<h2><SPAN name="Quest" id="Quest"></SPAN>THE QUEST</h2>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">There once was a restless boy<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Who dwelt in a home by the sea,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Where the water danced for joy,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">And the wind was glad and free;<br/></span>
<span>But he said: "Good mother, O let me go!<br/></span>
<span>For the dullest place in the world, I know,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Is this little brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">This old brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Under the apple tree.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">"I will travel east and west;<br/></span>
<span class="i3">The loveliest homes I'll see;<br/></span>
<span class="i2">And when I have found the best,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Dear mother, I'll come for thee.<br/></span>
<span>I'll come for thee in a year and a day,<br/></span>
<span>And joyfully then we'll haste away<br/></span>
<span class="i3">From this little brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">This old brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Under the apple tree."<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">So he travelled here and there,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">But never content was he,<br/></span>
<span class="i2">Though he saw in lands most fair<br/></span>
<span class="i3">The costliest homes there be.<br/></span>
<span>He something missed from the sea or sky,<br/></span>
<span>Till he turned again with a wistful sigh<br/></span>
<span class="i3">To the little brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">The old brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Under the apple tree.<br/></span></div>
<div class="stanza">
<span class="i2">Then the mother saw and smiled,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">While her heart grew glad and free.<br/></span>
<span class="i2">"Hast thou chosen a home, my child?<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Ah, where shall we dwell?" quoth she.<br/></span>
<span>And he said: "Sweet mother, from east to west,<br/></span>
<span>The loveliest home, and the dearest and best,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Is a little brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">An old brown house,<br/></span>
<span class="i3">Under an apple tree."<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p class="citation"><span class="smcap">Eudora S. Bumstead</span></p>
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