tale.fyi

Poetry ▾
contents
  1. Prologue to South Ontario Sketches1 The district lying South of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, including Toronto.
  2. Reminiscences On the laying of the corner stone of the Brock monument at Queenston Heights, and the final interment of the General who had fallen at the battle of Queenston, Oct. 13th, 1812.2 The remains of his Aide, Col. McDonald, were also deposited under the new tower.
  3. Birth of Canada as a Nation July First, 1867. Written during the visit of delegates from the Lower Provinces to negotiate for confederation.
  4. Welcome to the Prince of Wales Lines written when the Prince of Wales was about embarking for Canada, May, 1860.
  5. Lament of the Maple Tree A Vision “We had a dream which was not all a dream.” Byron
  6. Lines on Violets
  7. Patriotic Ode Written at the time of the last excitement on the Niagara Frontier.
  8. Fight of a Buffalo with Wolves We were so deeply impressed with the courage displayed by a buffalo in a prose tale that we transposed the description into verse.
  9. Disaster to Steamer Victoria at London
  10. Fight with a Bear in the Northwest The following appeared in Truth in the form of a prose tale of considerable length. We have concentrated the essence thereof into the few verses below. It is a tale of the Canadian Northwest, during the times of the Hudson Bay Company’s rule.
  11. Canadian Sports and Games and Plays
  12. Lines on Methodist Union Sept. 1883, whereby the whole of the churches of that denomination were united into one body.
  13. Niagara’s Charms and Death of Capt. Webb
  14. St. Catharines Lines read at the Welland House, St. Catharines, at a banquet given to the members in attendance at the Odd Fellows’ Grand Lodge.
  15. Lines on Credit Valley Trip The Credit Valley Railway Company having placed a car at the service of the council we were kindly invited to accompany them to Toronto, a short time after the opening of the road.
  16. Lines on Canadian Hunter
  17. Hope for Ingersoll
  18. Canadian Rivers and Lakes
  19. Life in the Woods Lines on the struggles of the early settlers.
  20. The Joys of Prairie Farmers 1884.
  21. Nova Scotia Lines written when Nova Scotia was threatening to withdraw from the Confederation.
  22. Port Stanley Lines composed on an excursion to Port Stanley, 1883.
  23. Donald Ross A Scottish-Canadian tale.
  24. Port Burwell About a quarter of a century ago, when Port Burwell was a busy, thriving place, several friends accompanied me to the port to attend a concert, we all being specially invited. It was in the winter, and there had been a race on the ice, in which the Port Burwell horse took the lead. We gave a local piece of some length, but only retain now a few lines. The people at the concert were highly pleased with the effusion.
  25. Lines on T. D. McGee Having been kindly invited as a member of the Mechanics’ Institute some 20 years ago by the late Jeremiah O’Neill, Esq., to meet that gentleman in company with a number of our townsmen, when Mr. McGee was rising from the table the chair being new stuck to him, and it being near a general election he very wittily remarked that he hoped the people of Montreal would be as anxious to retain him in his seat as the people here are. We wrote the following lines at the time, the last verse was added afterwards.
  26. London Flood Pencil sketch of the ruin left by the London flood, July 11th, 1883.
  27. London West While the Thames meanders gently through the green pasture fields of Ingersoll, a pleasing picture to behold, how different, alas, is the feeling in London West, where the river is an object of dread and terror, neither pleasing to the eye or nostrils. As we have been living for the last quarter of a century on the edge of one of the tributary streams of the Thames and were once o’erwhelmed with ruin dire by a number of the dams giving way, we can sympathise with them. They are now built strong and substantial, and the ponds are an ornament to the town, as well as a source of wealth. The Caledonian Society, of Ingersoll, donated $50 to the flood sufferers.
  28. Lines on Stratford6
  29. English Names on Canadian Thames7
  30. Lines on Beachville
  31. Lines on Ingersoll Ex-Mayor Thomas Brown may be considered the father of the town, he projected the first roads and bridges.
  32. Lines on Woodstock We fancy the lustre of the old town is reflected on the new. English Woodstock was a royal residence.
  33. Lines on Embro and Zorra
  34. Lines on Salford Lines Read at a Parsonage Opening at the Village where Ranney had once flourished, 1883.
  35. Lines on Thamesford Delivered at Masonic concert, Tliamesford—Grand Master Col. Moffat in the chair.
  36. Farrington, 1866, Factory System8
  37. Lines on Tilsonburg
  38. Lines on Mt. Elgin Delivered at opening of Odd Fellows’ Lodge.
  39. Corner Stone Laying The following lines were read at the festival after the stone had been laid by Grand Master Col. Moffat, of a church on the Culloden road, with Masonic honors.
  40. A Civic Holiday Trip Lines on a civic holiday trip on the Grand Trunk, to Toronto, August, 1882. Address to Mr. Hodge, conductor of Caledonian games at Ingersoll.
  41. Robert Fleming Gourley Robert Fleming Gourley was a graduate of St. Andrews’, University, Scotland. When he was crossing Niagara river, after being exiled, he asked for a brush to brush Canadian dust off his feet. Perhaps it will please some to see a little sketch of him, as he was a public man and gloried in that he had the honor of being sentenced both by the Canadian Government and the British. Exiled from Canada, he became a champion of popular rights in England. Lord Brougham opposed his schemes and he whipped His Lordship in the lobby of the House of Commons, for which breach of privilege of house he wad sentenced by the House. He preserved the whip as a precious relic in his house at Mt. Elgin. [We presume it would not have been prudent to have allowed an able agitator to disturb the country when Canada was but in its infancy, just entering the second quarter of the present century.] Mr. Gourley owned several farms in Dereham and thought he would like to represent Oxford in 1858, after an absence from Canada of about one third of a century. Every one thought he was too old but the old gentleman being in exuberant spirits, having just been married as he said to a young wife, he would prove to them all there was life in the old dog yet.
  42. Odd Fellowship in Woodstock Impromptu lines delivered at the opening of Maple Leaf Encampment, Woodstock, in the year 1883, in connection with Odd Fellows Lodge there. Olive Branch is the subordinate Lodge.
  43. Odd Fellowship Lines Read at Concert Lines delivered at Odd Fellows Concert, Town Hall, Ingersoll, December, 1883.
  44. London Children We have had the pleasure of hearing and seeing several clever children from the city of London. We commemorate them in the following.
  45. Caledonian Games Lines on Caledonian games, May, 1884.
  46. Victoria Park and Caledonian Games Lines on the naming of Victoria Park, on Queen’s Birthday, 1881. The ceremony was performed by Thomas Brown, Esq., Mayor of the town.
  47. The Great Fire of Ingersoll May, 1872. Written at the time of the disaster.
  48. Our Firemen Lines delivered at a Firemen’s Soirée in the days of the hand engines.
  49. St. Thomas At time of Odd Fellows Grand Lodge meeting, 1884.
  50. Masonic Lines Read at a Banquet 1884. The prominent names connected with Masonary are Kings Solomon and Hiram and Saint John, the parent Lodge is King Hiram in Ingersoll, and Saint John is the offspring. Both masters in 1884 are legal gentlemen.
  51. Oxford Cheese Ode As cheesemaking in Canada first began in this county, and it has already become one of the chief industries of several counties, it is no insignificant theme. Mr. E. Casswell has just received this morning from Messrs. Millar, Mount Elgin, scale boards for thirty two thousand cheese; each of those cheese which they are intended to protect will weigh about 65 lbs. each, or over; about three million lbs. in all.—June 14th, 1884.
  52. Lines on a Fountain
  53. A Concert Invitation The following invitation appeared on the programme of a concert.
  54. Thomas Campbell
  55. Poetry
  56. Lines on Col. Wonham Formerly of Ingersoll, now of the North West.
  57. Opening Ode Delivered at an Odd Fellows’ Concert. Some have formed strange conceptions about the mysteries of our order. They believe that enshrouded ’mong the deep and mysterious surroundings of our dark recesses and caves we have chained “Gorgans and Hydras, and Chimeras dire,” and that in our mazes and labyrinths,
  58. Adventure on a Raft “Truth is strange, stranger than fiction.” The following adventure happened in the experience of an Ingersoll man.
  59. Canada Our Home 1883. The following response to “Canada, Our Home,” was given at a banquet of the Caledonian Society, Ingersoll:
  60. Mrs. Moody As we have given glances at various Canadian authors in this work, perhaps there is none more worthy than Mrs. Moody, whose vigorous pen was ever active in favor of Canada. She is a sister of the celebrated Agnes Strickland, author of “The Queens of England.” Mrs. Moody is enjoying reasonably fair health in Toronto. She was born in the beginning of the century.
  61. Lines Addressed to an Old Bachelor Addressed to Jonathan Wingle, Esq.
  62. Brantford In these sketches of towns in Southern Ontario we are not vain enough to suppose that because we have produced some lines thereon that said rhymes are poetry. If we furnish an occasional poetic gleam like a dewdrop sparkling in the sun, it is all we dare hope for.
  63. The Power of Steam
  64. Lines on Thorold McCready, the great Irish tragedian, said that the view from Thorold was the finest in America.
  65. Musings on the Northwest Domestic cattle quiet will graze where now the Buffalos roam and in spots now covered o’er with Indian wigwams, where white men never trod cities will occupy their sites with busy trade and millions flock from eastern lands to take possession of the great Northwest. Then Winnipeg perchance may be the capital of the Dominion. In the day foretold when this indeed shall be the “Greater Britain” with Ontario’s towns for workshops for this vast prairie land.
  66. Crimean War At the announcement that Britain was to declare war Kossuth the Hungarian Patriot declared in an address in England that the British Lion was a sea dog but helpless on land.
  67. A Christmas Tree
  68. Dr. Springer Lines on presenting Dr. Springer with a diamond ring, when he was bidding farewell to Ingersoll, and was about journeying to California.
  69. Lines on A. B. Who was expected to attend a Banquet given by the Odd fellows in London nearly thirty years ago. Several of the London Brethern were asking for Brother Abel.
  70. Burns and Scott in Edinburgh
  71. Galt and Dunlop John Galt was the manager of the Canada Company’s lands, and he was a Scottish Novelist. Dunlop was at one time an eminent British Journalist, but he finally settled near Goderich. The town of Galt is named after John Galt.
  72. Agricultural Implements and Machinery
  73. Snake and Potato Bug A True Tale “Can such things be and overcome us like a summer cloud, without our special wonder.” Shakespeare In a grocery store in Ingersoll our attention was called to a copper-headed snake wriggling in a glass jar. We noticed a peculiarity about its head, but soon found out it was a potato bug, which was afraid of being drowned; and the only above water being the snake’s head and neck, it was fondly clinging thereto. There being “no jutty-frieze buttress or coigne of vantage, where it could make its pendant bed, elsewhere.”
  74. A Rabbit Story At a social society gathering, a quarter of a century ago, a member from a distance was called on by the gentlemen present to tell his Rabbit story. We got up in a few minutes afterward and gave it in verse as follows:—
  75. Let Her Go
  76. An Autograph Lines written at the request of a young lady and inserted in a mental Album. We looked over the book, it was in form of questions and answers. One of the questions was “who is your favorite poet?” We were quite amused to find a number of different persons had written in answer, “McIntyre.” We believe that the most of them were joking, but we hope to inspire them with a loftier idea of our poetic power in the future.
  77. Lines on a Typewriter Having received a letter from a gentleman done with a typewriter, and glorying in its superiority to the pen, we replied as follows:—
  78. Impromptu On a young girl showing me a scar on her cheek where a stick of wood struck her.
  79. Little Lake Sonnet on an incident which occurred on a small Lake in Northern Ontario.
  80. Advice to a Little Girl The following lines were written at the request of a little girl, who said she would recite them at a Sunday School entertainment. Prof. J. S. Blackie of Edinburgh, in a letter acknowledging the receipt of my book, said he considered this piece worthy of being committed to memory in the public schools. Sir Daniel Wilson of Toronto University also approves of them as containing good sentiments and should be impressed on the minds of the young.
  81. A Crooked Looking Glass Dangerous effects of seeing onesself in a crooked glass.
  82. A Providential Escape Providential escape of Ruby and Neil McLeod, children of Angus McLeod of this town. Little Neil McKay McLeod, a child of three years of age, was carried under a covered raceway, upwards of one hundred yards, the whole distance being either covered o’er with roadway, buildings or ice.
  83. The Cheese Pioneer Lines on Rannie, the cheese pioneer, written a quarter century ago.
  84. A Bird’s Nest
  85. Lines on Removal
  86. Departed Statesmen With a glance at Sir John A. Macdonald and Blake, the two living leaders, 1884.
  87. A Concert—Impromptu The following impromptu was delivered in the Methodist Church Concert, March, 1883. It was expected that several announced in bills world take part, but from various causes they were not present. We were unexpectedly requested to fill one of the vacencies. Doctor Gardiner delivered an address, showing how he had triumphed o’er the great snow drifts during the remarkably severe winter then passing away, that we thought his courage and perseverance was worthy of being commemorated in verse; and the music of the White Brothers though simple, is natural, touching and sweet, and reaches the heart more easily than some of the highly artistic styles now in vogue, on arising, we first gave some recitations from the Poets and concluded with the following Impromptu. It was of course impossible for me to have anticipated any of the above occurrences, as the Doctors speech took the turn it did from the remarks of a previous speaker.
  88. In Memoriam Lines on the death of my son, Alexander Murray McIntyre, who died on the anniversary of his mother’s death, after being injured in my Furniture Factory. He died, after several days of great suffering, in July 5th, 1876.
  89. Brodie Castle The following sonnet on Brodie Castle Nairnshire, Scotland, was written by my venerable Uncle, Thomas McIntyre, of St. Catherines, and father of John B. McIntyre, Ex-Grand Master of the Independant Order of Odd Fellows, and now, and for many years, an Alderman of the city of St. Catherines. It was written by him as an acrostic on the words Brodie Castle. I have taken the liberty of transfusing it into common verse. The lines prove the old gentlemen to be kind hearted and as having a great affection for his native land. He has been in. St. Catherines for half a century, engaged in the same business I have been employed in for about one-third of a century, in Ingersoll.
  90. George Menzies’ Poems 1883. About one-third of a century ago, there flourished in Canada three Scottish Editors, all of whom were Poets, McQueen of the “Huron Signal,” Goderich, who wrote a grand song on “Our Broad Lake,” McGeorge, of the Streetsville Review, who returned to Scotland nearly a quarter of a century ago; he became a clergymen in connection with the Episcopal Church, of Oban, Argyleshire, and was dean thereof; he enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Norman McLeod, and many of the Scottish celebrities; he died this spring highly honored by all who knew him. George Menzie, Editor of a Woodstock paper, wrote, also, some fine poems. All of the gentlemen named have gone to “the land of the Leal,” the following lines were suggested by finding a volume by George Menzie.
  91. Female Revenge “Revenge is sweet, especially to women.” Byron Remarkable strong vengeance on the part of a young lady who had always previously been considered of an amiable turn of mind; but, how sadly, alas! for the young man, her whole being, as it were, seemed to be transformed into vengeance dire, against the poor unfortunate youth who had vainly and rashly boasted of a glorious prize he intended to capture from the fair one’s sweet lips.
  92. A Canadian Romance16
  93. O for a Lodge
  94. Potato Bug Exterminators During the summer of 1883 we were walking along past a large field of potatoes in North Oxford, where we beheld the strange spectacle of a pair of bipeds drilling their offspring to march up one potato row and down the other, so as to annihilate the enemy, who had assembled in vast armies, dressed in yellow garments, and who were committing fearful depredations on the fruits of the husbandmen, until the valuable auxilliary forces rushed to the rescue of the farmer, o’erwhelming the enemy and with one fell swoop, bringing on them consternation and ruin dire. It appears that the foe, or their progenitors, had been citizens of Colorado in the far West. And that, having conquered all before them, they sought another World to conquer here.
  95. Dried Apples Lines suggested by examining the fruit evaporator at Mt. Elgin.
  96. Wars in Queen Victoria’s Reign
  97. English Poets We had the honour of delivering in 1864 the principal address at the tercentennial anniversary of Shakespeare in the Town Hall, Ingersoll, before a large audience, and we read the following ode on the occasion:
  98. Irish Poets
  99. American Poets
  100. Scottish Poets
  101. Reply to the Toast of Scottish Poets
  102. Lines on South of Scotland
  103. The Shires on the Moray Frith
  104. Lines Read at St. Andrew’s Anniversary 1868. The following is a clipping from an old Ingenoll paper on St. Andrew’s Anniversary, 30th November, 1868: The Anniversary of Scotia’s tetular saint was celebrated on Monday with great éclat by a dinner at Mr. Douglass’ Hotel. The spread on the occasion was excellent; not only Scotia’s sons, but many who came from merry England and the Green Isle were present. After the cloth had been removed Mr. McIntyre took the chair, and Mr. Sorley the vice chair. Songs, speeches and toasts became the order of the evening. The following original piece was rendered by Mr. McIntyre in good style:—
  105. Lines on the North of Scotland Lines on the North of Scotland, delivered in Embro nearly a quarter of a century ago:
  106. Prince Charlie’s Grandsons Oft’ times these handsome gentlemen appeared in the garb of old Gaul. In the year 1843 we were, though but a boy, at a fair at Cawdor Castle. Readers of Shakespeare’s Macbeth will have often found Cawdor mentioned therein; the village of Cawdor is but a few miles from Culloden Moor. While we were there the old Highland people, in their broken English, were declaring that the Stuarts19 were collecting arms, and that the Clans were going to join them; those gentlemen wore the Highland garb, and were highly respected. They had lived in Cawdor for some years; one ox them built a Hermitage of wicker-work on high bank of river, which remains entire and in good repair to the present day.
  107. Scottish Names in Oxford County
  108. Facts About Cheese When the price of cheese was so low a few years ago that the dairymen seriously thought of giving up the manufacture of cheese and of selling their cows, we published the following lines and distributed them by the thousand:
  109. Fairy Tale Babies carried off and changed by fairies. In mid winter of last winter of 1884, in Burghed, in the North of Scotland, around great fires, incantations were pronounced to drive away the evil spirits. The custom has come down from the time of the Druids.
  110. St. Andrew Read at Anniversary.
  111. Halloween
  112. Lorne and Louise Lines written on the arrival of Governor Lorne and the Princess Louise in Canada.
  113. Elf Shot The following appeared as a prose tale in a Scottish paper published in New York. We have endeavoured to add to the dramatic effect thereof in our rendering it into verse:
  114. Gordon Cumming—The Lion Hunter Some thirty years ago, in conversation with an old sea captain who had visited or voyaged to all quarters of the globe, he was denouncing fiercely the degeneracy of these costermonger times. He said there was a book in our town library which was a tissue of falsehood from beginning to end, and that there never existed such a man as Gordon Cumming, the Lion Hunter. I told the old gentleman that I had seen the Lion Hunter hundreds of times and conversed with him in the woods of Aylter, and that be was a descendant of the Royal Comyn, one of whom was killed by King Robert the Bruce, and that I had seen the magnificent person of Gordon Cumming in the garb of old Gaul, successfully punish a huge prize fighter who kept grossly insulting him during the excitement of a general election—when Cumming’s uncle, Major Cumming Bruce, was running for member, this Major being father-in-law to Lord Elgin, formerly Governor of Canada. I also told him that Hugh Millar was a warm friend of the Lion Hunter’s mother, as she was distinguished both as a geologist and a botanist, and that Livingstone, the great traveller, was a great admirer and intimate friend of the Hunter. After his return to Britain he exhibited himself and his magnificent trophies throughout all the cities and towns of Britain and Ireland. His own noble figure in full Highland costume was perhaps no insignificant part of the exhibition. Barnum afterwards secured the noble specimens of hides and horns and monstrous tusks for his New York museum.23
  115. Book Agent Story An American Yarn ground into rhyme in our Poetical Mill. As we have given several humorous Scottish stories in verse we will venture to trespass on your good nature by giving an American specimen. The scene is laid in the suburbs of New York. It was a prose tale, and we fancy we have not diminished the height, breadth or depth of the humour by grinding it in our poetical mill and having it flow out in rhyme.
  116. Harvest Home Festivals Sept., 1884.
  117. Father Ranney, the Cheese Pioneer This is our earliest cheese ode. The Ingersoll factory has been removed to Thamesford.
  118. Hints to Cheese Makers
  119. Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing over 7,000 pounds.
  120. McIntyre Has a Few Rows
  121. 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.
  122. The People All Say and Declare It Is True
  123. Lines on Gunn Lines on receiving an announcement by card that Mr. Gunn had assumed the control of the Courier.
  124. Indian Mutiny
  125. A Modern Wonder Campbell’s Block Owing to the peculiar slant in our front glass the strange optical illusion described below was witnessed until the window was curtained:
  126. Electric Light Suggested by the brilliant display at Toronto, September, 1884.
  127. Witch Stone
  128. Dick and Edward
  129. Questions and Answers
  130. Lines Read at a Ladies’ Aid
  131. Salford Parsonage Lines delivered at housewarming of Salford Parsonage.
  132. Transformation Scene A plain building was removed to a pleasant grove, and in a few weeks it was transformed into the neatest frame building in town.
  133. Lines on London Uniformed Encampment victorious at St. Thomas and at the great Forester’s demonstration in London, August, 1884.
  134. Finale
  135. Canada Before the Confederation of the Provinces
  136. Canada’s Future
  137. Canada’s Resources
  138. Northwest Rebellion 1885.
  139. Big Bear the Indian Chief The following impromptu was given at a banquet to one of the captives of Fort Pit after he had related his experience.
  140. Province of Ontario
  141. Niagara Dry
  142. United by Steel Rails
  143. The Old Snake Fence
  144. Canadian Voyageurs on the Nile
  145. Land Clearing
  146. Lines Read at a Maple Sugar Social April, 1888.
  147. Canadian Charms
  148. Patriot Fighting for His Home
  149. Fighting for Conquest
  150. Lines Sent to Thomas Conant of Oshawa, a Writer of Canadian Sketches
  151. Lines Sent to Alexander McLaughlan, Amaranth Station, with a Copy of My Poems
  152. Holland River and Its Tributaries Meanderings of a stream rises twenty miles north of Toronto and sweeps around the whole of Southern Ontario.
  153. The Vale of Thames
  154. Ranney, 1856, Dairy System
  155. Lines Read at a Dairymen’s Supper
  156. Ensilage
  157. Fertile Lands and Mammoth Cheese
  158. Lines Read at a Dairymaids’ Social 1887. Where the young lady waiters were dressed as dairymaids.
  159. Windmills and Stone Stables
  160. Dairy Ode
  161. Cheese Curd for Bait The following adventure was participated in by Mr. J. Podmore and Mr. W. D. Grant at Matheson’s Cold Spring Cheese Factory in Zorra, 1888.
  162. Thanksgiving Ode November 15th, 1888.
  163. When to Sell Grain and Farm Produce
  164. Four Acre Farm
  165. Eagle and Salmon
  166. Captain’s Adventure
  167. Indian Romance
  168. Origin of the Toboggan
  169. Bear and Falls
  170. Broken Raft Adventure
  171. Bear Hunt
  172. Coon Hunting
  173. Sailor’s Yarn
  174. Hunters and Trappers
  175. Wild Goose Shot at Midnight Nov., 1888.
  176. Adventures with Bears
  177. Queen’s Jubilee Ode 1887.
  178. Bear and Whale A fable of the British and Russian dispute of 1885.
  179. Gordon and Burnaby 1885.
  180. Poets and Philosophers
  181. James Hogg
  182. Highland Sketches
  183. Castle Gordon
  184. River Clyde
  185. Lofty Actors Withdraw
  186. United States
  187. Caledonia Springs, New York
  188. Local Sketches
  189. Brain Engravings
  190. Survival of the Fittest
  191. Motto
  192. Things Should Be Judged by Merit
  193. The Gates Ajar
  194. Child Made Happy
  195. Power of Love
  196. Her Lover’s Step
  197. The Useful Weed
  198. Golden Egg
  199. Little Dora
  200. Lines on the Death of a Farmer’s Wife
  201. Fighting for Home
  202. Every Rose Hath Its Thorn
  203. Danger of Fire Arms
  204. Bird Sent by Providence
  205. Help in Need
  206. Lines on the Finding of a Young Man’s Body in Toronto Bay His identity was discovered by finding the maker’s name on the suit he wore and by sending a strip of the cloth to the maker in Montreal.
  207. Lines on a Lawn Party Where it was announced ten days previous that the cereus would bloom, August, 1888.
  208. All Men Are Brothers
  209. The Good Man
  210. Lay of the Spring
  211. High in Masonry
  212. Tramp and Fish
  213. Seal Fishing and Hunting
  214. Snake and Its Young
  215. Whale and Its Foes
  216. Tiger and Elephant
  217. Strange Life Preserver
  218. Virtues of a Diamond Ring
  219. Child Saved by Dog
  220. Leach the Engineer
  221. Jackal and Child
  222. Little Hero
  223. Gray Hairs
  224. Good Shot
  225. Lost Son Found
  226. Shoe Black
  227. Duck and Oyster
  228. Baby Darling
  229. Riding an Avalanche
  230. Final Address to Our Patrons
  231. Card of Thanks to the Press
  232. Lines on Canada
  233. The Glorious Land of Maple Leaf
  234. Canadian Cheese Trade
  235. Peculiarities of Oxford County Its Numerous Windmills It would be amusing to many, if Don Quixote flourished at the present time and rode through this county bestride his fiery charger, couching his lance and clapping spurs to his steed and tilting his spear at the giants of his imagination, the windmills, for there is not a county in Canada that contains as many of those useful water pumpers. We could point out some spots near the cross roads where eight mills can be seen at a glance round.
  236. Prophecy of a Ten Ton Cheese In presenting this delicate, dainty morsel to the imagination of the people, I believed that it could be realized. I viewed the machine that turned and raised the mamoth cheese, and saw the powerful machine invented by James Ireland at the West Oxford companies factory to turn the great and fine cheese he was making there. This company with but little assistance could produce a ten ton cheese.
  237. Low Price of Cheese When the price of cheese was so low that the farmers threatened to kill or sell off their cows, we circulated the following lines freely among them:
  238. An Average Rule to Judge of Cheese
  239. Address to the Dairymen’s Association Feb., 1891.
  240. The Mammoth Cheese and Cheese Factories
  241. Lines on a Hog Weighing one thousand pounds, and measuring seven feet nine inches in length.
  242. Lines on a Big Ox Said to be 18 feet long.—On exhibition at the Western Fair, Sept. ’85.
  243. Lines Written to Alderman Frankland 1890.
  244. The Patriotic Canadian Hen She will lay big double-yolk eggs and evade the duty.
  245. The Canadian Horse
  246. The Apiary
  247. Sheep
  248. Tile Drains
  249. Nickel Mines
  250. Mild Christmas
  251. The Steamboat
  252. Duties of Life
  253. Great Fire in Michigan
  254. Horace Greely and Mrs. Staunton
  255. Reflections After Reading “The Coming Race” and “Looking Backward”
  256. Raise High the Banner July 1st, 1891. The school children were trained by Messrs. McDiarmid and Underwood, the former being Principal of the Public School.
  257. A Pleasing Illusion
  258. A Ghost Story
  259. Sir Walter Scott
  260. Big Stag
  261. Eagle and Stag
  262. Fairy Tale
  263. Address to the Scottish Clans at Woodstock June 19th, 1890.
  264. Lines on Colonel Wonham Formerly of Ingersoll. He spent the last years of his life in Winnipeg. These lines were published at the time of the Fenian Raid:
  265. Murder of a Young Englishman By one of his own countrymen, a few miles east of Woodstock, February, 1890. Death of Benwell and execution of Birchall.36 Mr. Perry was Sheriff at that time; now Mr. Brady holds this position, and a son of the late sheriff is Deputy.
  266. Fair Day at Embro On the Middle Branch of the Thames.
  267. Decoration Day The following lines were delivered by me at ihe first Decoration of Graves in Ingersoll. I took part in a ceremony of the same kind in Woodstock in 1890, and such was the superabundance of flowers there that I reserved a boquet for the grave of young McKenzie, who fell nobly fighting for his country at the Battle of Ridgeway. The County of Oxford has erected a fine monument, with a substantial iron railing around the hero’s grave, on the banks of the Thames.
  268. Strange Water Wheels at Beachville Invented by John Cross, a laborer, while working there. It is the cause of a good deal of curiosity on the part of travellers passing along, and observing wheels revolving in the river, evidently driving some machinery which they cannot discover conveniently, as they are driving pumps low down in the quarry beds. Good building stone as well as stone for the perpetual kilns are obtained convenient to two lines of railway depots and sidings.
  269. Fight in a Cave
  270. The Present Time 1890.
  271. The Rescue
  272. Lady Ann
  273. Tom Norton
  274. Fox Hunt Yarn
  275. The King and Peasant
  276. Spanish Donkey
  277. Child and Horse
  278. Mule and Bear Fight
  279. Bear and Buzzsaw
  280. Wooden Leg
  281. Alligator Rider
  282. Young Swell and Tramp
  283. Lightning Rod Agent
  284. Conquered by a Child
  285. Joined His Church
  286. Soldier and Gander
  287. Indian Wars
  288. Love in a Snowdrift
  289. Blanket Shield
  290. Dime Story
  291. Alligator and Boy
  292. Lines On Oxford County rosolving to have a Refuge for the honest poor. June, 1891.
  293. Lines On Dr. McKay being appointed whip of the Ontario Legislature.
  294. Political
  295. The Flood on the Creek April 1891.
  296. Big Crops of 1891
  297. Death of Parnell Oct., 1891.
  298. Short Route to the Orient Having predicted the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, in a poem I published in August, 1858, I felt proud to see the wonderful quick passage of the mails from Japan to Liverpool, via this road.
  299. Endnotes
English ▾

Poetry

James McIntyre

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Prologue to South Ontario Sketches1

The district lying South of Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, including Toronto.

My friends we sing Canadian themes,
For in them we proudly glory,
Her lakes and rivers and her streams,
Worthy of renown in story;
And in these leaves we hope is strewn
Some wheat among the chaff,
And maple boughs by rude axe hewn,
Where one may find a rustic staff;
To help him o’er the rugged lines
If he to weariness inclines.
Some see no beauties near to home,
But do admire the distant far,
They always love abroad to roam,
View glory in but far off star;
But let it never be forgot
That distant hills when closer seen
Are after all a barren spot
Not like your own hills clad in green;
You’ll find they are but idle dreams
To seek for happiness afar.
At home there’s lovely lakes and streams,
Remain content now where you are;
At us we hope you will not rage
Because we sing of local charms
In each varied town and village
As well as round our local farms,
But our address it must be brief,
So now we bid you all adieu,
But of our book pray read each leaf
Until the whole you have gone through;
Each one doth know it is not wise,
Though our songs may not be vocal,
Chants of our home for to despise,
But prize them ’cause they are local.

Reminiscences

On the laying of the corner stone of the Brock monument at Queenston Heights, and the final interment of the General who had fallen at the battle of Queenston, Oct. 13th, 1812.2 The remains of his Aide, Col. McDonald, were also deposited under the new tower.

A wail went o’er broad Canada,
When it was known a vile outlaw
Had at midnight’s awful hour,
With ruffian hand blown up the tower.

’Neath which had slept the gallant Brock
Who bravely fell on Queenston’s rock,
But graceful column soon shall rise,
Its beauteous shaft will kiss the skies.

For from Queenston’s woody height
You may behold a pleasing sight,
The grim old veterans of the war,
Militiamen with many a scar.

Indian braves from each nation,
Grouped to pay their last ovation,
Round the remains of General Brock,
Who led them oft in battle’s shock.

Old heroes now again do rally,
Feebly they move along the valley,
Not as they rushed in days of yore
When torrent like they onward bore.

And swept away the foeman’s ranks
O’er Niagara’s rugged banks,
So indignant was their grief
On losing of their warrior chief.

Now with triumphant funeral car,
Adorned with implements of war,
The sad procession slow ascends,
As round the hill its way it wends.

Marching to mournful, solemn note,
While grand old flags around it float,
And now may peace be never broken
’Mong lands where Saxon tongue is spoken.

“For peace hath victories by far
More glorious than horrid war,”
England doth Longfellow revere,
And America loves Shakespeare.

Birth of Canada as a Nation

July First, 1867.

Written during the visit of delegates from the Lower Provinces to negotiate for confederation.

Hail Britannia’s noblest daughter,
Who is surrounded by the water
Of many a lake and broad sea,
Land of beaver and of maple tree.

Her lofty brow is wreathed with smiles,
For from the far Atlantic isles
In pomp have come their delegates,
All seeking to unite their fates.

With Canada great northern queen,
And now throughout the land is seen,
High festival and stately dance,
Triumphant nuptials to advance.

And soon shall Red River valley
And distant Vancouver rally,
To form this Empire gigantic
From Pacific to Atlantic.

Welcome to the Prince of Wales

Lines written when the Prince of Wales was about embarking for Canada, May, 1860.

In his long voyage o’er the sea,
To where doth grow the maple tree,
May he be blest with pleasant gales,
The coming man, the Prince of Wales.

The maple grows but in good soil,
Where nature doth reward for toil
The farmer splitting his fence rails,
He welcome bids the Prince of Wales.

In the woods the axe is ringing
And the yeoman merry singing,
The song resounds o’er hills and dales,
Our future king the Prince of Wales.

Round the brow of our future chief
We’ll weave a wreath of maple leaf,
For o’er broad Canada prevails
Kind feelings to the Prince of Wales.

When in this land the Prince arrives,
May he have many pleasant drives,
And on our lakes have merry sails,
Great king of princes, Prince of Wales.

Lament of the Maple Tree

A Vision

“We had a dream which was not all a dream.”

Byron

I laid me down one day in June,
It was late long afternoon,
A very sultry summer’s eve,
Such times the senses oft deceive,
The place was ’neath a maple tree,
Soon from all cares and troubles free,
By a gentle, kindly slumber,
No more our sorrows we could number,
But we heard a plaintive wail
Such as we find in fairy tale,
It was the genius of the tree
Who in sad guise appeared to me,
And then she sadly did give vent
Unto this awful grave lament:
Though I am gay in month of June,
All decked in green, yet very soon,
Alas my beauty will be faded
And my charms be all degraded,
For is my time of glory brief,
So often flattered is my leaf.
In Canada so broad and free
All poets sing of the maple tree,
High I stand in their opinion,
Emblem of the New Dominion,
The reason I do them upbraid
Some never slept beneath my shade,
And yet they take the liberty
To chant about the maple tree,
They dare to poetise my leaf,
This is the source of all my grief,
I think their praises all so rude
And as but base ingratitude,
So often hackneyed is my name
That every fall I burn with shame,
Like maiden’s cheek which blushes red
When vain rash youth asks her to wed,
Then do these foolish ones descry
In me fresh beauty and they sigh,
And then renew their songs of praise.
But unto me how sad their lays,
For then I know my days are brief,
’Tis hectic flush upon my leaf;
True poets then should mournful sing
When the destroyer’s on the wing,
For then I know my leaves of gold
Will all soon mingle with the mould,
No one does ever think to praise
The fell destroyer when he slays,
None rejoice in the flushed cheek
When the poor girl is low and weak,
Perhaps they’ll say and it is true
In spring my glories I’ll renew,
But ’tis poor comfort after all
To lose my offspring every fall,
Small consolation to mother
To tell her that soon another
Will replace her fond darling boy
Who has been source of all her joy,
But you know all about my wood
You know that it is strong and good,
And I have full many a curl
And pleasing eye and charming nurl,3
Some love me as fond nature grained
And some prefer my beauty stained,
But my dear friend I hope that you
My varied shades love pure and true,
For of the woods you know the staple
Stoutest and best is good maple,
The youth my sugar eat with glee,
And old maids love me in their tea,
In me do various uses meet
In summer shade, in winter heat,
For I do make a glorious blaze
All worthy of the poet’s lays,
But to their praises I’ll be deaf
If more they harp about my leaf.
They call me gay when I am sober
To me ’tis gloomy month October,
But saints on earth when they die
Hope for true bliss beyond the sky,
So winter does bring no alarms
Though it strip bare my trunk and arms,
For now I know that time will bring
More glorious foliage in the spring,
Then all nature will rejoice
Triumphing with glorious voice,
And birds will in my branches sing
Hosannas to the lovely spring.

Lines on Violets

Once, while digging ’neath the snow,
’Mid Canadian winter, lo!
To our joy and surprise
We saw some violets in full bloom,
Gazing at us with loving eyes,
Thanking us for opening their tomb,
Yet still they seemed so cozy and nice
Enshrined in the crystal ice,
While all else were drooping dead
Gaily they held up their head.

Patriotic Ode

Written at the time of the last excitement on the Niagara Frontier.

Rejoice, rejoice, we all do stand,
United in one mighty band;
No traitors in our land we find,
All one in heart, all one in mind;
Resolute in their opinion,
None shall conquer our Dominion;
For every man with dauntless mien
Will rally round our flag and Queen.

Fight of a Buffalo with Wolves

We were so deeply impressed with the courage displayed by a buffalo in a prose tale that we transposed the description into verse.

A buffalo, lord of the plain,
With massive neck and mighty mane,
While from his herd he slowly strays,
He on green herbage calm doth graze,
And when at last he lifts his eyes
A savage wolf he soon espies,
But scarcely deigns to turn his head
For it inspires him with no dread,
He knows the wolf is treacherous foe
But feels he soon could lay him low,
A moment more and there’s a pair
Whose savage eyes do on him glare,
But with contempt them both he scorns
Unworthy of his powerful horns;
Their numbers soon do multiply
But the whole pack he doth defy,
He could bound quickly o’er the plain
And his own herd could soon regain;
His foes they now are full a score
With lolling tongues pant for his gore,
He hears their teeth all loudly gnash
So eager his big bones to crash,
On every side they him infest,
The north, the south, the east, the west
Fierce rage doth now gleam from his eye,
Resolved to conquer or to die,
’Round him they yelp and howl and growl,
He glares on them with angry scowl,
They circle closer him around,
He roars and springs with mighty bound,
And of his powers gives ample proof,
Felling them with horn and hoof,
Though some lay dead upon the plain,
Yet their attack was not in vain,
For they have tasted of his blood,
Resolved it soon shall pour a flood,
He feels that they have torn his hide
And streams gush from each limb and side,
He rushes on them in despair
And tosses them full high in air,
But others rush on him and pull
Down to the earth that glorious bull;
On the flesh of this noble beast
Their bloody jaws they soon do feast,
Full worthy of a better fate
Far from his herd and his dear mate,
Who now do look for him in vain
His bones do whiten now the plain.

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Poetry by James McIntyre. The text is in the US public domain, from the Standard Ebooks edition. Served from our own copy; read on their site for the full edition with images and typography.

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