The Grist Mill

The Grist Mill is one of the poems from my book about Old Sturbridge Village: Sprung from the Soil. It is written for students in Grades 4-8 but anyone who loves Old Sturbridge Village will enjoy it. The poems are arranged, for the most part, in the same order one could take when seeing the exhibits after leaving the Visitors’ Center. The pen and ink drawing is one of a dozen of illustrations by the talented artist, Ian Newbury. More information about Sprung from the Soil can be found in the Book section of the website.

For quite some time, snow and ice

Locked the wheel in a frozen vise,

But now, again, the water flows

And to the mill the housewife goes.

She brings with her a sack of wheat

Which her hungry family will eat

After it’s been ground for flour.

She comes at an early hour

To have all day for baking bread

That her family may be well fed.

After the miller takes his toll,

He pours the grain into a hole

In the upper, or runner, stone.

He opens the sluice; with a groan

The runner wheel begins to spin

Above its lower bed stone twin.

Not quite touching, the runner moves

Over the bed stone. Both have grooves

That, like scissor blades, cut the grain.

A chest stands ready to contain,

As it moves off the stones, the grist

Which the miller, as his sons assist,

Scoops into the customer’s sack,

Then to her home she hurries back.