But solemn thoughts we won’t employ,
As this is all a scene of joy;
Maids and matrons all charming
Do grace this pleasant housewarming.
Here people come from near and far
To purchase goods at this bazar;
And all is happiness and glee
At festival of this soirée.
A plain building was removed to a pleasant grove, and in a few weeks it was transformed into the neatest frame building in town.
As westward we of late did rove
We beheld in the maple grove
An old church now owned by Peter;
In town there is no house looks neater,
For those bay windows do look sweeter
Than anything in prose or meter.
Uniformed Encampment victorious at St. Thomas and at the great Forester’s demonstration in London, August, 1884.
They once in wilderness did ride
On beast with horn and shaggy hide—
A savage goat or unicorn,
But now parade in uniform;
As gay as ancient Knight or Lord,
With their grand plumes, and belt and swords.
Their graceful movements at their drill
Doth all with admiration fill,
And the chief glory it was won
By the encampment of London;
For they at every tournament
For drill are the chief ornament.
So skillfully they sword do wield,
Victorious on every field;
For victory’s graven on their shield
Doth make their rivals for to yield;
Drill companies they out manoeuvre
From Newfoundland to Vancouver.
It is folly now to aim
Or to seek for distant fame,
But rest content if we can claim
Something of a local name
Oh the pleasant banks of Thame,
Because in simple strains we sung
The glories of this country young.
Canadian provinces they lay
Divided by river and by bay,
Many a separate division,
Among them there was no cohesion.
But statesmen saw that a great nation
Could be formed by federation,
And soon they led public opinion
To favor forming this Dominion.
Northwest with its streams and fountains,
With sources in the Rocky Mountains,
It was all a great mystery,
Hunting for furs its history.
Though Northwest is filling slow
Yet soon there will be mighty flow,
Millions to Northwest will hurry
In last decade of century.
For therein is an opening grand
In great fertile prairie land,
For there the choicest wheat it grows
Near where the Saskatchewan flows.
And on many a river’s branch
There is found great grazing ranch,
Favoured districts therein abound
Where cattle graze all the year round.
Protected from the stormy blast
By the Rocky Mountains vast,
Through canon blows no storm terrific,
But balmy breezes from Pacific.
Canada is a young giant,
Has not yet acquired its strength,
On the arts of peace reliant,
Throughout its vast breadth and length.
Though ’tis not famed for orange bowers
Nor for the products of its vines,
Though other lands have fairer flowers,
Yet it to nobler gifts inclines.
It doth produce the golden grain
And few lands can with it compete,
They often try but all in vain
To produce such splendid wheat.
Our geologists divine,
That ere long we will behold
Many a rich glittering mine
Of copper, silver and of gold.
But we sing more glorious theme,
It is our verdant pasture land,
Where cows produce a flood of cream,
Doth make cheese of the finest brand.
And great thoughts oftentimes awakes
When we reflect on this wondrous land,
With vast rivers and mighty lakes,
All nature here’s on scale so grand.
Young Dominion so gigantic,
Where rail cars run at speed terrific,
Thousands of miles from the Atlantic,
Till in the West you reach Pacific.
From balmy breezes of lake Erie
To the far north frozen ocean,
Where it now seems lone and dreary,
All will yet be life and motion.
Though nation’s young its powerful fleet
Doth sail on many a distant sea,
For world’s commerce to compete
Her sails in all climes flowing free.
Small Scotland nobly held its own
Against the might of England’s throne,
And shall this land with its vast bounds
Shrink with fear ere the trumpet sounds.
While British blood doth course each vein,
Proudly this heritage maintain,
With fertile acres by the billions,
Future homes for two hundred millions.
Each son could have a fertile farm,
Brave men who ne’er will feel alarm,
And they have both the nerve and skill
To work land with a right good will.
And she has got within her shores
Renowned mines of many ores,
While her furnaces and forges
Iron in useful shape disgorges.
Her mighty forests they do yield
Lumber, her cities for to build,
But her wealth is not in these alone,
She has great quarries too of stone.
Industry it here doth bloom,
And skilful webs come from each loom,
One of great nations under sun,
A mightier race it yet will run.
For with the Anglo-Saxon race
No other people can keep pace,
Here they have room for to expand
Into a nation mighty grand.
With great railroads and canals,
And care in legislative halls,
A mighty future she will gain,
And highest rank she will obtain.
Canada hopes it will be told,
That she hath patriots brave and bold,
To guide her helm shall be extolled,
As loving country more than gold.
1885.
Hail Canada our young fair land,
The world’s respect it doth command;
How quick her sons at war’s alarms
Sprang to her rescue with their arms.
In Canada the English rose,
The shamrock and the thistle grows,
United garland they combine
Around the maple tree to twine.
They did march a brave gallant host
From the far East Atlantic coast,
Our Canada so proud and free,
Four thousand miles from sea to sea.
Though skilful rebels did entrench,
But their deadly fires our boys did quench,
And victory it soon was won
By our General Middleton.
And Colonel Williams left a name
For Canada’s temple of fame,
A kind and a brave hearted man
In hour of danger led the van.
The ninetieth regiment it fought well,
And Winnipeg doth its glories tell,
London boasts of her volunteers,
For she prides in her Fusiliers.
Toronto troops have gained renown,
And triumph their quick march did crown,
For the relief of Battleford,
And scattering of the Indian horde.
Our volunteers took up their arms,
Each left his home and all its charms;
Though many they were tender reared,
No frost nor snow nor foe they feared.
Alas that youth so true and brave,
So many now do fill a grave,
And others they
