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diff --git a/14908-8.txt b/14908-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0d595a --- /dev/null +++ b/14908-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3916 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Recollections of Bytown and Its Old +Inhabitants, by William Pittman Lett + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants + +Author: William Pittman Lett + +Release Date: February 4, 2005 [EBook #14908] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECOLLECTIONS OF BYTOWN *** + + + + +Produced by Alicia Williams and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (https://www.pgdp.net). + + + + + + + + + + RECOLLECTIONS + + OF + + BYTOWN + + AND ITS + + OLD INHABITANTS + + BY + + WILLIAM PITTMAN LETT. + + OTTAWA: + + "CITIZIEN" PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, SPARKS STREET + + 1874. + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +As no book, small or great--gay or grave, witty or sublime, scientific, +dramatic, poetic, tragic, historical, metaphysical, philosophical, +polemical, wise or otherwise--can be considered complete, particularly +at the beginning, without a preface; I have deemed it expedient that the +contents of the following pages should be dignified by a few lines of an +introductory nature. + +It was not my intention when I commenced these reminiscences to publish +them in their present form, neither had I any idea of their extending +beyond a few hundred lines. That I have changed my mind is entirely +owing to the solicitations of friends desirous of having them in compact +shape, and not to any particular ambition of my own to write a book. + +I do not pretend to present the reader with anything perfect in rhythm, +polished in measure, or labored in style of construction. I have aimed +at the truth, and imagine I have hit it. + +My object has been, simply, to gather together as many of the names and +incidents connected with Bytown's early history as memory alone could +recal. My desire has been to rescue from oblivion--as far as my humble +efforts could conduce to such a desirable end--what otherwise might +possibly have been forgotten. In the contemplation of those names and +incidents, I have often, recently, overlooked the fact that I now live +in a City with nearly thirty thousand inhabitants, and that its name is +Ottawa. It has, nevertheless, been to me a pleasant labor of love to +walk in memory among the men and the habitations of byegone times. + +Doubtless, of the inhabitants of dear old Bytown, there are some among +the dead and others among the living, whose names may not be found in +this little work. These broken links in the chain will be to me a source +of regret. To the shades of the departed and to the ears of the living, +whom I would not willingly have overlooked without + + "A smile or a grasp of the hand passing on." + +I shall only say, as an atonement for the unwitting lapses of an +imperfect memory, in the language once used by a friend and countryman +in my hearing, as he passed a very pretty girl: "Remember, my dear, that +I do not pass you with my heart." + + + WILLIAM PITTMAN LETT. + +OTTAWA, MARCH, 1873. + + + + +BYTOWN. + +CHAPTER I. + + +In '28, on Patrick's Day, +At one p.m., there came this way +From Richmond, in the dawn of spring, +He who doth now the glories sing +Of ancient Bytown, as 'twas then, +A place of busy working men, +Who handled barrows and pickaxes, +Tamping irons and broadaxes, +And paid no Corporation taxes; +Who, without license onward carried +All kinds of trade, but getting married; +Stout, sinewy, and hardy chaps, +Who'd take and pay back adverse raps, +Nor ever think of such a thing +As squaring off outside the ring, +Those little disagreements, which +Make wearers of the long robe rich. +Such were the men, and such alone, +Who quarried the vast piles of stone, +Those mighty, ponderous, cut-stone blocks, +With which Mackay built up the Locks. +The road wound round the Barrack Hill, +By the old Graveyard, calm and still; +It would have sounded snobbish, very, +To call it then a Cemetery-- +Crossed the Canal below the Bridge, +And then struck up the rising ridge +On Rideau Street, where Stewart's Store +Stood in the good old days of yore; +There William Stewart flourished then, +A _man_ among old Bytown's men; +And there, Ben Gordon ruled the roast, +Evoking many a hearty toast, +And purchase from the throngs who came +To buy cheap goods in friendship's name. +Friend Ben, dates back a warm and true heart +To days of Mackintosh and Stewart. +Beside where Aumond and Barreille +Their fate together erst did try, +In the old "French Store," on whose card +_Imprimis_ was J. D. Bernard. +"_Grande Joe_," still sturdy, stout and strong. +Long be he so! Will o'er my song, +Bend kindly, and perhaps may sigh, +While rapidly o'er days gone by, +He wanders back in memory. +Aye, sigh, for when he look's around, +How few, alas! can now be found, +Who heard the shrill meridian sound +Of Cameron's bugle from the hill, +How few, alas! are living still-- +How few who saw in pride pass on +The Sappers with their scarlet on, +Their hackle plumes and scales of brass, +Their stately tread as on they pass. +I seem to see them through the shade +Of years, in warlike pomp arrayed, +Marching in splendid order past, +Their bugles ringing on the blast, +Their bayonets glittering in the sun, +The vision fades, the dream is done. +Below the Bridge, at least below, +Where stands the Sappers' structure now, +You had to pass in going down +From Upper to the Lower Town; +For, reader, then, no bridge was there, +Where afterwards with wondrous care, +And skilful hands; the Sappers made +That arch which casts into the shade +All other arches in the land, +By which Canals and streams are span'd; +The passing wayfarer sees nought +But a stone bridge by labor wrought, +The Poet's retrospective eye +Searching the depths of memory, +A monument to Colonel By, +Beholds, enduring as each pile +Which stands beside the Ancient Nile, +As o'er the past my vision runs, +Gazing on Bytown's elder sons, +The portly Colonel I behold +Plainly as in the days of old, +Conjured before me at this hour +By memory's undying power; +Seated upon, his great black steed +Of stately form and noble breed. +A man who knew not how to flinch-- +A British soldier every inch. +Courteous alike to low and high +A gentleman was Colonel By! +And did I write of lines three score +About him, I could say no more. +Howard and Thompson then kept store +Down by "the Creek," almost next door, +George Patterson must claim a line +Among the men of auld lang syne; +A man of very ancient fame, +Who in old '27 came. +One of the first firm doth remain, +He is our worthy Chamberlain, +Who ne'er in life's farce cut a dash +On other people's errant cash; +Who guards, as it is right well known, +Better than e'er he did his own, +The people's money, firm and sure, +To the last cent, safe and secure. +And opposite across the street, +A friend or foe could always meet +A man deserving hero's title, +Uncompromising Watson Litle! +A stern upholder of the law +Who ne'er in justice found a flaw, +With well charged blunderbuss in hand +He asked not order or command, +But sallied forth _semper paratus_ +To aid the _Posse Comitatus_! +"Peace to his ashes!" many a score +Of heads he smashed in days of yore! +Where is the marble slab to show +Where Watson Litle's dust lies low? +Close by "the Creek," on the south side +Of Rideau Street, did then reside +John Cuzner, a British tar, +For pluck renown'd both near and far! +Nor would I willingly forget +While tracing recollections met +Of other days, and from the past +Collecting memories fading fast, +Of lines our earliest purveyor, +John MacNaughton, the Surveyor, +The only one who then was quite +At home with the theodolite, +And boxed the trembling compass well, +Before the days of Robert Bell. +A little further up the street, +James Martin's name the eye did greet +A round faced Caledonian, who +Good eating and good drinking knew; +And "Four-pence-half-penny" McKenzie +Daily vended wolsey linsey, +Next door to one of comic cheer +Acknowledged the best auctioneer, +That ever knock'd a bargain down, +Or bidder if he chanced to frown; +He set himself up in the end +As Carleton's most worthy friend +And by _vox populi_ was sent +To Parliament to represent +The men of Carleton, one and all, +In ancient Legislative Hall. +And by "The Tiger" sleek and fat, +Our old friend "Jimmy Johnston" sat, +The corner stock'd with silks and ribbon, +Was kept and owned by Miss Fitzgibbon. +A good stand it has ever been +For commerce in this busy scene; +Stand oft of idler and of scorner, +I mean the modern "Howell's Corner," +Called after "Roderick of the sword," +Once well known Chairman of School Board. +And down below near Nicholas Street, +A quiet man each morn you'd meet +At ten a.m., his pathway wending, +With steps to Ordnance office bending, +A mild man and an unassuming, +Health and good nature ever blooming +Seem'd stamped upon his smiling face, +Where time had scarcely left its trace; +_Semper idem_ let me beg +Thy pardon, honest William Clegg! +Nor must, although his bones are rotten, +The ancient Mosgrove be forgotten, +A man of kindly nature, he +Has left a spot in memory +While gazing on each vanish'd scene +That still remains both fresh and green +For when in heat of hurling bent +The ball oft through his window went, +He pitch'd it to us out again, +And ask'd no payment for the pane. +On Sussex Street, James Inglis flourish'd, +A cannie Scot, and well he nourish'd +A very thriving dry goods trade, +And "piles" of good hard silver made, +Almost amongst the forest trees, +By furs from Aborigines. +No "Hotel" then was in the town, +"The British" in its old renown, +Of our Hotels the ancient mother +Had not one stone laid on another; +Donald McArthur in a cavern +Of wood sustained his ancient tavern, +And there the best of cheer was found +Within old Bytown's classic ground; +And now I'll close my roll of fame +With a most well-remember'd name, +A man of dignity supreme +Rises to view in memory's dream, +Ultra in Toryism's tariff, +Was Simon Fraser, Carleton's Sheriff, +Personified by the third vowel, +Forerunner of W.F. Powell, +A high and most important man +In the renown'd old Fraser Clan, +Who well had worn the Highland tartan, +For he was bold as any Spartan, +And did his duty mildly, gravely, +And wore the sword and cocked hat bravely. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Come, now, my gentle Muse, once more, +Come with me to the days of yore, +And let us wake, with friendly hand +The memories of that distant land, +The past; and while thy minstrel weaves +A chaplet from the Sybil leaves +Of recollection--let the light +Of truth upon his lines be bright. +May he with reverential tread +Approach the dwellings of the dead, +Seeking for some sweet flower of good +Within their solemn solitude: +And if he finds in fadeless bloom +Around some well remember'd tomb, +Some cherish'd record of the past +Which has defied time's rudes blast, +And down futurity's deep vale +Shed fragrance on the passing gale, +Love's labor, then, the task will be, +My gentle Muse, for thee and me. +'Mongst those of old remember'd well, +John Wade doth in my memory dwell, +A wit of most undoubted feather-- +A mighty advocate of leather-- +A solemn man too, when required. +With healing instincts deeply fired, +He with claw-instrument could draw +Teeth deftly from an aching jaw, +And ready was his lancet too +When nothing short of blood would do; +Relieved he many a racking pain, +When shall we see his like again? +And William Tormey, stern and straight, +A man who came ere '28, +Chief of the men who kept the fire on +And hammer'd the strong bands of iron, +Which first securely bound together +The old lock gates through wind and weather, +The old Town Council minutes bear +The record that his name is there. +And Thomas Hanly, loud the praise +I gave him in my early days +For bread, that Eve might tempted be +To eat, had it grown on that tree, +On which hung the forbidden fruit +Whose seed gave earth's ills their sad root. +Friend Tom dealt in the rising leaven +In the old days of '27, +With "Jemmy Lang," an ancient Scot, +Who ne'er the barley bree forgot; +An honest, simple man was he +As ever loved good company; +And Tom McDermott, while I twine +The names of yore in song of mine, +Can I forget a name like thine? +Ah, no! although thine ashes rest +Beneath our common mother's breast, +No name more spotless doth engage +My muse, or grace my tuneful page. +Stern Matthew Connell, fiery Celt, +Below the present Bywash dwelt, +Beside John Cowan, o'er whose grave +The grass of '32 did wave. +No man got in a passion faster +Than did old Bytown's first postmaster; +Yet was he a most upright man, +And well the old machinery "ran" +When mail bags came on horse's back +Before we had a railway track, +And their arrival on each morn +Was signall'd by an old tin horn. +Peace to his shade! in '32 +The cholera Matthew Connell slew. +Kind reader, let me pass awhile, +Beside the "Bywash," deem'd so vile, +Then called "the Creek"--though now the pest-- +The festering miasmatic nest +Of Boards of Health, who dread infection-- +My very heart's sincere affection +Clings fondly to that old creek still; +For oft in boyhood's joyous thrill, +O'er its ice-bosom in wild play +I chased the ball in youth's bright day. +With young companions loved and dear! +How few of such, alas! are here +To listen to the bye-gone story +Of the old Creek's vanish'd glory! +'Twixt "wooden lock" and Rideau Street, +Young Bytown oft was wont to meet-- +To struggle in the "shinny game;" +Ah! then it was a place of fame, +Full sixty feet from shore to shore, +While now it measures scarce a score; +Modern improvement has prevail'd-- +Its fair proportions are curtail'd; +Its banks filled in, more space to gain. +Its stream, by many a filthy drain, +Which once was rapid, always clear, +Changed into color worse than beer, +To cool and icy scowling scan, +Of rigid, total abstinence man. +Gone is its fair renown of yore, +It's schoolboy battles all are o'er, +Which made it then a "Campo Bello" +For many an embryo daring fellow-- +Too young to know what men of sense +Have called the art of self-defence; +There buttons flew, from stitching riven, +Black eyes and bloody noses given-- +Even conflicts national took place, +Among old Bytown's youthful race. +Why not? for children bigger grown +I rave sometimes down the gauntlet thrown +For cause as small, and launch'd afar +The fierce and fiery bolts of war, +Simply to find out which was best. +Cæsar or Pompey by the test. +In those past combats "rich and rare" +Luke Cuzner always had his share. +For Luke in days of _auld lang syne_ +Did most pugnaciously incline, +Never to challenge slack or slow, +And never stain'd by "coward's blow." +The Joyces too, Mick, John and Walter, +In battle's path did seldom falter, +But "Jimmy," in those days of grace +Held a peacemaker's blessed place, +Nor has he wander'd far astray +From the same calm and tranquil way. +The belt was worn by any one +Who had the latest battle won, +'Till Simon Murphy's springing bound +Lit on that ancient battle ground, +And from that hour he was King +Of our young pugilistic ring! +But here I'd like to pause a minute +And go to Hull--there's something in it +That to the hour of life's December +I shall endeavor to remember. +The old "Columbian" schoolhouse, where +In childhood's dawn I did repair; +It was a famous strict old school +Sway'd by the ancient birchen rule, +The place where youthful ignorance brought us, +The spot where famed James Agnew taught us; +A Scot was he of good condition, +A man of nerve and erudition, +A strict disciplinarian, who +Knew well what any boy could do, +And woe to him who did not do it +For he got certain cause to rue it. +No sinner ever dreaded Charon, +Nor was the mighty rod of Aaron, +By ancient Egypt's magic men, +In Pharoah's old despotic reign, +More feared as symbol of a God +Than was by us James Agnew's rod; +With it he batter'd arithmetic, +Lore practical and theoretic +Latin too, and English grammar +Into your head, a perfect "crammar," +Was Agnew's most persuasive rod, +Nor less his magisterial nod. +How would such stern tuition suit +In our Collegiate Institute? +Amongst the unforgotten few +Who rise to memory's magic view, +While winging on her backward flight, +My schoolfellow, Alonzo Wright, +Appears a lad of slender frame, +I cannot say he's still the same, +Except in soul, for that sublime +Has soar'd above the touch of time, +And in "immortal youth" appears, +Unchanged by circumstance or years, +A good fellow, this was his name +At school, methinks he's still the same. +May he give powers of swift volition +To all who offer opposition +To him in the approaching "scrimmage," +For what is but a brazen image +At best, a people's approbation, +Which sometimes with the situation, +Changes as egg in hand of wizard, +Or color in chameleon lizard. +There too, are Job and David Moore, +Bill Northgraves mentioned not before, +Who in the little school-house red +On early education fed. +And Thomas Curtis Brigham, too, +Lennox and Christopher in view, +Arise before my sight, +Strongly defined in memory's light, +And Wright both Ruggles and Tiberias, +And Wyman who was seldom serious, +Poor fellow! in life's manly bloom +He slept in an untimely tomb. +Time fails me, or I fain would tell +Of many more remembered well, +But end I here my present strain +Till memory wakes it up again. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I cross the Ottawa once more. +From Hull again to Bytown's shore. +And for a moment I behold +The river as it was of old, +Swelling, majestic in its pride, +A glorious stream from side to side! +A "Grand River" was Ottawa then, +The pride of ancient lumbermen, +By slabs and sawdust undefiled. +The joy of nature's dusky child, +Who's matchless, perfect bark canoe +Oft o'er its crystal bosom flew-- +Not bridged all o'er like shaking bogs +By endless booms of dirty logs, +Which to the thrifty and the wise +Are doubtless marks of enterprise, +And evidences too of health, +Of pocket and commercial wealth, +Yet sadly, sometimes out of place, +And serious blots on Nature's face. +What would big Indian "Clouthier" say-- +The red-skinn'd Samson could he stray +From the happy hunting ground away-- +Could he behold the stream to-day-- +The great Kah-nah-jo, where the God +Of the Algonquins used to nod +In dreamy slumber 'mid the smoke +Which from the mighty cataract broke, +Hemm'd in by sawmills, booms and piers-- +The features of a thousand years +Of beauty ruthlessly defaced-- +The landmarks of the past displaced, +And little left to tell the story +Of Ottawa's departed glory; +But water running where it ran +When the red deer chase began. +'Twould startle even Philemon Wright +With all his wisdom and foresight. +Could he arise, good man of old, +And modern Ottawa behold, +He'd feel himself a stranger too-- +'Mid scenes of wonder strange and new-- +In Hull, of little worth for tillage, +The spot on which he built his village. +Return I now, this slight digression +Was worth the time, I've an impression; +Clouthier, the Indian, was a giant, +And "Squire Wright," strong, self-reliant, +Was he who o'er the border came +And gave to Hull its ancient fame; +A man of enterprise and spirit +Who in this history well doth merit, +Such place of prominence as can +Be given to such a stirring man. +On the way back I see the ground +Where ferrying Odium was found, +And afterwards, next in progression, +Friend John Bedard came in possession, +And certainly much money made +By a successful carrying trade. +The place seems alter'd, art and skill +Have built up Wright and Batson's mill +At the old wharf, or near at hand, +Where the first steamer used to land, +Before even that small craft could ride +At any wharf on Bytown's side. +And not far off, in days of yore +A cottage stood--'tis there no more, +And if there ever was a spot +Where friend and foe a welcome got-- +Where generous hospitality +Presided o'er the banquet free, +And friendship's hand for rich and poor +Was ever opening the door-- +That spot was where that cottage stood, +Embowered in the cedar wood, +And he who there resided with +An open heart, was old Ralph Smith! +In memory I behold him now, +With sparkling eye and lofty brow, +And round the table amply spread, +Are Patton, Henry, Ralph and Ned, +And Dolly--blessed be her shade! +Who, such nice things for schoolboys made, +And made them feel just as no other +On earth could do except their mother. +But I must hurry, or I own, +I ne'er shall reach the Upper Town, +For there I'll find an ancient throng +To link together in my song, +And I shall wake them up ere long. +'Mongst those of olden time who came +Was one whose engineering fame +Was brilliant--let none call be braggart +While speaking thus of John MacTaggart, +A genius of the highest grade +In that most scientific trade, +Who plann'd with wise, consummate skill, +Even from the lock-gates lowest sill +To Kingston Mills, the undertaking +Which cost such time and cash in making, +Rideau Canal, the work of years, +And England's Royal Engineers. +Brother of Isaac, once known hero +As Corporation Engineer, +Or Street Surveyor in that time +When Ottawa's fur was not so prime, +Whom well of old the writer knew, +And as he comes up for review-- +Like volume taken from the shelf-- +He harm'd no one but himself, +Is all his bitterest foe can say +Of Isaac who has passed away. +And James Fitzgibbon, where is he? +Beneath the weeping willow tree, +Retired, quiet-going man +Who ne'er his head 'gainst faction ran. +And close upon his fading track +I see the shadow of James Black, +Who once on Rideau Street kept store +In the remember'd days of yore, +A stirring, active man was he, +Genteel, polite to a degree, +That customers were always fain +Who saw him once to call again; +His wife in the old churchyard lay-- +Her epitaph I know to-day. +And there stands Thomas Burrows, too, +As he appeared before my view, +Leaning upon his garden gate +Beside the Creek in '28; +He held of trust, an office high +Under the reign of Colonel By. +And Tom McDonald, as we then +Were wont to call the best of men; +A man of spirit rare was he +Who never had an enemy. +And there, too, Captain Victor goes +With most aristocratic nose, +And manners haughty with the ring +Of _ton_ when George the Fourth was king. +And Lieut. Pooley, for whose skill +The "Gully" bridge is named so still, +Ask Lyman Perkins, if you doubt it, +And he will tell you all about it. +And Dr. Tuthill, who with skill +Could cure more readily than kill, +Physic'd, emetic'd, too, and clyster'd, +And _con amore_, bled and blister'd, +In the old Hospital, which stood +Unscathed by tempest, fire, or flood, +For fifty years, to be down cast, +By chance, or carelessness, at last, +Theme for conjecture, most prolific, +Another phase of the Pacific +Railway which will cause a broil, +Unless 'tis built on British soil! +And there, too, Joseph Coombs was found, +With solemn step his march around +Among the patients, pacing slowly-- +Disciple of the meek and lowly, +Who afterwards oft turned the key +On many a goodly company. +In that strong work of mason's trowel, +Ruled now by Alexander Powell. +And William Addison, no more-- +As trim a soldier as e'er wore +The uniform, or bravely bore +His head erect, with step as light +As wings that touch the air in flight. +Well had he won and kept from harm +The honor'd stripes upon his arm. +Such men as he have been the stay +Of Britain in her darkest day! +And Sergeant Johnston who, with skill, +The raw and awkward squad could drill-- +A warrior in air and tone, +Who had his country service done-- +Straight as a ramrod, and his might +Of voice would Lambkin's soul delight. +And brave John Murphy--champion John! +I can't forget as I pass on. +As fine a fellow as e'er wore +The scarlet coat in days of yore. +With upright form of manliest grace, +With wondrous beauty in his face, +And perfect symmetry of limb; +Appollo might have envied him! +And then he was as brave and true +As e'er the sword or bayonet drew, +Full many a battle did he fight, +His injured comrade's wrongs to right; +For well he knew each mood and tense +Of the old art of self-defence; +And woe to him who dared a fling +With bold John Murphy in the ring. +There many a pugilistic martyr +Met his match and caught a Tartar. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Near where the George Street market stood +Lived William Northgraves, then a good +And skilful watch-maker, who's chime +Did regulate the march of time, +And Arthur Hopper, sporting blade, +Was in the same time serving trade, +Though guiltless of the modern tricks +Of time serving in politics; +He made gold rings for bridal matches, +As well as cleaned and mended watches. +And last of old watchmakers three, +I mention mild Maurice Dupuis, +Who's even tenor ne'er did vary +From the upright and exemplary, +At Corcoran's corner, now the stand +For carters, very near at hand, +Dwelt one who's unforgotten name +Is worthy of poetic fame; +With scientific sleight he bled, +And then anatomized the dead. +With hand so wonderfully skill'd, +Victims delighted to be killed, +Came willingly to yield up life, +An offering to Tom Hickey's knife; +So high his sense of honor ran, +The butcher in the gentleman +Merged so completely, you'd be lost, +Which in him to admire the most; +By ancient poets it was sung +Those whom the gods love all die young, +Tom Hickey's early death did prove +That those die young whom all men love. +I must not here omit the name +Of Heubach from my roll of fame, +He passes under memory's scan +A simple minded honest man, +With manners quiet, mild and bland, +An emigrant from fatherland. +And Joseph Nadeau, far and near +Famed 'mongst the boys for good _La Tir_ +And old John Cochran stern and tall, +Immoveable as a stone wall! +Staunch to his principles stood he, +No matter what the cost might be; +Oh! for a few of his old stamp, +To trim with fire the waning lamp! +And Louis Grison, worthy man, +In "Maville's village," first began +His little trade, which wider spread +As ancient Bytown went ahead. +Two rows of houses built of wood, +Near Enoch Walkley's brewery stood +With narrow little street between, +This was the village that I mean. +Then William Graham kept the peace +Of all the town with perfect ease; +Potato whiskey then was cheap, +And we had little peace to keep. +Such monstrous practice was unknown +As kicking when a man was down, +Though many a stunning blow was felt, +None ever struck below the belt; +The ring was form'd, and fair play +Reign'd without challenge at each fray, +And never yet, that I could hear, +Did constable e'er interfere, +Or even think that amongst crimes +Rank'd this brave pastime of old times. +Then Martin Hennessy was young, +A Hercules with sinews strung; +You might as well an anvil "lick," +Or stand against a horse's kick +And fear not shattered rib or jaw +As risk a smash from Martin's paw. +I've seen him in the days of yore +His fist crash through a panel door. +Martin soon ran his wild race out, +For "Doctor" Whitney with a "clout" +Of a great bludgeon laid him out +Heady for _post mortem_ and bier, +Thus ended Martin's rough career. +Ah! those were happy halcyon days, +Well worthy of immortal lays. +Here I must summon from the band +Of the departed shadowy land +George Parsons, and his name entwine +In this poetic wreath of mine. +Beside the creek his name I meet +On the west side of William street, +Twas called "the lane," ere legislation +Gave it its present designation; +Admirers of steeds fleet and game +Will not forget George Parson's name. +And I would be worse than a Turk, +Did I forget George Robert Burke, +A man who mingled not in strife, +Nor ever did in all his life +An act to cause a blush of shame +On any face that bears his name! +Nor can I Archie Foster pass, +Too soon departed, too, alas! +A man of feelings warm and kind-- +A friend who never left behind +A friendly act, if in his power +To act the friend in trouble's hour, +Ah! 'twas a melancholy day +When Archie Foster passed away. +And now a man with learning's grace +And mildness pictured in his face +Stands forth in retrospection's ray +As if it was but yesterday, +It is the good Hugh Hagan's shade +Who's precepts many a scholar made. +Nor would my reminiscent eye +While scanning erudition's sky, +Fail to perceive through cloud and storm +Friend James Maloney's stately form-- +A fixed star in the Teacher's heaven +Since the old days of '27, +When learning's every art and rule, +In the old Mathematic School, +According to education laws +He taught--and ne'er forget the "taws." +The handle was just two feet long, +And well he trounced the noisy throng! +At the west border of the swamp +Where cedars grew mid mosses damp, +Just at the corner where to-day +Ben Huckell doth his name display, +In other days dwelt William May, +A member of the old "Alliance" +Which easily put at defiance +The conflagrations that were seen +"Like Angel's visits far between," +For Bytown then was almost free +From an Insurance Company! +Poor fellow! by a sudden stroke +Death's gloomy shadow o'er him broke, +Upon that well remembered day-- +When the old town was wild and gay. +From verdant vale to sunny ridge, +On which the new Suspension Bridge +Was opened--and crowds congregated +To see it then "inaugurated." +To use a word from Uncle Sam, +The concourse was a perfect jam. +'Twas built by Alexander Christie, +From the land of mountains misty; +And though the whirlwind and the storm +For years have revelled on its form-- +Though ponderous loads for many a year +Have passed it o'er from from far and near, +It stands in strength unshaken still, +A monument of art and skill; +Long may the builder dash the tide +Of Jordan's swelling surge aside; +And when the lot of all mankind +Overtakes him, may he safely find +A bridge across to Canaan's shore, +To pass in peace death's valley o'er. +While rambling backwards up life's hill, +I meet the stern Paul Joseph Gill, +A man with much tuition fraught, +Who youth at the old creek side taught, +Where Thomas Dowsley doth display, +His maps of land for sale to-day. +Paul Joseph Gill could with a frown +Keep juvenile offenders down; +His ruler flat I can't forget, +My fingers seem to tingle yet, +As recollection o'er me brings +That ruler amongst other things, +Which come around me link by link, +While of the vanished past I think. +John Frost, too, rises up before +My vision of the time that's o'er; +He built upon foundation damp, +In Lower Town's great cedar swamp, +Which stretched from Sussex Street to where +That engineering structure fair-- +The fond-admiring eye doth greet, +Spanning the stream at Ottawa Street. +And "Sandy" Graham, strange it is, +That I thus far his name should miss, +While tracing from the scenes gone by +Each unforgotten memory +Sandy was, aye, a joyous blade, +And many a good stroke of trade +He with commercial wisdom made, +In other times when he was young, +And Yankee silver round was flung +With lavish hand by low and high +In the good days of Colonel By. +And William Hunton, who came late, +If I am right, in '28, +And many a good quart of whiskey, +To make the old Bytonians frisky-- +And many a pound of Twankay tea +And Muscovado vended he, +For Howard and Thompson in the time +When cash was plenty and trade prime. +Friend Tom a little later came, +A youth then of quite slender frame. +In form he's something still the same-- +Though time has taken from his heel +The spring it used of old to feel. +And streaked his locks with silver, too, +Which long withstood all time could do, +Yet in the dream that's passed away +I see Tom Hunton of to-day. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +And John McGraves, the chandler, why +Could I so long have passed him by? +By accident I've turned a leaf +Which brings him out in bold relief +A plain and unassuming man +Was John; his candles never ran. +And many in this ancient place +Owed him a debt for a clean face. +William Kipp, too, doth memory greet, +In a small shop on Rideau Street, +A man of gentlemanly kind, +With a well-cultivated mind; +And Commissary Strachan, too, +And Oriel, who had much to do +Paying the debts of Waterloo, +And many another battle field +Where Britons fought and did not yield. +And old John Ring, "good gracious me!" +I had almost forgotten thee-- +Thou "Silky" John of other years, +Gone from this dreary vale of tears, +A passing shade, and more's the pity, +For thou wert ever gay and witty. +And Charles Baines, an old time lawyer, +Stood here professional top sawyer; +He owned a bull dog, arrant thief! +Who plundered Agar Yielding's beef; +And when friend Yielding sought for law, +To deal with canine of such maw, +"Why, there is just one simple way," +Said Charley, "Make the owner pay;" +"I thank you for your judgment brief," +Said Agar, "pay me for the beef." +"Seven and sixpence worth of prog, +Was bolted by _your_ big bull dog." +"All right," said Charley, like a flash, +And quickly handed o'er the cash; +But, as friend Yielding turned to go, +"Come back," said Charley, "for you owe +Just seven and sixpence for advice, +So hand it over in a trice." +While on the past I now reflect, +I well and clearly recollect +John Wilson, who kept office here, +And afterwards a Judge austere +Of the Queen's Bench or Common Pleas, +Sat with much dignity and ease. +'Tis past, I shall not here relate +Young Robert Lyon's luckless fate, +Nor shall I stir the tomb and tell +Why he an early victim fell +At folly's shrine, as he who bends +A martyr to ill-judging friends, +Will always fall; but end I here +This record of his short career. +Honor, indeed! thy shrine appears, +Surrounded by a sea of tears. +George Shouldice is a man of old, +Henry was too, who 'neath the mould +Lies slumbering in solemn rest-- +He many a pompous body drest +With garments fine and quite exotic, +When fashion was not so despotic. +And Charles Friel, an early man +With Bytown's history began, +A man of ready tongue and wit, +A politician who could hit +And sway with eloquence the throng, +Which shouts alike for right or wrong. +Father of Henry James, who died. +Just as his eye of hope descried +The goal he labored to attain-- +The honors he had fought to gain. +Tis no uncommon thing to find +A little man with full grown mind: +And 'mongst those who have gone to rest-- +Who of their chances made the best +In life's o'er turning changing reel, +I freely rank Henry J. Friel. +And Daniel Fisher, too, is gone, +Of Scotia's children he was one +Who clothed the naked in his day-- +That is, the naked who could pay. +I have a friendly feeling yet +For him, for I can ne'er forget +The jacket blue which first I wore +In the old cherished days of yore, +That jacket which I don'd with pride. +Caused me to feel a man beside +The urchin in the pinafore +Which I had just arisen o'er; +In Daniel Fisher's shop 'twas made-- +Headquarters of the fig-leaf trade.-- +In that most ancient grand device +Which had its rise in Paradise. +I see as on I hurry past, +Pat Duggan, who blew vulcan's blast, +And friend Kehoe, who with hand neat +Fitted the shoes to horse's feet; +And John McGivern, the baker, +And Robert Wanless, harness-maker; +And William Atkins, who is still +Holding his own upon the hill +Of life, though slowly wending +Towards the goal that has no ending; +And Silas Burpee, pious man, +Who in the early ages ran +With drums and belts and wheels complete +A turning mill on old York Street-- +Upon the very spot, now thought of +Where gander's head George Shouldice shot off, +With an old smooth-bore, but would not +That day attempt a second shot; +'Twas wise of George, a second shot +Might have consigned to luckless pot, +His marksman's name, and half a shilling, +His renown in the art of killing. +It was a stirring place of trade +Where famous spinning tops were made. +And splendid water power was found +Where now there's nought but solid ground, +Covered with numerous loads of wood, +A costly item bad or good. +In modern times--of old it stood, +Maple at ninety cents a cord, +Just four and six-pence, by my word! +And Julius Burpee, gone! well, well! +He kept the old Rideau Hotel, +Where man and beast could get the best +And truly find the traveller's rest. +Julius still might living be +Were it not for the "barley bree." +And Edward Darcey too, appears. +And Jeffry Nolan, who in years +Gone by, was stout and strong in fight. +And in the conflict always right, +Before the days when frolic's King +McDougall "made Dungarven ring!" +Frank's arm then, as mine, was strong, +None but himself in all the throng +So far the ponderous sledge could hurl, +Until at last with dexterous whirl, +"The school master" defiant came +And walked off champion of the game. +From first to last I've found him true, +McDougal _ciamar tha sibhn dieugh_? +And Charles Sparrow, where, oh, where +Is he who once was Bytown's Mayor, +Ere, J.B. Turgeon took the chair? +Lost 'mid the overwhelming blaze +Of changes new; gone from the gaze +Of public life, like many a man +Who, once for public honors ran. +And George and Robert Lang are gone, +Men of intelligence and tone, +Who held positions marked and high +In Bytown's old society. +Nor has amongst the ancient few +Captain McKinnon from my view-- +Though long a tenant of the tomb-- +Faded into oblivion's gloom. +If Roderick Stewart now was near, +He'd pour into my listening ear +A tale I would delight to hear, +Of other men of other times, +Who's names may have escaped my rhymes. +The Captain lived, a man discreet, +Near where the ancient arch did meet +O'er famous little Sussex Street, +For there a tragedy took place +Which here the muse with truth shall trace. +A boy stood near that arch of old +Upon a wintry day--'twas cold, +Tired of sleighing down the hill, +He for a moment there stood still, +That boy sits now with pen in hand, +From memory's photographic land +Painting in colors fair and true +The vanished scenes which once he knew. +As thus he rested taking breath, +He little dreamed of blood or death. +Up Rideau Street a man there came, +Charles McStravick was his name. +A tall, lithe, active fellow, he, +As in a thousand you could see; +A white blanket _capote_ he wore, +And jauntily himself he bore, +He stepped beneath the arch, and then +Rushed at him fiercely two strong men. +Both with surprise and dread were scan'd. +One had a loaded whip in hand, +The other a short bludgeon bore, +And in a moment, all was o'er! +Three blows, a crash, a stream of blood. +All of the victim bad or good +In life, was in an instant crushed +To dust--off the assailants rushed, +And none can tell from then 'till now +The hands that laid McStravick low, +Nor does he who relates the story +Know more of that occurrence gory +My history would be faithless here +Did "Happy Jimmy" not appear, +An innocent good natured soul +As ever loved the flowing bowl-- +An institution of the day +That like himself hath passed away, +Was "Happy Jimmy," he who made +A vagrant's life a merry trade. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +And now, kind reader, I behold +Before me, as in days of old, +Bold Paddy Whelan, Wexford Paddy +Surely of noisy men the daddy; +A man of most Herculean form, +Who roamed through sunshine and through storm, +And sounded loud in other days +His notes in Hamnett Pinhey's praise-- +And well he might sing with loud swell, +"The Lamb of March" deserved it well! +A man of learning, wit, and sense, +No shallow thing of vain pretence, +The true stamp of the current guinea +Bore March's Father, Hamnett Pinhey. +To "Muddy Little York" went he, +The Independent and the Free +To represent with power effective +Amid the wisdom most collective, +In the old days of Compact Rule +Ere Grittism yet had gone to school; +Dalhousie District's Archives too, +Can show what he was wont to do. +Paddy, though not of _genus feræ,_ +Was yet a queer _lusus naturæ_; +His vital organs played beneath +A shield of solid bone 'till death, +Without a yielding space between, +Where ribs in other men are seen, +Though not a feathered bird, his toes +Were web'd as well the writer knows, +And joined in one in style most rare +His molars and incisors were; +His voice, when at its loudest swell, +Was like a railway whistle's yell; +In stature he was six feet tall, +So there is Paddy for you all! +But strike I now a strain sublime, +A touch heroic into rhyme. +As memory doth with truth uncoil +The history of old Bob Boyle, +A British soldier, bold and free, +Of the old Ninety-Ninth was he, +Who bravely fought and 'scaped from harm, +At Lundy's Lane and Crysler's Farm, +And gallantly his bayonet bore, +At Fort Niagara, and the shore +Of Sackett's Harbor trod of yore, +When "Uncle Sam," our friend and brother, +Or cousin, kicked up such a "bother" +In 1812, and tried +In vain to lower Britain's pride, +By cutting from her parent side, +By a Cæsarean operation, +The proudest offspring of the nation! +The Union Jack, thank heaven! still +Floats proudly over vale and hill, +Of this Dominion grand of ours; +And shattered be the vital powers, +By fatal stroke, like that which slew, +Sennacherib's Assyrian crew, +Of him who's traitor hand shall dare +To furl one fold that flutters there! +And palsied be the traitor tongue, +And from its root uptorn and wrung, +That dares to utter but one word +To weaken the soul-anchored cord, +Which binds Canadians heart and hand +In love to the old Mother Land! +Bob Boyle, "I thank thee" that thy name +Hath stirred the patriotic flame, +In days like these, when treason's veil +Drops when passions fierce assail, +And leaves exposed to public view +The traitor double-dyed in hue! +Hear, spawn of disaffection's thrall! +Rouge, Annexationist and all +This--ere the Union Jack shall fall, +The path of treason red with blood +Shall sink beneath a crimson flood, +While o'er it from the highest crag, +Will wave the glorious meteor flag! +I've wandered somewhat from my track, +But quietly I now come back; +Into my train of thought there blew +A passing spark, away it flew, +And I was gone before I knew-- +Like nitro-glycerine it sprung, +And from the pathway I was flung. +Yet no uncertain sound give I, +I risk it as a prophecy. +By George Street north, I pass and see +There Pierre Desloges, a man was he, +But little known beyond the spot +Where first he built his little cot. +And Alexander Ethier too, +A carpenter, both good and true +Beside him dwelt, where busy feet, +Pass onward to Dalhousie Street. +And now I think it passing strange +That in wild fancy's flitting range +I have not seen and mark'd before +John Litle standing at his door-- +In Sussex Street where erst, kept he +An Inn of quite a good degree +Of excellence in the old time +Which has evoked this lengthy rhyme, +John was a man of sturdy frame +As any that hath borne his name. +Even Brave Bob Elliot would delight +His prowess to behold in fight; +And Robert Elliott was not slow +To give or to resent a blow +In other days, when not as now. +The olive branch of peace is seen +Between the orange and the green. +And Richard Stethem in the haze +Of Bytown's distant early days +Before my vision doth appear, +To claim his right of entry here. +And Robert Stethem, too, his brother, +Of village denizens another; +John Miller too, of leather fame, +Who from the County Wexford came, +And first made here such boots and shoes +As fashion could not now refuse +In this fastidious age to take +And wear them for their matchless make. +And how have I not had before +James Anderson, a man of yore, +Who pitched his tent in days gone by +'Mong Bytown's ancient company, +An honest hearted jovial Scot +As e'er in exile cast his lot +'Mongst those who pioneered the track +Down which my memory's muse looks back. +And now as I stretch forth my hand +In search of one from Paddy's land, +A man of wit and humour rare, +I touch him still and find him there. +From Erin, scarcely from Armagh, +To Carleton came Denis McGrath, +Loud has his North Hibernian tongue +Upon the Byward market rung +For six and thirty years; in truth, +I've known him since the days of youth, +John Litle can my tale review +Of Denis, he will find it true. +And John Macdonald, of the Isles, +With face clad in perennial smiles, +Knight of the knock-down hammer, he +Claims passing notice now from me-- +A well read man, for truth to tell, +He studied Burns and Byron well; +And which two of the wizard few +Have touched with tuneful hand so true. +The throbbing pulses of the soul, +Which vibrate 'neath their wild control. +Friend John Macdonald, here's my hand, +Thou relic of the vanished land! +Michael McBean I can't pass by, +He kept of old a grocery-- +Just opposite McDougal's gate, +Where the big auger hangs in state. +Richard McCann, too, did abide +In peace the Sappers' Bridge beside, +In house we ne'er shall see again, +Once tenanted by Andrew Main-- +A cannie, sober, honest Scot, +Was Andrew Main--an humble lot, +With patient industry he bore, +Till fortune smiled, and then a store +He opened, in extensive way, +Where William Fingland keeps to-day. +Peter A. Egleson to boot, +The young idea how to shoot, +On George Street north, in days gone by +Taught in his own academy; +At length the birch he threw aside, +And floated proudly on the tide +Of commerce--and his name appears +Where it was found in other years. +Next Richard Thomas comes to view, +And Nat and Jonas Barry too, +All plasterers of the old time +Who made their bread by sand and lime. +Joachim Valiquette, a baker, +And Joseph Valiquette, shoemaker, +A votary of the rod and line +When summer evenings are fine, +He like a nightingale can sing +A holy strain--as well as bring +From well known spot--a goodly string +Of fish upon a Thursday night +That Friday may be kept all right. +Gone is our friend Peter Riel +Whom old Bytonians once knew well; +An innocent good man was he, +Given sometimes to a little spree; +Once member of the Council here, +He gave forth many a loyal cheer, +And sat triumphal carriage on, +In state with Queen Victoria's Son, +When Albert Edward came this way +A royal visit here to pay. +My song complete would not appear +Unless "the Major's" name were here; +His regimental number now +I can't recall--but this I know, +He bravely marched with battle brand +Among the guardians of the land, +Ready alike to fall or stand +As duty's accents gave command; +Far might yon seek, and find not then +A soul more genial amongst men, +A lot unmarked by mortal ills +Is all I wish to Major Wills. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Though strictly not of Bytown fame, +I can't forget John Egan's name, +It well deserves what I can give, +To make it unforgotten live; +For 'mongst the sons of enterprise, +Who rose with Bytown's early rise, +When "Norway Pine" was number one, +John Egan stands almost alone-- +The king of the Grand River, then +The Wellington of lumber men +A man of boundless energy, +And vast capacity was he, +All difficulties had to fly, +And cower before his dauntless eye! +Right well may Aylmer mourn and boast +The enterprising son she lost, +Upon the day when from earth's toil +He "shuffled off the mortal coil." +And N.H. Baird, of old was here, +A scientific engineer; +And Finland, the contractor, who +With coach and four the streets drove through, +The grandest carriage of the kind +E'er seen in Bytown--with behind-- +In gorgeous and artistic glare, +A lion and an eagle--where +Is friend Perkins? he can still +Remember that old eagle's bill. +And Captain Andrew Wilson, O! +I've got an old sea lion now, +Who saw the flash of Nelson's eye, +Amid the smoke of victory, +Both at Trafalgar and the Nile. +Aye, saw the hero's dying smile +Of triumph, when his cruise was o'er, +And to the vast eternal shore, +Launched forth by death's o'erwhelming gale +His gallant spirit spread its sail! +O'er flowing bowl with might and main, +He fought his battle's o'er again, +Talked of chain shot, and "Stinkpot's" stench, +And hated cordially the French, +Whom he believed were but created +To be by sailors killed and hated +What e'er he was, what passage o'er, +He took to the mysterious shore, +Old Charon never cleft the wave. +Yet with a soul more true and brave! +And Baptiste Homier, when alive, +I think had children twenty-five, +Presided o'er a tavern neat, +On the south side of Rideau street. +A place well known both near and far, +And there John Johnston kept the bar, +Related backward up the stream, +To him who had the lucky dream; +With the old Chief, who in "a fix" +Was found before old '76. +Colonial history has told +The story in the days of old. +The Indian dreamed, the General lost +His uniform, but to his cost +The wily chieftain quickly found +The General's dream, bought solid ground, +And Martin, James, and Darby Keally +From the green land of the "Shillaly." +Richard Fitzsimmons, too, was found, +The Paganini of sweet sound +In days gone by, with memories big, +And well he danced an Irish jig. +Most incomplete would be my tale, +Did I not draw aside the veil, +And bring from distant vistas through, +The ancient fiddler into view. +While strolling downward by the locks, +One of those reminiscent knocks +I felt, which brought my eye before +Another of the men of yore; +I gazed, as the dim shadow neared, +And then before my sight appeared +The recollection of a name, +'Twas Commissary Ashworth came. +And not far off, with business look +And pen in hand o'er ponderous book, +I see another friend of youth +Noted for probity and truth; +'Tis Thomas Donelly, worthy man! +Whom now with memory's eye I scan. +Still as the mist of memory clears, +I meet the men of other years; +Another page I now unfold, +And Captain Bolton I behold, +Or Major Bolton, if you will, +Who lived upon the "Major's Hill," +Which got his rank and bears it still. +It used to be in days gone by, +"The Colonel's Hill," a rank more high, +And worthy of the ancient trees, +Whose foliage rustled in the breeze, +Where pigeons, in their annual flight, +Were wont by thousands to alight, +O! many a fusilade I've seen, +Of flint locks in its bowers green; +It got the name recorded here, +From Colonel By, who first lived there; +'Twas then a grove of thickest shade, +What civilization's hand hath made, +The Indian, with its withering skill, +It has done for the "Colonel's Hill." +Who comes, so centaur like in grace, +Good spirits pictured in his face? +'Tis Isaac Smith, let truth not vary, +A gentleman from Tipperary, +Beloved by all, 'twere hard to mate him, +He had no enemies to hate him, +His friends were neither scarce nor few +They numbered every soul he knew. +Who e'er remembers Isaac Smith, +Mounted top boots and breeches with, +Upon his stately old black mare +Will recollect a horseman rare. +Christopher Carlton, where art thou? +Come here, old friend, I want thee now +To ramble back with me again +To where of old McPherson and Crane, +And Francis Clemow, too, I think, +Did business at the Basin's brink. +And Bindon Burton Alton, who +Has vanished from terrestial view; +The poet with the flashing eye-- +The true born son of minstrelsy! +Who sang so sweetly, memory still +Trembles with the undying thrill. +Which throbbed in melting tones of fire +From Bindon Burton Alton's lyre, +Alas! alas! that such a soul +Should sink a victim to the bowl. +Thomas MacKay, who's worthy name +Is well known even to modern fame. +The worth which honest men revere +Deserves a fitting record here. +With mighty gangs he excavated +The ancient quarry situated +On west side of "the Major's Hill." +Which modern hands find hard to till; +The stones from thence by powder rent +To build the seven Canal Locks went. +The Sappers' Bridge, too, was erected +By blocks of limestone thence ejected. +Like many another rising man. +Mackay for ancient Russell "ran" +To use a term, which means to-day +That he runs best who best can pay! +The declaration found him seated +And his antagonist defeated. +New honors came his name to greet, +A Legislative Councillor's seat +Was given next to Russell's pride, +Clad with which dignity he died. +And no more upright man has e'er +Deserving of the post sat there. +And William Stewart, too, who's name +Elsewhere has graced my roll of fame, +Was as the reader will remember, +For Bytown long ago a member, +Good representative he made, +And his constituents ne'er betrayed, +We were by taxes lightly rated +When Bytown was incorporated, +By the Bill by him presented +When he this village represented +In '47, the year, no other, +When to that stingy old step mother, +The County of Carleton we were tied +And had our temper sorely tried. +This was before Lord Sydenham's reign +Which gave that legislative strain +To our Colonial Constitution, +And made a legal institution, +The Bill Municipal in Legislation, +The often tinkered act which rules the nation. +And James Stewart, a medico +Of the old school of long ago, +A votary of potent pill, +And lancet too for many an ill. +And not a whit more given to kill +His patients, say these truthful rhymes. +Than M.D's of more modern times, +And now I think it only fair +To mention here Doctor O'Hare, +Who of old Bytown formed a part, +And practised the assuaging art +Before the time of Scanlon's tarry, +Before the days of Edward Barry +Who in his person did combine +The medical and legal line, +Exhibiting as his degree +Upon his card J.P.M.D." +He gave to Bytown's sporting men +Such Fox-hunt as we ne'er again +Shall see; ah! 'twas a joyful day, +When Barry with tin horn away, +In glory on "Bob Logie's" back, +Followed the variegated pack +Yelping in chorus o'er the plain, +We'll never see such sport again! +Who would at length the story hear, +Can ask the Sheriff, he was there, +And bravely in his headlong way +Did "Shamrock" carry him that day, +Close in the terror stricken wake +Of Reynard, over bush and brake, +James Fraser, too, can tell the tale, +For he went over hill and dale, +And swamp and fence and ditch and bush, +Foremost in the determined rush. +To get up first and win the brush, +While loud above the yelling din, +Sounded the Doctor's horn of tin, +That hunt the public health to save +Was the best prescription e'er he gave. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Can I, an ancient friend, pass by, +Who even to-day still greets my eye, +And brings up among modern men +The dearly cherish'd past again? +'Tis far, far back, I scarce can fix +The date, perhaps, 'twas '26, +When he, in Huntly, on a farm, +Once tried his unaccustomed arm +At work for which 'twas never made, +In that most independent trade. +He left Bucolics, trees, and all, +And moved away to Montreal, +To teach, as better him did suit, +"The young idea how to shoot." +And many a youth has blest the day +Of Alexander Workman's sway. +I'll say no more, lest I should be +Accused, perhaps, of flattery. +'Twould scarcely here be out of place +If Edward Griffin's smiling face +I should present in colors true-- +In good Samaritanic view; +The patron of Joe Lee, whose name +Is known to histrionic fame; +Who play'd at Shylock on the stage, +When tragedy was more the rage +Than in this sad degenerate age. +And where art thou, my friend, George Story, +A man of yore, though not yet hoary? +The even tenor of thy way +Hast thou maintain'd for many a day; +They tell us within human range +That mortal things are given to change, +It may be so, yet thou art still +But little changed, though down the hill +Quietly gliding, still thou hast +An air about thee of the past; +Who knew thee thirty years ago +At the first glance would know thee now. +And Thomas Story--modest man-- +As well as any other can, +Or, he may think, much better too, +Suit habit's taste in me or you, +In coat artistically made +According to that ancient trade, +Which had its rise in solitude, +Where Adam lived before the flood-- +Is still Tom Story of the past, +Long may his life's fair measure last +And Sandy Mowat, here's a line +To thee, in memory of lang syne; +Fond wert thou of the target ground-- +Fond of a rifle and a hound; +Dost thou remember Bearbrook's brink +And the old shanty without "chink," +Or door to stop the piercing gale +That whirled along the snow-clad vale, +Where Peter McArthur, you and I, +Once slept beneath a wintry sky; +While through the roof in splendor bright +We saw the guardians of the night-- +The snow-storm of the coming day-- +The savage wounded buck at bay-- +And how we lost and found our way? +Dost thou forget the strain of glee +That from deep slumber's arms roused thee? +Dost thou remember who did ride +The bounding wounded buck astride, +And whose the crimsoned hunting knife +That ended there the quarry's life. +Then "Eastman's Springs" were little known +To few beyond we three alone. +And Malcolm Ferguson, oh why, +Should memory's record pass thee by? +An artist of the gentle trade, +By whom Bytonians were arrayed +Most fashionably in old times. +When dross among the social crimes +Held not the rank which modern art +Hath given it in fashion's mart. +An agile fireman, danger-proof, +As ever struggled up a roof, +Or to the midnight summons sprang +When the alarm signal rang; +As cat or squirrel of active limb-- +A "ridge-pole" was a street to him. +The old extinguishers of flame +Will well remember Malcolm's name. +As the long past I wander through, +Michael O'Reilly comes to view; +A man of stature, somewhat brief, +Who largely dealt of old in beef, +In that cheap time when scanty coin +Was ample for the fattest loin, +Rounds, chops, and beefsteaks were not gold +In those delightful days of old. +'Tis true the tallow-candle's light +Was all the ray that cheered the night, +Before our first assizes term +Was dignified by actual sperm-- +The real thing--no "Belmont's" then +Were found among the sons of men. +Another name remembrance brings, +The muse of old John Darcey sings, +In numbers almost a magician-- +A wonderful arithmetician, +Whose mode with all others "collided," +Who added, multiplied, divided, +And even substracted by such rules +As ne'er were known or taught at schools. +No learned professor of the birch +E'er left John Darcey in the lurch; +No pedagogue was ever able +To con his arithmetic table. +And Edward Darcey--no relation-- +Except in name, to old Equation, +A son of Crispin, a sole nailer, +Who owned a curly dog called "Sailor"-- +A noble, liver-hue'd retriever, +Who'd make one almost a believer +In canine intellectual merit +Which dogs as well as men inherit. +Louis Pinard, in ancient times, +Was always ready with the "dimes"-- +Excuse the slang--which a disgrace is-- +At gallopping or trotting races, +And A.P. Lesperance beside him, +A good horse kept, and well could ride him, +When horsemanship was more in fashion +Than sitting still and laying lash on, +In four-wheeled vehicle at ease, +Which modern Jehuism doth please. +And Galipean, who kept good whiskey, +And old Jamaica to make frisky +The visitors to his retreat, +On the east side of Sussex Street, +Close to the very spot, I think, +Where now James Thompson deals in mink, +Otter and other kinds of fur, +Prime and unprime, without demur. +'Twas at this inn one afternoon +In '33, the month was June, +That Martin Hennessy once tried +On horseback up the stairs to ride. +And would have done so, but for this, +A pistol shot that did not miss, +Which gave him, oh, most foul disgrace! +A charge of buckshot in the face, +Which spoiled his beauty without doubt. +And knocked his "dexter peeper" out. +And E.S. Lyman, old cathartic! +With lengthy form and features arctic-- +Dispenser of blisters, pills and potions, +Boluses and specific lotions, +And panaceas in variety +To cram the ailing to satiety-- +Succeeded Auld, Apothecary, +A scientific quoiter, very, +Who righted phisiologic faults +With Calomel and Epsom Salts, +And made prescriptions up with skill +Of _aqua pura_, which doth still +Maintain its place as chief ingredient, +In every mixture, quite expedient, +He kept his drug shop at the spot +Where hospitality has got +Her Shiboleth from land of Tara, +Under the rule of Pat. O'Meara! +And Richard Kneeshaw, man of science, +Who placed in _reason_ such reliance, +As made him almost think salvation +Could not be found in revelation: +Chemist and druggist by profession, +He held within his mind's possession +Vast stores of knowledge, ever breeding +Ideas new from constant reading. +And Henry Bishoprick, a wise man, +Who acted druggist and exciseman, +And seized at loaded pistol's muzzle +Contrabandistas, who could puzzle +An ordinary Gager's cunning +When tea and whiskey they were running. +And William Henry Baldwin, too, +Who first appeared in public view +At the old Albion, where in state, +Bob Graham rules the roast of late; +Son of a U.E. Loyalist, +Who found his way out of the mist +Republican which played such tricks +With loyalty in '76, +He came, as many another came +To Canada, in Britain's name, +To live his life and die beside +The flag that's still his country's pride! +Thomas Gillespie Burns, "T.G.," +I have not quite forgotten thee; +Thou wert an early importation +From Erin's Isle, and thy migration +Did little damp in heart or hand +Thy love for the old parent land, +Who's green is greener in its pride +Of bloom than all the world beside! +Thy boast has always been true blue-- +To British institutions true! +And William Rogerson, 'tis well +That I of him should something tell-- +A tall, majestic, looking son +Of Caledonia--he was one, +In early times, who carried on +The lumber traffic with a will, +When such names as Price and McGill +Were standards in the staple trade +Which Bytown Ottawa hath made. +And William Dunning, who kept store +The first old County Gaol before, +Where now the Albion proudly stands +And flourishes in other hands, +And Clements Bradley, who lived near +The border long ago, was here; +An agriculturist of yore, +Who settled near the Rideau's shore, +And opened 'mid primeval trees +A pathway for the passing breeze. +Full half a century has flown +Since the first tree he tumbled down, +And yet his strength seems still unspent, +His step is firm, his back unbent. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Pierre Rocque, thou ancient man of stone! +I had almost let thee alone; +But 'twere not well to leave behind, +A man of such a rocky kind; +Thy Christian name is stone--that's hard, +Rock is thy surname, saith the Bard +Thou art an adamantine card. +And Baptist Cantin, too, it seems, +Appears 'mongst recollections' dreams, +A carpenter of worth and note, +Who ne'er asked sixpence for his vote. +Helaire Pinard presents his face, +And cheerfully I give him place, +A quiet, rare man, be it known, +Who minds no business but his own. +Joseph Paquette, to thee I give +A line to make thy memory live, +'Mid earliest recollections, thou +Art not the one least thought of now; +Something far better than mere fame +Is thine, it is an honest name! +Thomas E. Woodbury, who made +Tin cans and stovepipes, when the trade +And town was in an infant state, +Back in the days of '28. +And Fletcher, an old Yankee, who +Taught school and flogged his scholars, too +With a good health-inspiring cat, +My blessing on his old white hat! +Tho' scarce, entitled like the rest +By early advent, I think best +To name "The Orator of the West," +James Spencer Lidstone, child of song, +The "man of memory," vast and long, +Who had, reader you need not start, +All Milton's Paradise by heart; +Strange mixture he of prose and rhyme, +Ridiculous, and the sublime +In him were singularly blended; +Where one began or the other ended, +It would be difficult to tell. +He played his part in each so well, +James Spencer Lidstone, fare thee well! +And 'mongst the ancient sons of fame +Who says that Dinny Cantlin's name +Does not deserve a line or two +In these old chronicles most true? +Dinny was just four feet in length, +Although a man of pith and strength, +His arm was always ready, too, +All rowdyism to subdue. +When special constable one day, +He captured in some sudden fray +A fellow six feet high, or taller, +And held him firmly by the collar; +And Dinny, as he upward gazed +At the colossus, o'er him raised, +Exclaimed, "escape now, if you can, +You're in the clutches of a man!" +Dinny had a commanding eye, +His hat was eighteen inches high +Come next to view, Denis O'Neill, +A ship carpenter, who laid the keel +Of many a vessel in his day, +And still he clinks and caulks away. +James Finch, too, who died here of late, +Was one of those of '28, +Or '27 it may be, +Comes nearer to the certainty; +James Finch sledged stoutly with a will, +In the old forge on "Major's Hill," +In '29, he once lay still +For fifteen minutes on the ground +Insensible to sight or sound, +'Twas a stone that almost killed him quite, +In a most lively faction fight +In Bytown's celebrated fair, +When stones flew thickly through the air, +I can't forget it, I was there; +Its history I'll not jot down +Until I get to Upper Town. +And Charles Rowan, well I know, +The reader sought for him ere now, +What shall I of friend Charlie say, +Who came from Connaught all the way? +Who well can speak the celtic tongue +In which the Irish mintrels sung. +When famous Malachi of old +The collar wore of beaten gold, +Torn fiercely from the haughty Dane +By his right arm in battle slain! +Charlie is mild and full of meekness, +Horses with him have been a weakness: +A clipper spanking between traces +He used to drive at trotting races, +And then his powers of selection +In liquor almost touch perfection. +Next comes James Whitty, man of old, +Who once was a young sailor bold, +A quiet, little Wexford man, +Who warmed his jacket at Japan, +And "dashed his buttons" gaily, too, +In China with the pig-tailed crew; +Ere he in times that are no more +On Ottawa's bosom tugged an oar. +John Ashfield now in sight appears, +A gunsmith of the faded years; +Just as flint locks began to lapse, +He came in with percussion caps. +Here, too, is William Graham, the same, +Who from Fermanagh County came, +And many a hard earned shilling made +By groceries and general trade; +Father of him once called "Black Bill," +That we might designate him still, +From him of Madawaska note, +Who oft on timber was afloat, +And who has claim in song of mine +To something o'er a passing line. +Companion of my early youth, +When time with us was young; and truth +Was all we knew in life's fair spring, +Thy name doth recollections bring +Long slumbering in "oblivions vale," +'Till waked by memory's passing gale; +With thee I strayed in days of yore +Beside old "Goodwood's" pleasant shore; +Each unforgotten scene by thee +Is brought to life again for me; +A child again with thee I stand, +Among that childish happy band, +Who thought not, dreamt not, that the day +Of early bliss would pass away; +No retrospect can be more fair +That that I see behind me there, +Friend William Graham, I wish thee well, +But this to thee I need not tell. +Who is he with the cassock on, +Who bursts my second sight upon, +A merry twinkle in his eye, +Not sanctimonious, nor yet sly, +His country, one can scarcely miss +Such pure Hibernian brogue is his? +Tis surely Father Heron's gait, +Bytown's first priest in '28. +Close in canonical degree, +John Cannon's stately form I see, +In bigotry no stern red-tapist, +Favorite of Protestant and Papist; +A jovial blade with soul elastic, +No gloomy-faced ecclesiastic, +He ruled his congregation well, +Nor taught them that the path to hell +Was thronged by those who made digression +From penance, fasting and confession. +And there with academic birch, +Stands Anslie of the English Church, +Who preached in Hull and Bytown too, +Of old, to many a godless crew, +Assembled on each Sabbath day +To pass an idle hour away, +Though doubtless some went there to pray, +While here I pass in swift review +The reverend and pious few, +Who stood as finger posts of yore, +Pointing the way to Canaan's shore, +John Carroll surely should appear, +And take his proper station here, +An honest Wesleyan was he, +Who never knew hypocrisy. +George Poole in days more distant still, +In the little church on "Sandy Hill," +Which gave its name to "Chapel Street," +His congregation oft did meet. +And John C. Davidson, also, +Was one of those who long ago +'Mid primal darkness, thick and gross, +Unfurled the banner of the cross; +A Methodist both sound and prime +He was esteemed in the old time, +'Till something gave his faith a lurch, +And he bolted to the English Church, +In which 'tis said that he is quite +"A burning and a shining light." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +And now another man I seek, +Who lived on George Street, by the creek, +Lo! memory's telescopic eye +At once John Taillon's shade brings nigh, +And as his form approaches near, +His laugh I almost seem to hear. +One of those lost with much regret, +James Leamy, I would not forget, +Though not a man of '28, +His early and untimely fate-- +His merry life and tragic fall, +Are in the memory of all. +And Andrew Leamy in his time, +Was head of many a stirring "shine;" +A man of mark he might be singled, +In whom the good and bad commingled, +In equal balance in such way, +That each in turn had its sway; +He's gone! the grass grows o'er his head; +The muse deals gently with the dead. +James Devlin, where are you old man, +Whose fingers o'er the catgut ran? +Professor of the art to foil +Both "treason, stratagem and spoil," +In days which now are but a riddle, +When William Murphy played the fiddle +So merrily, long, long ago, +To trip of "light fantastic toe." +Fond were you of the rod and line +When sport and profit did combine +In other days, when mighty Bass +And Pickerel lay upon the grass +Beside you, as with practised hand, +You hauled the scaly kings to land +Night-lines and gill-nets, may they be +Accurst--have ruined you and me! +And left us nought but "tommy cods" +As trophies for our idle rods. +Who is he with such pompous air-- +Such magic curl of scented hair, +With glass stuck tightly o'er one eye +To scan the common passer by, +While every air betokens well +The presence of a "howling swell?" +'Tis Henry Howard Burgess, O! +To him Dundreary's self were slow. +And Thomas Burgess, too, was here, +A swell, though not quite so severe. +And the two Johnston's, born twins, +As like each other as two pins, +Clerks in the Ordnance Office were +And surely a most proper pair. +John Grant, too, who quite early came, +A constable of ancient fame, +Who kept the peace, right well, 'tis true, +When he had nothing else to do. +Few were the summonses he got, +Warrants fell seldom to his lot; +The town was not by courts infested, +People liked not to be arrested, +And seldom were--for to the Ring +Complainants did their troubles bring, +And there found justice, sometimes too much +Redress, of which they oft did rue much. +J.B. Lavois, with thee I close +My lengthy memories of those +I knew of old in Lower Town, +Though last, not least in size, I own. +A butcher of the olden time, +Who furnished roasts and steaks most prime, +In the old George Street Market House, +Where cats held many a grand carouse, +Ere rats to Bytown emigrated +In swarms pestiferous and hated. +And if I have forgotten one, +Whom memory could not fasten on, +Let him feel no neglecting smart, +I have not passed him with my heart, +I've done my best 'neath friendship's spoil, +So Lower Bytown now farewell! + + + + + +UPPER TOWN. + +CHAPTER I. + + +And now, kind reader, westward ho! +Across the Sappers' Bridge we go; +When first in youth I cross'd it o'er, +The arch was wood, "and nothing more"-- +As Edgar A. Poe doth remark +About that raven big and dark-- +The wooden span, I mean, stretched o'er +The channel's width from shore to shore, +On which skilled artificers laid +The arch of stone, so truly made, +And strong, that it to-day appears, +After the crush of forty years +And more, impervious to decay, +As if 'twere built but yesterday. +I stand upon the western side, +And see in all its verdant pride +The hill crowned with its ancient trees, +Who's foliage rustled in the breeze +For centuries, all branching wide, +Standing untouched on every side; +A spot where the Algonquin _magi_, +May have reclined "_sub tegmine fagi_;" +For when across the Sapper's Bridge, +The prospect was a fine beech ridge, +And "Gibson's corner," in old time, +For squirrel hunting was most prime, +"Prime" is a somewhat slangy phrase +For these high philologic days, +And in connexion, be it stated, +With a spot to science dedicated. +J.H.P. Gibson's astral lecture +Will place this fact beyond conjecture. +Bound that old spot now thronged by all, +Has many a chipmonk met his fall +By dart from youthful sportsman's bow, +Which laid the striped beech-nutter low. +No central Ottawa was then, +As now, resort of busy men-- +The first stone of our centre town +By Mason's hand was not laid down; +A forest path across the hill +To Bank Street led--the place was still; +No noisy vehicle passed there, +The dwellers of the wood to scare. +The road for carriages led round +Old Bytown's ancient burial ground, +Upon the hill's south eastern base, +Of which there is not now a trace; +And spreading off in endless green +To the canal the bush was seen-- +The ancient forest--then the deer +To Bank Street Church's site was near, +And ruffed-grouse, wrongly named partridges, +Whirled and drum'd between the ridges, +Black ducks and Teal did oft alight +In ponds round Corkstown from their flight, +And when the swamp down Slater Street +Was cleared, a dozen snipes would greet +At every step the sportman's eye, +O! glorious spot of days gone by. +To listen, ah! 'twas splendid fun! +To Commissary Oriel's gun, +As with a quick well practiced eye +He made the quivering feathers fly! +There was not then one cabin sill +Laid down on famed Ashburnham Hill, +Who's heights with pine and hemlock crowned, +Towered o'er the wooded landscape round. +Then Bradish Billings farmed away +Where his descendants live to-day, +A man of enterprising fame, +Who from the land of pumpkin's came, +And pitched his tent in honor's track +Beneath the glorious Union Jack! +Then Colonel By was in a jam +Erecting the first hogsback dam, +Which vanished with Spring's sweeping flood; +But science made the structure good +By the advice of one, no civil +Engineer, with whom a level +Or other instrument of science, +Had not the most remote alliance. +'Twas built as he proposed--I'm sorry +His name from memory I can't worry, +If Lyman Perkins was beside me, +To it he certainly could guide me. +For he has got, of ancient bore, +A well authenticated store. +Now first among our old landmarks, +Comes Laird of Bytown, Nicholas Sparks, +Who came across in '26 +From Hull, his lucky fate to fix +Upon a bush farm which he bought +For sixty pounds--and little thought, +While grumbling at a price so high, +That fortune had not passed him by. +He little dreamed of Ottawa now, +When 'mongst the stumps his wooden plough +Stir'd the first sod in times of old; +He knew not then, that 'twas not mould +He turne'd up, and tilled, but gold. +'Tis not my business here to flatter, +Or with enconiums to bespatter +The shadows of departed men +Whom we shall never see again. +Yet I may say, who knew him well, +And of him would not falsehood tell, +That as poor human nature ran, +He was an honest upright man, +"Close fisted" as the need occurred, +Yet one who always kept his word. +Whate'er the cost--I say no more +Of Nicholas Sparks--who for the shore +Unknown, has shaken out his sail +Where riches are of no avail +To win calm sea or favoring gale +And Lyman Perkins, what of thee, +Will pass for current coin from me? +Thou art a man of early date-- +Of '27 or '28-- +in Bytown's history, and 'tis said, +Though hard to drive, thou may'st be led, +That is, if one could just agree +In view and argument with thee; +When standing in the days of yore +At "Pooley's Bridge," thine eye ran o'er +The picture with a prescient glance; +Experience taught thee that thy chance +Was then--thy foresight came +To aid thee in life's winning game. +Although no silver spoon was in +Thy mouth, when to this world of sin +Thou camest, thou hast forged from fate +A path in life most fortunate; +To praise thee I shall take no pains, +Thy enterprise has brought thee gains-- +'Tis something to be born with brains! +Daniel O'Connor there doth stand, +One of the old departed band-- +Another of the pioneers +Of Bytown in its early years; +In memory's magic glass I see +Him as he first appeared to me +In '28 when passing down +Through the main street in Upper Town. +A merchant of a distant date +Before the days of '28, +And County Treasurer was he, +Long, too, a Carleton J.P., +Ere Courts of Justice were installed, +When Bytown "Nepean Point" was called; +In politics he was a Tory, +And thus doth end of him my story. +Nathaniel Sherrold Blasdell, too, +Who once a blacksmith's bellows blew +In the old forge, which in the shade +Of the Russell House still undecayed, +Stands firm a landmark of the past, +How long will such old memories last? +He, too, was one of those who's hand +Built up the bulwarks of the land, +I say unto such men as he, +_Requiescat in pace_. +And Doctor Rankin, there he goes, +With solemn brow and turned out toes +Upon his mottled bob-tailed horse, +Who's canter said, the patients worse, +Or better, as the trusty steed +Did indicate by passing speed. +John Burrows, too, with serious air, +Sung hymns and offered frequent prayer, +And taught a Sunday School with might, +To spread religion's early light, +He held a post in other years +Among the Royal Engineers, +With Colonel By, a right-hand man, +His course of favor he began, +And once owned much of the wild land +Upon which Ottawa doth stand. +John Ghitty is a favorite name, +His old hotel was known to fame, +And travellers from far and near, +Called at his temple of good cheer. +A mason of most high degree, +In the craft's early dawn was he. +So much respected was he here, +That unbought friendship o'er his bier +Shed many a sad regretful tear. +And surly old James Doran, too, +A warrior of Waterloo, +Kept with a despot's iron hand, +The best hotel in all the land; +Who entered there of human kind +Was forced to leave his dog behind, +For Doran had a frowning face +For each and all the canine race. +And Daniel Fisher, who kept store +On Wellington's west side of yore, +A most experienced auctioneer +In somewhat more contracted sphere, +Than circles trade's expanding flow +Round Bermingham, McLean and Rowe +And Michael Burke, who kept a still-- +And made beer down below the hill +Where malt and hops together came, +And gave the "Brewery Hill" its name-- +That hill with pathway to the right, +Where Bank Street ends upon the height. +And many a barrel of his beer +Went down, the Irish heart to cheer, +When ancient crowds did celebrate +St. Patrick's Day in '28. +But patriotism's spirit rose; +From words contention went to blows, +And ere the little "scrimmage" ended +A crack that never could be mended, +Was in a luckless cranium made, +By one whom justice never paid; +I cannot tell what colored ribbon +He wore--his name was Dan McGibbon. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +George William Baker, better known +As "Captain Baker" in the town. +Who oft the mailbag's lock untied +Long after Matthew Connell died-- +Long after Helen Denny's hand +Sent postal letters o'er the land; +An Englishman of good degree, +A Justice of the Peace was he, +And Captain of Artillery-- +If memory has not gone astray-- +He was in his life's early day, +He shewed his claims to education +In County Council legislation, +Where he in intellectual pride +Sat long by Hamnett Pinhey's side, +Our Local Parliament's since then +Have seldom witnessed two such men +Paymaster Rudyerd, too, I scan, +A most important gentleman, +Who carried in the days of old +The Governmental bags of gold; +Yet never did one less resemble +He, of the twelve who did dissemble, +And for the thirty pieces paid, +His master cruelly betrayed. +And John McCarthy, who can say +That he's a man of yesterday? +Through the dim maze of vanished year +His name to memory appears, +A dealer in strong leather ware +That stood the worst of wear and tear +Since paths of '27 he trod, +His eye hath seen the grassy sod +O'er many a friend--let's hope no foe-- +With whom he started long ago, +In the long race down life's steep hill +On which he treads securely still. +Captain Letreton, too, I see, +An officer of high degree. +The owner, ere the days of rats, +Of that wide district called "the Flats" +In modern times, where I behold, +A pinery as in days of old. +And Isaac Firth, an old John Bull, +Of milk of human kindness full, +Of rotund form and smiling face, +Who kept an entertaining place +For travel-worn and weary fellows +Who landed where Caleb S. Bellows, +Out on "the Point" his habitation +Built in a pleasant situation, +Before the days when piles of lumber +Did first fair nature's face encumber; +Quite near the spot where first with skill +John Perkins built his little mill, +Where Philip Thompson many a year +Ago, commenced his bright career, +And took the ebbing of the tide, +Which into golden waves did glide; +He man'd his craft and steered her well +O'er placid calm and tossing swell, +And independent of the gale +Hath snap'd his oar and furled his sail. +'Twas just above "the whitefish hole," +How dear that spot is to my soul! +There Allan Cameron and I +Together many a day did hie, +To haul the silvery shining prey +From out the whirling eddy's spray; +In July, '32, to land, +I drew two barrels with my own hand, +The trophies of the hook and line +In the dear days of auld lang syne +That was the fatal month and year +When cholera was rampant here; +Malignant Asiatic type, +Which from the book of life did wipe +The name of many a sturdy one +'Twixt rise and setting of the sun. +Dread terror brooded o'er the land, +While the destroying angel's hand +Smote here and there each deadly blow, +Which laid in dust the proudest low! +As I remember--those fared worst, +Who in that dismal time were curst +With dangerous and insatiate thirst. +And H.V. Noel, surely here +His name is worthy to appear; +'Mongst those whom I so long have known, +Tis strange that he has not outgrown +The friendship of the early few +Into who's confidence he grew, +By the unchanging honest course +He steered for better or for worse, +Well has he worn, long may he bear +Up stoutly 'gainst the world's care! +John Cruickshank of the kirk, who prayed +Beneath the old white birch's shade-- +The old white birch--that sacred trust! +Improvement's hand hath to the dust +Upturned to make frontal space +For temple of more modern grace, +A grander altar than of yore, +The ancient "Black mouth's" knelt before. +And Robert Sheriff, stately man, +Who the Crown Timber Office "ran"-- +To use a well worn Yankee phrase +Unknown in Bytown's early days. +And A.J. Christie, what shall I +Say of this old celebrity? +An M.D. of exceeding skill +Who dealt in lancet, leech and pill, +Cantharides and laudanum, too, +When milder measures would not do; +A polished scholar and a sage, +A thinker far before his age, +A writer of sarcastic vein +And philosophic depth, who's train +Of thought was comprehensive, deep, +Peace to his ashes! let him sleep! +In ancient times his prophet eye +Saw Bytown's future destiny, +Fools laughed and disbelieved the seer +Who's second sight saw triumph near-- +A scene which fortune did fulfil +The Parliament on "Barrack Hill!" +And Lawyer Hagerman I knew, +When lawyers little had to do-- +Their briefs were few, their fees were brief, +And brief had been their Sunday beef, +Had they nought else to fill their maw +Than the proceeds of briefless law; +For litigation had not then +Curst Bytown's early race of men! +And Robert Drummond, Engineer, +Who built across the "_Grande Chaudiere_" +The old "Swing Bridge," which many a day +Amid the "Kettle's" curling spray, +From side to side did gently sway. +The adamantine iron tether +Which chained two provinces together, +Ere legislation's fiat came +With moral might to do the same. +Well's and McCrea of lumbering note, +Who had on many a stream afloat +Vast rafts of red pine timber, when +White pine was little thought of; then +Oak, elm, cedar and red pine +And staves, together did combine, +With now and then a mast or spar, +To make up what would go at par, +At Stadacona--old Quebec-- +Where brave Montgomery got a check +In a most bootless, foolish strife, +Which cost him his undaunted life-- +Where Arnold got a broken thigh, +Ere at West Point his treachery +Brought Major Andre without hope +To Washington's relentless rope! +To Wolfe I'd like to wander back, +But 'twill not do, so to my track +I now reluctantly return, +Who next is ready for the urn? +Adam Hood Burwell is the man, +An English Churchman he began, +But ended a most shining light, +A mystic, full-fledged Irvingite, +With pinions rustling for a sphere +Of usefulness he found not here. +Another of the reverend throng +I'll introduce, 'tis S.S. Strong, +A man who's memory I recall +As one respected here by all, +An honor to his cloth and race, +With whom no strange fire left its trace, +Upon the shrine where truth he found, +Who preached and practiced precepts sound, +Nor wore his shoes on hallowed ground. +William and Hugh Calder's names +Arise, and now present their claims +To immortality in rhyme, +Both merchants of the olden time. +John Anderson, a merchant was, +And dealt with profit and with loss +In groceries and dainty "grub," +With wine, Jamaica, rum and shrub, +That had no leaves upon its stem, +Though beads like dewdrops did begem +Its ruby rippling diadem. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +"And "Little Johnny Robertson," +But lately from amongst us gone, +Took both his "sneeshin" and his glass, +And let the tide of fortune pass. +And Ewen Cameron, who died +By cholera in manhood's pride; +A Caledonian lithe and strong, +As fancy paints the dauntless throng, +Who dashed with claymore down the slope, +On red Culloden's grave of hope. +And Peter Aylen, who could tell +The path he trod of yore as well +As I, who from an early day +Knew Peter Aylen's every way? +'Tis not my purpose to indite +A history of his life; or write +A record of his strange career, +To interest the reader here. +Howe'er his stirring life you scan, +You'll find that Aylen was a man! +Afraid of nought that ever wore +The human shape on Ottawa's shore! +Chief of the "shiners," it was said, +Cæsar or nothing--never led-- +But always foremost in the fray, +Was ever Peter Aylen's way. +A heavy lumberer Peter was, +When lumbering was like pitch and toss, +To-day success, to-morrow loss. +But let him rest, he sleeps beside +The Ottawa's majestic tide! +Perhaps I'd better mention here +Who and what the "shiners" were, +Who gave of yore such sturdy thumps, +And brought forth phrenologic bumps +Unknown to scan of craniology, +With bludgeons or aid of geology. +A band of Irish raftsmen, who +Were to each other always true, +Combined together, war they made, +To banish from the lumber trade +All French-Canadian competition +By dooming it to abolition; +They made the wild attempt, at least, +To extirpate poor Jean Baptiste. +Among their victims they enrol'd him, +And made the place too hot to hold him, +Yet were the tales that rumor told, +Worse than the shiners' acts of old, +Though memory's charged with many a fray +That happened in the early day, +When shiners with an iron hand +Reigned here the terror of the land! +Few were the victims of the strife-- +If any--and the loss of life, +Was fanciful much more than real +In that blood-letting old ordeal. +Among the medico's of old, +Doctor Stratford I behold, +Who foolishly I thought deemed best +To emigrate towards the West, +And leave behind a work which few +Could with a single lancet do +When venesection--old idea, +Combined with the Phamacopeiæ +Was patent as a panacea +For almost every mortal ill, +Like calomel jalap, or blue pill. +He disappeared from healing fame, +And young Edward Vancortlandt came; +For he was young and active, too, +When first he met the minstrel's view, +And striding rapidly did go +Along full forty years ago! +VanCortlandt's had a long career +Since first he bled and blistered here; +His own hand hath his fortune made-- +His own hand the foundation laid-- +And if success, with hoards of wealth +He has not now--the public health +Has never suffered at his hand; +Nor has the mystic spirit land +Been peopled by the shades of those +Who in their last dissolving throes, +Gave evidence that power to kill +Was mingled with Vancortlandt's skill-- +When to that distant coast he'll steer, +No crowd of ghosts will hover near, +And cry out. "Van, you sent us here!" +Edward McGillivray, how is this, +That I by accident should miss +So long an ancient name like thine, +'Twould be unpardonable, if mine +The fault to leave thy well-known name +Unwritten in my roll of fame? +Bytown was young, and so wert thou, +Years long before the "Shannon's" prow +Cleft Ottawa's bosom on her way +To Grenville in our early day. +No steam whistle's discordant yell +Shrieked on the evening zephyr's swell; +But from her deck the cannon's din +Told Bytown that the boat was in, +And at the sound the signal man +His banner up the flagstaff ran. +It was a good old time when thou +Bought beavers at a price which now, +When beaver skins are somewhat rare, +Would cause even Chauncey Bangs to stare. +Yes, 'twas a fine old time for trade, +Money was plenty--easy made, +And thou wert, aye, a canine blade. +Patrick Delaney home has gone +From earthly toil, and he was one +Of those who in the distant past, +His lot in Upper Town had cast. +James Elder, a majestic Scot! +On whom of old it was my lot +To look with veneration's eye. +Kept Bytown's staid academy; +And here I dwell with fond delight, +And view again with memory's sight +The stately teacher in his chair, +King of the throng assembled there. +Now Allan Cameron comes to view, +And William Stubbs, there he is too. +Wellington Wright, too, I behold, +And wild Jack Adamson, the bold. +The Anderson's, both James and John, +And Stephen Lett, my mother's son, +Who stood upon Parnassus' crown +By might of Genius, and looked down +To where with errant steps I strayed +Around its base beneath the shade. +And many more were pupils there, +Where are they? "echo answers, where?" +In fancy I away have stepped +From where his school James Elder kept, +In that old house remembered well, +After, as Joseph Kirk's Hotel, +Ere it was haunted by a sound +Which shed such melody around, +Sweet almost as the songs of Zion, +From violin of Robinson Lyon, +Who drew such music from its strings, +Scotch reels, strathspeys and highland flings, +And Irish jigs in variation, +As made one feel that "all creation" +Could scarcely match his wizard spell, +'Twas he that played the fiddle well! +And Edward Malloch, gone to rest, +Was not the worst, nor yet the best, +Perhaps, 'mongst those of other days +To whom I dedicate these lays. +I knew him well in '25, +When Richmond Village was alive, +While Bytown's head was scarcely seen, +Emerging from the forest green. +A captain of Artillery +In '37's hot time was he, +When Louis Joseph Papineau +Sought British power to overthrow; +And William L. McKenzie tried +O'er loyalty and truth to ride; +Each found the path, for what he wanted, +Too hot to walk in--and "levanted;" +Von Shoultz, a soldier abler, riper, +Remained behind and "paid the piper!" +Even I, poetic man of peace, +Have often marched and stood at ease, +Beside the Richmond guns, brought here +To thunder o'er the _Grande Chaudière_, +At the great Union celebration, +The new bridge's inauguraton; +One thing is certain, those brass guns +Were ne'er seen more by Richmond's sons. +They fell prey to official nabbing, +And Governmental red tape grabbing, +Like plunder from the vanquished harried, +To Montreal off they were carried! +Malloch was member many a year +For Carleton when votes were not dear-- +When damaged eyes, and smashed proboscis +Would follow, as the smallest losses. +The offer of a vile bank note +As price of an elector's vote. +Gold, said the sage, perhaps 'twas law, +On Dian's lap the snow can thaw; +And gold has purchased many a seat +Where the "collective wisdom" meet, +And many go to represent +The weight of cash corrupt which sent +Them wandering wickedly astray +From honor's seldom trodden way. +Where now, is Turner, who of yore, +Kept school near the old Ottawa's shore? +And Heath who came across the line +In able teaching here to shine? +And old John Stilman, who shoes made, +And flourished in St. Crispin's trade? +William McCullough, where is he? +Gone to the unknown country-- +A steady, harmless, quiet man, +Who here in '32 began +A race unmixed with hate or strife, +Which ended only with his life. +And Reuben Traveller, who's tongue +Oft in the old assizes rung-- +Though given to mirth, a wondrous crier, +Who lived near John Sweetman, the dyer +'Twas all the same, for either side +Or both old Reuben Traveller cried-- +Cried for the man who won law's race-- +Cried for the man who lost his case-- +Cried for the criminal acquitted-- +Cried for the guilty when outwitted-- +He cried for loss or gain of pelf-- +For every one except himself; +Reuben was a celebrity, +We seldom meet with such as he. +John Rochester, a man of old, +Who's life a tale of goodness told, +He steered through time from envy free, +You'd scarcely find an enemy, +Who o'er his honored dust would dare +Defame the ashes resting there; +For such as he laws ne'er were made, +Peace to his gentle vanished shade! +Well, will it be for James and John +If they walk the same path upon +Which their departed sire trod +With love alike to man and God! +James Joynt is 'mong the living yet +A printer of the old _Gazette_. +Who plied the typographic trade +Ably in Bytown's first decade. +And taught the art of Caxton well, +And thoroughly to John George Bell, +Who in our village made a racket, +In the old columns of the _Packet_, +Where every one got "tit for tat" +From dear departed "Old White Hat!" +Who thought Reformers could not err, +And laid the lash on Dawson Kerr, +Whom he in bitter hues did paint +A sinner, and called him "the saint." +A journal of more modern date +Than the _Gazette_, who's early fate, +Was Phoenix-like to rise resplendent +From ashes of the _Independent_, +Which had at periods now and then, +Emitted Sparks from Johnston's pen, +Which meteor-like shot forth in pride, +Blazed, flickered, then collapsed and died. +And Robert Hardy's name I find, +In the old days long left behind. +James Matthews, too, in death's repose, +In early times was one of those +Who helped to build the ancient town, +Which modern taste is pulling down, +Assisted now and then by fires, +Past recollections primal pyres. +John Bennett, cord-wainer of yore, +And volunteer in Rifle corps, +With muzzle-loaders past and gone, +Gallant and brave old Number One! +Our civic army's primal rib, +Once called by Alexander Gibb, +"The Sleepy's," in the good old time +When he dealt in both prose and rhyme, +And made opponents fume and fret +With caustic in the old _Gazette_-- +Rhyme, too, in which a critic's claw +Could scarcely fasten on a flaw, +His verse was standard like his law. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +John Cobb, I'll take a glance at thee, +Firm standard of Free Masonry! +Mine eye delights to rest upon +Thy iron frame, old "Uncle John." +If honesty and simple truth +E'er "flourished in Immortal youth," +Where time can ne'er their glories rob, +They rest with thee, my friend, John Cobb! +And Dudley Booth, what shall I say +Of this strange mortal passed away? +His was a genius burning bright +With brilliant and uncertain light-- +Proud in inventive dignity, +And dark in inmate mystery, +It flickered only, when sublime, +It might have left a light for time, +And wondering mortals to admire, +Tis gone! I saw its flame expire. +And John R. Stanley was among +Old Bytown's well remembered throng, +Whom memory's tuneful measure bears +Back from the shades of other years. +R.W. Cruice in ancient days +Was fond of mirth and sporting ways; +I had almost forgot to tell +How he on horseback cut a swell, +And made a fleet and daring rush +At Barry's hunt and won "the brush," +When sportsmen gathered full of glee +Around the famed J.P., M.D. +And here diverging from my road +Into a little episode, +I'll tear at once with gesture brief +From memory's book a comic leaf, +A tale from cobweb's volume hoary +Of this Sangrado in his glory, +Many will recollect the story. +Edward Barry, grave J.P., +Sometimes was given to a spree, +Which interfered with the precision +Of magisterial decision. +So Edward Barry jumped the hedge +And took the frigid temperance pledge; +But soon the Justice of the Peace +Found himself often ill at ease; +Pains through his gastric regions ran, +Too hard even for a temperance man. +Then Barry M.D., in a trice, +Gave Barry J.P. an advice, +After a careful diagnosis, +Which placed him on a bed of roses, +And eased his pains beyond description-- +A dose of brandy the prescription-- +Oft as required to be repeated-- +With which the learned J.P. was treated; +And history affirms that he +Oft took the prescribed remedy. +John Cameron, oft called "Black John," +Comes o'er my dream of old, as one +Who should not now forgotten be +In this memorial strain by me, +In days of yore, his true-nosed hounds +To the Chaudiere with certain bounds, +Oft chased the anther'd buck before +Their deep-mouthed yells to Ottawa's shore. +He was a sportsman keen and true, +Who dearly loved the "view halloo!" +And Graves, who near the old Scotch Kirk +Dwelt 'neath the shadow of the "birk;" +And Isaac Cluff appears in view, +A loyalist, both staunch and true; +James "Kennedy, the carter," too, +Who the first truck through Bytown drew +With the assistance of a horse, +I mean, to be exact, of course. +And "old Ben. Rathwell," now I've hit on, +A true and honest hearted Briton, +As ever crossed Atlantic's wave +To found a home and find a grave. +And William Colter now doth rise +Before my retrospective eyes, +A saddler far from democratic-- +Professor most aristocratic, +In art which claims the highest feather +Among the fashioners of leather; +An active springing step had he +As now his form appears to me; +Early he went to that far bourne +"From whence no travellers return." +Thomas M. Blasdell, step this way, +And tell me how you feel to-day? +You thought I'd pass and let you go, +Old twisted groove! but 'tis not so, +Like charcoal, brimstone and salpetre. +I'll touch you off now in short metre. +'Tis long since first your eye, my man, +Along the rifle barrel ran; +The "crotch" or "globe" was all the same, +If you could only see the game. +Or the "bulls-eye," the missile flew +Into its centre straight and true, +In the old days when practiced eye +Was light, shade and trajectory. +Does your keen eye obey your will, +Is your hand quite as steady still +As when you knocked the turkey's o'er, +At twenty rods in days of yore? +My blessing day and night upon +The memory of the time that's gone. +And Sergeant Major Ritchie, there +He stands before my vision, where +In youth I used to see him stand +On Barrack Hill with cane in hand. +For many a year ere death's disaster +He held the post of Barrack Master, +And amongst people who reflected +Most highly always was respected. +I had almost forgotten one +Who's name should not be left alone +In dark oblivion's envious shade +While I the silent past invade-- +To light up the forgotten gloom; +To rescue from time's early tomb +And touch with friendly hand, and give +To fading memories power to live. +'Mongst men of enterprising fame, +I can't pass George Buchanan's name; +He built our first old timber slide, +Down which the red pine cribs did glide; +And afterwards with strength and skill, +And an indomitable will, +At the great Rapids of the _Chats_, +Suspended nature's changeless laws, +And by an artificial path +Triumphed o'er the cataract's wrath! +While standing quietly on shore, +Watching the freight the current bore, +A sudden crash from careless oar +Ended his enterprising life, +And made a widow of his wife. +The public mourned, its great heart bled, +With genuine sorrow for the dead. +'Tis but as yesterday to me, +The history of that tragedy. +Ere to the fair green now I go, +I'll stir up the old "Buffalo." +John Heney, who his mark has made +In speculation's shifting trade, +And built up with both brick and stone, +Memorials, which, when he is gone, +In Ottawa will securely stand, +Proofs of his enterprising hand. +Some years ago in learned debate, +In Council Hall he sat in state. +And in his record there you'll find, +Nothing unfriendly or unkind. +And while as gently I jog on, +I cannot, pass by "honest John!" +"Shaun Rhua," designating name, +Who from the County Cavan came, +And in the Upper Town first started. +Young, enterprising, and light hearted. +At Civic Board for many a year, +For By Ward doth his name appear; +And I can say, who ought to know, +As far as my researches go, +No public act has stain left on +The well-earned name of "honest John!" +Turk, Jew, and heathen all the same, +Speak kindly of John Heney's name. +Mark Bishoprick has gone at last, +An aged pilgrim from the past, +Burdened with many years he stood +Almost alone in solitude, +A record of an age that's gone, +Who's lengthened shadow rested on +The present, ere the distant light +Sunk into everlasting night. + + + + +CORKSTOWN. + + + "Mother McGinty won't forget + To keep the tally mark." + (OLD SONG.) + + +In days of yore, within a call +Of where stands now the City Hall, +A village built of mud and wood, +In all its glory, Corkstown stood, +Two rows of cabins in the swamp-- +Begirt by ponds and vapors damp +And aromatic cedar trees +Who's branches caught the passing breeze-- +Stretched upward on the western side +Of the "Deep Cut," where then were plied +The spade and pickaxe side by side; +For, by the shade of Colonel By, +Who shaped this city's destiny! +There delved full many a hard case in, +That channel to the Canal Basin. +There, then dwelt many a sturdy blade, +Adepts at handling the spade, +And bruisers at the wheeling trade, +As witness the vast mounds of clay +Remaining on the banks to-day. +Lovers of poteen strong and clear, +In preference to rum or beer, +Sons of the sod who'd knock you down +For half a word 'gainst Cork's own town, +And kick you then for falling too, +To prove that the old mountain dew +Had frolic in it raw and strong, +As well as music, love and song. +And there in whitewashed shanty grand, +With kegs and bottles on each hand, +Her face decked with a winning smile, +Her head with cap of ancient style, +Crowned arbiter of frolic's fate, +Mother McGinty sat in state, +And measured out the mountain dew +To those whom strong attraction drew +Within the circle of her power, +To while away a leisure hour. +She was the hostess and the host, +She kept the reckoning, ruled the roast, +And swung an arm of potent might +That few would dare to brave in fight; +Yet was she a good-natured soul, +As ever filled the flowing bowl; +In sooth she dealt in goodly cheer, +Half-pints of whiskey, quarts of beer, +Strong doses of sweet peppermint, +Fine old Jamaica without stint, +And shrub--a cordial then well known-- +Her thirsty customers poured down, +Nor dreamed of headaches, or of ills, +For nought killed then, but doctors' pills! +The song, the dance, and glass went round, +The precincts of that classic ground; +And when bent on a tearing spree, +Filled full of grog and jollity, +The bacchanalian rant they made +Would please even old Anacreon's shade, +While o'er them the athletic charms +Of the stern hostess's bare arms, +Struck terror and kept order in +The revel's hottest, wildest din! +For cash or credit bartered she, +The prime ingredients of a spree; +And he stood always above par +Who never stone threw at the bar; +And when a man had spent his all, +She chalked the balance on the wall. +Figures or letters she knew not, +But what a customer had got +By hieroglyphics well she knew, +For there exposed to public view +Each debtor's tally great and small +Appeared upon the bar-room wall. +A short stroke for a half-pint stood, +A longer for a quart was good, +While something like an Eagle's talon +Upon her blackboard was a gallon. +And woe to him, who soon or late +His tally did not liquidate; +For when her goodly company +Were all assembled for a spree, +She read off each delinquent's score, +And at his meanness loudly swore, +And threatened when he next appeared, +Unless the entry all was cleaed, +To lay on future drinks a stricture, +And photograph, perhaps, his picture +In pewter, for the unpaid tally, +As given, I think, in C. O'Malley. +Old Corkstown was a merry place +On pay-day, when the soaking race +Assembled full of fun and glee +At Mother McGinty's for a spree, +No total abstinence was known +In those days in that little town, +Nor many nasal organs tainted +For lack of time to get them painted; +No moderate drinker showed his face +Within that much resorted place, +For temperance had not then began +To trench upon the rights of man, +Sure had he trod on danger's edge +Who dared there to propose the pledge. +Such monstrous doctrine there had been +Followed by "wigs upon the green." +None there refused the offered glass, +Or dared to let the bottle pass +For, _casus belli_ this was strong, +Unless with a good roaring song +The recreant could in his defence +Atone for such _most strange_ offence. +Sometimes, nay oft, upon the street +Antagonistic friends would meet +By chance, or by some other charm, +To try each other's strength of arm, +And without legal process settle +Disputes, like men of taste and mettle; +And while strict "Fair Play" ruled the fight, +It was a sort of rough delight +For youthful souls while hanging round +That ancient famous battle ground, +To note who first the claret drew-- +who first down his opponent threw-- +Who first produced the limner's dyes +Beneath his neighbor's damaged eyes, +Or sowed the trodden ground beneath +With smashed incisors, like the teeth, +The dragon's tusks of ancient ken +From which sprung hosts of armed men. +Such pastime was a frequent thing, +The entertainment of the ring, +Without equestrian or clown +Was often seen in Cork's own town, +And best, for impecunious boys +Who boasted few of modern joys, +Who daily went to see the play +Had no admission fee to pay. +But gone is Corkstown, vanished too +The whitewashed shanty from our view, +Where once the minstrel's youthful eyes +Beheld strange orgies with surprise. +In dust its stalwart hostess now, +Reposes, placid is the brow +That once frowned terror o'er the throng +While revelling in the dance and song, +Gone with them are the fading dyes +Which tinged fair childhood's happy skies, +The brilliant firmament of youth +Has vanished, and but leaves the truth +Written wherever mortals range +That things below are doomed to change. + + + + +THE FAIR OF 1829. + + +Now, reader, you and I must start +Together with both hand and heart, +Off to the far-famed level of green, +Which once in verdure lay between +The old Scotch Kirk, and where now Hall +Confectionery sells to all; +And we shall pass as something new, +Old scenes before us in review, +And I shall fire up these rhymes +With battles of the good old times; +And out of what I shall relate +No single case for magistrate, +Or stern judge to adjudicate +Arose, for then, a bloody nose, +Or broken head, between fair foes, +Was counted neither loss nor gain, +Nor thought of 'till they met again. +'Twas in the glorious olden time +When smashing craniums was no crime-- +When people got no invitation +At half-past nine for presentation +Of damaged eye and broken skin, +To answer for nocturnal sin +Before that tribunal where bail +Can't always keep one out of jail. +'Twas in July in '29, +If true this memory of mine, +At early morn upon that green +Were many tents of canvas seen +Within which might be found good cheer +In whiskey kegs and kegs of beer; +And on a little table, too, +Tin measures were exposed to view, +For thirsty souls their clay to slake, +And draughts of inspiration take-- +For then the numbers were but few, +Who shun'd the sparkling mountain dew, +And people under no pretence +Could dream of total abstinence: +Even John B. Gough's most magic sway +Had failed in Bytown's early day. +Vast was the throng assembled there +At Bytown's first and greatest Fair, +And merry were the antics seen +Upon that famous ancient green. +'Twas not to buy or sell they came +From far and near, the blind and lame, +The grave, the merry, sad and gay, +Upon that old eventful day; +They all assembled, wild and free, +To have a ranting, roaring spree! +And, by the shadows of the past! +Frolic flew furious and fast, +And many a head was pillowed on +Old mother earth ere set of sun. +A fiddler here the catgut drew, +And there a highland piper, too, +Shrieked forth with loud and stirring bar, +The boding battle-notes of war! +And lavishly the whiskey flew +Among that mirth devoted crew, +As oft into the tents they ran +To renovate the inner man. +'Twas twelve o'clock, and all was well, +"And merry as a marriage bell," +Thought one might see just here and there +Legs seeming somewhat worse of wear, +And in the air perhaps might hear +The prescient sounds of conflict near, +For Irish accents there were many, +Cork, Tipperary, and Kilkenny. +'Twas afternoon, and frolic's pacing +Was then diversified by racing, +Then soon was cleared of busy feet +The race course, old Wellington street, +Bets then were made, and up the money, +Pat Ryan's horse, and Davy's pony, +Together entered for the match-- +Perhaps it would be called a "scratch" +Race in the turfs expressive phrase +Unknown in Bytown's early days. +Fair, free and gallantly they started, +And headlong up the street they darted, +While loudly sounded cheer on cheer +As swift the winning post they near; +They ran together without check, +And passed it almost neck and neck, +So close, the judges, though they tried, +The winning horse could not decide. +The race was o'er and down the brakes, +Each party shouted for the stakes; +And loud and fierce the clamor rose, +And words soon lost themselves in blows; +The very stones began to speak, +And skulls, of course, began to break, +And black thorns and maple sticks +Played such fantastic ugly tricks, +That soon the well thronged battle plain +Was strewn with bodies of the slain-- +The "Kilt," who fell to rise again +Without the doctor's mystic aid, +And plunge once more into the raid. +Stones flew in showers, the windows shook +Around that famous Donnybrook, +While Tipperary's battle yell, +Did loudly o'er the conflict swell! +And many a celt with accent racy +Roared for a Sleavin or a Casey! +And fierce the struggle raged around +Where the seven Sleavin's stood their ground-- +Seven brothers, back to back they stood +Like hero's, though their streaming blood +Told how they bravely turned at bay +'Gainst hundreds in that savage fray! +O'erpowered at last they did retreat +Face to the foe, still in defeat, +Defiant as they moved along +Pursued by the relentless throng! +They reached their home, shut fast the door, +And stood within upon the floor, +Ready to meet the coming foe, +Who in their vengeance were not slow. +Stones showered from the assailing crew, +In pieces every window flew, +Then, with a loud and savage yell +They rushed to storm the citadel! +A gun-barrel through a broken pane +Made the invaders pause again, +A sharp axe sticking through another, +Their thirst for slaughter seemed to smother; +A battle council then took place, +And very soon there was no trace, +Of conflict or of bloody fray +Round where the Sleavin's stood at bay! +Thus ended By-town's first old Fair, +A Donnybrook most rich and rare; +This annal of the olden time +Was not premeditated crime, +It sprung from what forms quite a part +Of every genuine Irish heart, +A sort of _Faugh a-Ballagh_ way +That sticks to Irishmen to-day. + + + + +LINES + +_Recited by the author in "Her Majesty's Theatre," at a +Festival of the Mechanics' Institute in March_, 1868. + + +In such a gay and festive scene as this, +My worthy friends, it may not be amiss +To mingle with the general notes of glee, +A rhyme or too, even if not poesy. +Indulge me while in rude unpolished verse, +The promptings of the muse I now rehearse, +And O! deal gently with me while I try +To bring the vanished past before your eye, +Fond recollections rapidly takes wing +The fading scenes of other days to sing, +The good old days, the dear old times of yore, +Which you and I, alas! shall see no more: +When all around the spot on which I stand +Was trackless forest and primeval land-- +The "Barrack Hill," a wilderness all o'er, +And Lower Town to Rideau's ancient shore +A gloomy cedar swamp, the haunt of deer, +In which the ruffed grouse drum'd when spring was near, +While here and there a giant pine on high +Towered with its spreading branches to the sky! +I have the little village in my eye, +Before the locks were built by Colonel By, +Before the Sappers threw the ponderous arch, +O'er the Canal, to aid improvement's march, +Ere by the muscular canaller's spade +The ground was broken where the "Deep Cut's" made-- +Long ere the iron bond of union span'd +The vast _Kah-nah-jo_, wonder of our land! +Here mighty Ottawa, in its grandest phase +Bears some resemblance to its better days, +Ere sawdust, slabs, and stern improvement gave +A turbid deathstroke to its limpid wave! +That good old time, 'tis pleasant to recal, +When one religion almost served for all-- +When men together could in friendship join-- +When battered buttons passed for genuine coin-- +And silver pieces, do not think it strange, +Were cut in too, and four, to make small change, +When banks were few, suspensions heard of not, +And specie was the only cash we got, +Hard silver with no discount on our dollars, +Ere brokers reigned, or flourished paper collars. +Tho' dim the light of learning's genial rays +Amongst the masses in those bygone days-- +Tho' daily papers, modern luxury's food, +The bold apostles of the public good, +The tribunes of the people were not found +On guard our infant liberties around, +Tho' institutions based on mental light, +Shed scanty radiance o'er that primal night, +Tho' science, wealth and philosophic lore +Were _rara aves_ upon Ottawa's shore; +Tho' commerce scarce had spread her gilded wings, +The herald of a costlier state of things; +Tho' such an institution as our own, +Was to our early pioneers unknown, +An institution, let me say, in short, +Worthy of every patriot's support; +Established on a comprehensive base. +Where every man of worth may find his place-- +temple of intelligence to give +To mind the sustenance on which to live, +Tho' all such modern glories then were rare, +Yet old Bytonians did not badly fare. +Churches were few in that benighted time, +Seldom was heard the Sabbath's welcome chime-- +Yet brotherhood abounded in the land, +And charity with soft and tender hand +Relieved distress, and made the weeper smile, +Scarce conscious of the good she did the while, +And not the worst among poor sons of men, +Money was plenty in the village then, +For Mother Britain with a lavish hand +Scattered her treasures over all the land. +Simplicity then held her peaceful reign, +And vice and crime were seldom in her train. +No litigation marked our young career, +No Police Magistrate with brow severe, +And frown of justice upon trembling crime, +Made culprits shiver in that happy time; +Neighbor to neighbor owed so little grudge, +Disputes were settled then without the Judge-- +The learned profession boasted not one gown, +And but one lancet was in all the town-- +And it was busy, and got wondrous praise, +For venesection flourished in those days. +People owed little, and were seldom sued, +No bailiff marred our ancient solitude; +Duns were a nuisance in our soil not grown, +Fifteen per cent, was totally unknown! +Things then were taken as they happened quite, +And insults were decided by a fight, +In boyhood I have witnessed many a fray +Within the ring by daylight and fair play-- +No constable poked his unwelcome nose +Between the pastime of two transient foes, +Who choose like Sayers and Heenan to decide +Their difference with strong sinews on each side. +We had no sidewalks then, not much taxation, +No lock-up, county gaol, no corporation, +No aldermanic wisdom, and no mayor, +To fill with dignity the civic chair; +No tax collector with his pressing bill +To cause consumption in an empty till; +Corrupt electors trod not freedom's ground, +No purchaseable franchise could be found-- +Money was not the "altar and the God," +Before which manhood bowed a venal clod! +The reign of truth, ere politics was made +By infamy a money-making trade! +No costly vehicles with horses gay, +In gilded trappings graced that ancient day; +Pedestrianism was fashionable then, +For boys were boys, as 'twas, and men were men. +And girls were what they always were, the best +Blossoms in the gardens of the blest! +One steamer only cleft the Ottawa's spray, +But did not, like the "Queen," come every day. +No railroad engine snorted o'er the plain, +Dragging along behind its ponderous train-- +No telegraphic line with speed of light +Scattered intelligence with lightning flight; +No gas-flame shed its artificial ray, +Turning nocturnal darkness into day-- +The tallow candle blazed away supreme, +And of the age of coal oil did not dream; +Yet, 'twas "a gay old time," a happy time, +And could I strike an upward note sublime, +I'd strain my very heartstrings with the blast +Of glory that I'd give the fine old past! +But times are changed, and things are altered too, +Fair civilization bursts upon our view; +The old men of the old time have been laid +In peace beneath the weeping willow's shade; +The middle-aged are in the yellow leaf, +Life's evening evanescent, sad and brief-- +The little children who flourished then +Are now the mothers of our land, and men-- +The wilderness has vanished, the old trees +Have disappeared before improvement's breeze; +Commercial enterprise is busy now, +The Ottawa's breast is cleft by many a prow, +The roaring, rushing locomotives scour +Along the track at forty miles an hour-- +The electric current cleaves the ambient air, +Shooting the rays of thought round everywhere, +Darting like sunbeams to the left and right, +The swift-winged messengers of mental light! +Disturbing 'neath the billows of the deep, +The ocean monsters from their dreamy sleep; +Cleaving resistless through the watery waste +A miracle not dreamt of in the past, +Annihilating time, and leaving space, +Like Noah's dove, without a resting place! +Thy fame, too, "old brown Bess," hath passed away, +And rifled guns in war and peace hold sway, +And Britain's wooden walls with all their glories, +Are now but one of fame's immortal stories! +But while I cast my wondering eyes around +How grand the sight which doth their vision bound; +A city stands in fair and youthful grace, +Where once old Bytown had its primal place; +And lo! in grandeur towering the skies +In marbled splendor upon yonder hill, +Our Legislative Temples proudly rise, +A columned glory of the artist's skill! +Thanks to our gracious Queen, who's royal hand +Made Ottawa chief city of the land! +Thanks to the men who fought through good and ill +The fight of right, and bravely battled still; +Who stood unshaken, firm in their adhesion, +Till victory crowned Her Majesty's decision! +God bless our New Dominion! may it be +Granted a proud and happy destiny; +Ontario and Quebec go hand in hand +With Nova Scotia and New Brunswick's land; +Those noble borderers of the rushing wave +Grand, fitting birthplace of the free and brave! +May Newfoundland, British Columbia true, +Prince Edward Island join the Union, too, +And the vast regions of the far North-West, +Awake to form a nation great and blest! +May all in common brotherhood unite +To live in peace, or for our freedom fight +Beneath the flag for which our fathers died, +And left us as their legacy and pride! +May heaven give strength and energy to those +Who from political convulsion's throes-- +A proud example to the sons of earth, +Brought union and an empire into birth! +May wisdom guide them as they onward steer +The vessel of the State in her career-- +Smooth be the wave and gentle be the gales +That fill our ark of safety's well trim'd sails-- +Strong be the vision of the pilot, too, +To keep the port of union full in view, +Until the anchor's cast, the sails are furled, +A spectacle of envy to the world! 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