Poetry

jumped aboard the car,
For he knew there would be war;
Smith met Brown with triumphant look,
Said he: I have got you the book;
Brown’s feelings now no one could paint,
He there did show he was no saint;
But to big own home he now returned,
And fierce rage in his bosom burned;
He was not fit for Knight of Garter
When he brought in the third martyr.

From roots of prose of various climes,
Each tale thus grows all clad in rhymes.

Harvest Home Festivals

Sept., 1884.

In summer time it doth seem good
To seek the shade of the green wood,
For it doth banish all our care
When we gaze on scene so fair.

And birds do here in branches sing
So merrily in early spring,
And lovingly they here do pair
Their mutual joys together share.

Here nature’s charming, never rude,
Inspiring all with happy mood,
Tables had choice fruits of season,
And we too had feast of reason.

Episcopal Harvest Home

To dinner table all did march
Through evergreen triumphal arch,
On top the Union Jack it floats,
On each side sheaves of wheat and oats.

Great pumpkins and big ears of corn,
They do this rural arch adorn,
We are reminded now ’tis fall,
And boys enjoy game of baseball.

With joy at night each one did gaze
At the mighty bonfire’s blaze,
The tree leaves shone like silver bright,
The lanterns too were pleasing sight.

Father Ranney, the Cheese Pioneer

This is our earliest cheese ode. The Ingersoll factory has been removed to Thamesford.

When Father Ranney left the States,
In Canada to try the fates,
He settled down in Dereham,
Then no dairyman lived near him;
He was the first there to squeeze
His cows’ milk into good cheese,
And at each Provincial show
His famed cheese was all the go.

Chorus

Then long life to Father Ranney
May he wealth and honour gain aye.

He always took the first prize
Both for quality and size,
But many of his neighbors
Now profit by his labors,
And the ladies dress in silk
From the proceeds of the milk,
But those who buy their butter,
How dear it is, they mutter.

Chorus

Then long life to Father Ranney,
May he his health retain aye.

The farmers can not be beat,
They have both cheese and their wheat,
Though now their greatest care is
For to watch o’er their dairies,
They carefully fill their mows
With provender for their cows,
And they thus enrich the soil
With much profit for their toil.

Chorus

We will sing this refrain aye,
Long life to Father Ranney.

The motto “union is strength”
Is carried out at length,
In the most compact array
At every cheese factory,
You’ll see without going far as
There is one kept by Harris,
The factory of Ingersoll,
Just out at the first toll.

Chorus

May he never suffer pain aye,
The Father of cheesemen Ranney.

Or you may go all the way
To see one kept by Galloway,
And out in the Norwiches
Dairymen are making riches,
And honor has been won
By Harvey Farrington,
The same path is trodden
By folks about Culloden.

Chorus

May his strength never wane aye,
The great dairyman Ranney.

And of late we saw some
Very good cheese from Lawson,
All around Mt. Elgin
Dairymen have well done,
And out in East Nissouri
They make some scores a day,
From Jarvis and Elliott
Some good cheese are bought.

Chorus

And we will all remain aye,
Indebted to Father Ranney.

Now we close this glorious theme,
This song of curds and rich cream,
You can buy your hoops and screws,
And all supplies for dairy use,
Milk cans and vats, all things like these,
In Ingersoll great mart for cheese,
Here buyers all do congregate
And pay for cheese the highest rate.

Chorus

So we call on you again aye,
To honor Father Ranney.

Hints to Cheese Makers

All those who quality do prize
Must study color, taste and size,
And keep their dishes clean and sweet,
And all things round their factories neat,
For dairymen insist that these
Are all important points in cheese.

Grant has here a famous work
Devoted to the cure of pork,
For dairymen find it doth pay
To fatten pigs upon the whey,
For there is money raising grease
As well as in the making cheese.

Ode on the Mammoth Cheese

Weighing over 7,000 pounds.

We have seen thee, queen of cheese,
Lying quietly at your ease,
Gently fanned by evening breeze,
Thy fair form no flies dare seize.

All gaily dressed soon you’ll go
To the great Provincial show,
To be admired by many a beau
In the city of Toronto.

Cows numerous as a swarm of bees,
Or as the leaves upon the trees,
It did require to make thee please,
And stand unrivalled, queen of cheese.

May you not receive a scar as
We have heard that Mr. Harris
Intends to send you off as far as
The great world’s show at Paris.

Of the youth beware of these,
For some of them might rudely squeeze
And bite your cheek, then songs or glees
We could not sing, oh! queen of cheese.

We’rt thou suspended from balloon,
You’d cast a shade even at noon,
Folks would think it was the moon
About to fall and crush them soon.

McIntyre Has a Few Rows

McIntyre has a few rows
Of the latest styles of Bureaus.

Canadian Thames

Old Version

The allusion to Woodstock in the following was a good description of the Town about the year 1860. It was then a long narrow Town with a great deal more length than breadth, but it is now one of the finest Towns of the Province, and to its many fine structures soon will be added a magnificent Court House, worthy of the County of Oxford. The eyes of the whole world were directed towards the Town where Birchall was confined, tried and executed in the year 1890, for the murder of young Benwell, to which event we refer further on.

We love to sing of classic names⁠—
Even if we choose a borrowed plume⁠—
Our theme, the Valley of the Thames,
Where man may yet find ample room.

It is not of old England’s river,
Covered o’er with many a mast;
But where Cabot did discover
The land of lakes and forests vast.

Although we have historic claims,
Yet them we now do lay aside;
We pass the battle of the Thames,24
Where foreign foe did fiercely ride.

We do not sing the graceful dames,
No more than the fierce battle’s shock;
We merely trace