While Isabella Alden captured the hearts of millions with her stories, her husband, Reverend G. R. Alden, occasionally added his own gentle voice to the pages of The Pansy magazine.

In this charming poem from the June 1891 issue, Rev. Alden shares the sights and sounds of tranquil Victorian summer days that the Alden family very much enjoyed.

The winds are wafted through the woods,
The birds are singing in the trees,
The buttercups with yellow hoods
Are bowing to the passing breeze.

The brook glides lazily along
Beneath the shadows of the birch;
The kine are listening to the song,
Silent and sober, as in church.

Cheering his mate the sparrow sings,
The catbird scolds about his nest;
The bee flies homeward as he brings
His gathered sweetness with the rest.

The crowned thistle shapely stands,
The elders bloom along the lane;
The furrow marks the harvest lands,
The gay colt tosses high his mane.

O, lovely June! With clover clad,
Writing they pledges o'er the field;
Thy smiling makes the farmer glad
With thoughts of what shall be the yield.

But I inhale thy fragrance now
Upon the present gladly look,
And watch the branches as they bow
Their greeting to the laughing brook.