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![[Picture: The Old Farm Gate.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Sandhurst-TableBookOfArt/pages/135-the-old-farm-gate/135-the-old-farm-gate-q85-750x588.jpg "[Picture: The Old Farm Gate.]")
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The Old Farm Gate., in England more
children, people, bare feet, urchins, poverty, rural scenes, gates, farms, forests, trees, boys, girls, animals, dogs, bucolic scenes
This steel engraving is signed by William Collins (artist) and Dick (engraver). It’s possible this is Archibald Dick, but he died some fifteen years before this book was produced. William Collins was a genre painter.
The picture shows five children playing on an old wooden gate to a field. Three of the children are barefoot; one is in the process of gleefully kicking off his shoes. The clothing is in rags but they are happy. A dog appears to be barking at the boy pushing the gate, and another has tumbled to the ground. In the background is a forest.
The book gives an extract from the poem “The Old Farm-Gate” by Eliza Cook as a caption:
’Twas here that the urchins would gather to play
In the shadows of twilight, or sunny mid-day,
For the stream running nigh and the hillocks of sand,
Were temptations no dirt-loving rogue could withstand;
But to swing on the gate rails, to clamber and ride
Was the utmost of pleasure, of glory, and pride;
And the car of the victor, or carriage of state,
Never carried such hearts as that old farm gate.
(p. 235)
