Works

I bought of land two miles square,
I knew not it contained a bear,
I never thought there would be any,
But alas, I found many;
The bush was thick and mat and tangle,
It made it a perfect jungle,...

A fable of the British and Russian dispute of 1885.


Russians suffer sad distress
For lack of freedom of the press,
But oft' times they are full able
To enlighten with a fable.
...

England had triplets at a birth,
Coleridge, Southey and Wordsworth,
And these three are widely famed,
And the "Lake Poets" they were named.
With joy they did pursue their themes,...

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.

...

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...

Two youths employed at the fur fort
Resolved to have half day of sport,
From Jasper House, in the far north,
For game they joyous issued forth,
The factor of the Hudson Bay...

(Life of the early settlers.)


Canada hath wealthy yeomen
Whose fathers overcome the foemen,
The enemy they boldly slew
Was mighty forests they did hew,
And where they burned heaps of slain...

This good woman when in this life,
She was kind mother and good wife,
And managed her household with care,
She and her husband happy pair.

And her name it will long be praised...

English Woodstock had a palace
Where the Queen in jealous malice
Slew romance's fairest flower,
Fair Rosamond in secret bower;
Our Woodstock pleasing county town,
This brings it both wealth and renown,...

Some do boast of their pedigrees,
But Salford's parent of the cheese,
Ranney, industrious and wise,
Here started this great enterprise.

He did work on the dairy plan,...

We send to you these rugged rhymes
In memory of the olden times,
Great chief of our poetic clan,
Admired by all, McLaughlan.

We do greet thee Thomas Conant,
You truthful paint Canadian charms,
And you are the great exponent
Of beauties of her woods and farms.

You give fine sketch of bird and fowl,...

Where each one expressed some sentiment.


In this album you may trace,
If not the lineaments of face,
There at least you will find
Photographs of the mind.

Some in earnest some in fun,...

As one by one the lofty actors of the age
Withdraw from changing play on history's page,
The act of war and peace of old and new contending
For it is long 'ere there's harmonious blending.
...

Gazing on rapids mighty sea,
Struggling fiercely to be free,
But drawn downwards in its course
By gravitation's wondrous force,
O'er those perpendicular walls,
Hurled 'mong mighty rocks it falls,...

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,...

Do not despise the humble weed,
For the Lord He first sowed the seed,
Perhaps it bears most precious fruit,
And useful leaves and potent root.

Though it seems now a useless weed,...

For erratic style he leads van,
Wildly wayward Walt Whitman,
He done grand work in civil war,
For he did dress many a scar,
And kindly wet the hot parched mouth
Of Northern soldiers wounded South.

We will now sing in thoughtful strain
Of wars in Queen Victoria's reign.
The Russian bear did ages lurk,
All ready for to spring on Turk,
For Russian statesmen did divine...

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,...