Lays of the Lakes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1911 Excerpt: ... Thus the children of the forest Taught a life beyond the grave, And a happy, joyous future For the worthy and the brave; Thus a people, wild, unletter'd, Knowing naught of Christian love, Heard the God of living nations Calling them to realms above. THE LUMBER-JACK What's become of Jim Brooks?" did ye ask me? Waal, stranger, I'm blanked if I know, But I think he has hiked to a country Where there ain't any sawlogs or snow. Although I can't tell ye fer sartin, I believe that they took him to stay With th' angels an' heroes in heaven At th' close of one cold winter day. Fer I don't think that God would be willin' To go back on a feller like Jim--He wuz only a lumber-jack, stranger, But they wan't no one truer than him. Yes, I know he wuz careless an' reckless--He never would stand fer a bluff, An' when he struck town with his stake, sir, He always cut loose like a tough. "Hi, Jerry an' Billy, ye devils Come up here an' hev one on me " That's th' way he would talk to his comrades, An' his money went easy an' free. But though he wuz rough an' unpolished, To his friends he was faithful an' true, An' th' day he drop't out o' th' game, sir, There wuz gloom o'er th' rest o' th' crew. 'T was down on th' Yellow Dog River That we lumbered that winter an' spring, Where an army of "cross-cuts" an' axes Made th' forest re-echo an' ring. A log hauler's wife did the cookin', And she sartinly fed us good chuck: Such pancakes an' sausage ain't common --(We all envied that log hauler's luck.) She was blessed with a bright little youngster, A pretty an' sweet-natured lad, Whose voice wuz th' joy o' th' pinery, Whose laugh made that wilderness glad. I confess that I onct got a fancy That angels 'way up in th' sky Wuz jealous to have him in heaven, So they drop't him to earth f...