are maimed for life,
While engaged in glorious strife.
We have sprung from a good brave stock,
Rose, thistle and the shamrock,
Who all in unity agree,
’Neath the shade of the maple tree.
The Indians soon came to grief,
Under their great Poundmaker chief,
And Toronto troops gained fame
And Otter glory to his name.
We all felt proud of our gunboat
And the brave crew of the Northcote,
And of our scouts who captured Riel,
Who in vain for mercy did appeal.
And may all quickly come to grief
Who do not love the maple leaf,
For they spring from a noble tree,
Shades this land of the brave and free.
Sad memories it doth awake,
The death of those fell at Frog Lake,
And trials of captives of Fort Pit
When savages did capture it.
But soon Generals Strange and Steel
Made savage hordes their power to feel,
And they rescued women fair
From the paws of the Big Bear.
Captives for days had naught to eat
But steaks of tough and lean dog meat,
In daily danger of their lives
From bullets and from scalping knives.
When building big lodge for war dance,
The cry is heard, the troops advance,
To the white captives sounds so sweet,
But savages they quick retreat.
A thrilling tale our guest28 did tell,
That close to him fell bursting shell,
This shot it was not fired in vain,
For several savages were slain.
Our bold troops great danger braved,
So that white captives might be saved,
Who suffered hunger, cold and damp,
’Mong savage hordes in bush and swamp.
Big Bear now they have pared his claws,
He must atone for broken laws,
Far away from his native lair,
In prison strong they put Big Bear.
Province of Ontario
In the land of woods and lakes,
Pure happiness each one partakes,
Who is sound in body and in mind,
And to industry is inclined.
Here in great lakes we do take pride,
And them with Uncle Sam divide,
Other lakes seem inferior
In size to great Superior.
And Canadians do take pride,
In Huron’s wide expanded tide,
But it onward flows forever,
Through St. Clair lake and river.
But soon again it doth expand,
Into Erie’s lake so grand,
Then behold its wondrous charms,
When embraced in Niagara’s arms.
Then it more blessings doth bestow,
On pure bosom of Ontario,
Round it our towns and cities cluster,
O’er it Toronto sheds her lustre.
And Ontario doth awake,
The thought that ’tis our favorite lake;
Several states approach Lake Erie,
Each one claiming it for dearie.
But our fires of love do glow,
Alone for Lake Ontario,
Our love for it is so unbounded,
We have almost it surrounded.
And the lands around its beaches,
They are famed for grapes and peaches,
’Mong choicest fruits you ramble on
From Niagara to Hamilton.
Ontario North is land of pines,
A land of lakes and rocks and mines,
And beneath dark pine tree shade,
How happy is the youth and maid.
For here in summer you keep cool,
And fish for trout in sparkling pool,
For pike or salmon you can spear,
And in the season hunt the deer.
In great northern hunting ground,
Where both fish and game abound,
And verdant pastures here are seen,
Where cattle graze ’mong sweetest green.
In the far north a land of pines,
And in the south we have the vines,
Where each year adds into the charms,
Surrounds the homesteads on the farms.
Nature our province doth endow,
With hardy sons to guide the plow,
In south we have the fruitful soil,
Where nature’s bounties on us smile.
We have got rich plains and highlands,
Ontario hath thousand islands,
And there is a great array
Of charming isles on Georgian Bay.
And travellers all they do adore,
The lovely isles near Huron’s shore,
Superior makes a grand display,
All round her shores to Thunder Bay.
Muskoka’s famed for woods and brakes,
For rocks and meadows and clear lakes,
And sportsmen for it proudly claim
That ’tis a land for fish and game.
There doth arise a sweet aroma
From great spruce forests of Algoma,
And from the poplar, birch and pine,
There too is wealth in many a mine.
It may be that of mines the best,
Will be found in Ontario West,
Stretching towards the interior,
Three hundred miles west of Superior.
Essex is our sunny south,
At the Detroit river’s mouth,
There the sun doth cheerful smile
On the grape vineyards of Pelee Isle.
Pioneer’s axe it now doth ring,
On the shores of Nipissing,
And some do locate claims away
To distant north around James’ Bay.
Niagara Dry
It happened once in early spring,
While there did float great thick ice cakes,
That then a gale did quickly bring
Them all down from the upper lakes.
And from Buffalo to Lake Erie,
Across the entrance to river,
It was a scene of icebergs dreary,
Those who saw will remember ever.
Then gale blew up lake and river,
And left Niagara almost dry,
This a lady did discover
As above the Falls she cast her eye.
Such scene it had been witnessed never,
Since Israelites crossed the Red Sea,
When they had resolved forever
From Pharaoh’s bondage to flee.
Lady she resolved to venture,
Proudly carrying British flag,
Erecting it in river’s centre
In crevice of a rocky crag.
It seems like a romance by Bulwer,
How she captured Niagara,
But it was seen by Bishop Fuller,
Who did at sight of flag hurrah.
Ten thousand years may die away
Before another dry can tread,
In bottom of Niagara,
For she doth jealous guard her bed.
But ice her entrance did blockade,
And wind it kept the waters back,
So that a child could almost wade
Across the brink of cataract.
United by Steel Rails
When Indian tribes in the Northwest
Rebelled against the Eastern laws,
Canadian courage it did test,
All were united in the cause.
But how shall volunteers proceed
Such distance, several thousand miles,
Will they in their dark hour of need
Ask Uncle Sam with pleasant smiles
For to allow our volunteers
To pass o’er their north railroad,
Perhaps subject to doubts and fears,
Where British soldiers never trod.
But there went up a glad hurrah
When it was found that in our land,
Almost finished was railway,
And trains do wait for word command,
To bear away our volunteers
To those far North distant lands,
But dispelled were all their fears
When they rode over those steel bands,
Which bound young nation all in one,
