked with me, And we have agreed together that we can't never agree.

I've watched my duty, straight an' true,An' tried to do it well;Part of the time kept heaven in view,An' part steered clear of hell.

If there's a heaven upon the earth, a fellow knows it whenHe's been away from home a week, and then gets back again.

"Careful with fire," is good advice, we know:"Careful with words," is ten times doubly so.Thoughts unexpressed may sometimes fall back dead;But God himself can't kill them when they're said.

Worm or beetle -- drought or tempest -- on a farmer's land may fall,Each is loaded full o' ruin, but a mortgage beats 'em all.

We arg'ed the thing at breakfast, we arg'ed the thing at tea, And the more we arg'ed the question, the more we didn't agree.

Underneath an apple-treeSat a maiden and her lover;And the thoughts within her heYearned, in silence, to discover.Round them danced the sunbeams bright,Green the grass-lawn stretched before themWhile the apple blossoms whiteHung in rich profusion o'er them.

To appreciate heaven well, it's good for a person to have some fifteen minutes of hell.