Songs of the Pines (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. 1895 Excerpt: ...cast the sun his mid-day beam--Ascended then a tribute tide Two furlongs up the forest wide. There on the low grass-mantled shore, That marks of habitation bore, Stood a small lodge of poles and bark, On which decay had placed its mark; There did they gladly stay their hand And pushed their laden bark to land. Food, fire and shelter furnished then Soon brought Leander strength again. The Indian's skill in healing, too, Gave nature aid, her part to do; And large the breach she will repair, Where man hath not abused his frame, With sins that on his face declare Their sovereign power, their victim's shame Ere long Leander strong had grown, Yet reason trembled on her throne. All memory of the past was gone--The present seemed of life the dawn. A strange, weird spell was round him cast, That left in mystery all the past, And pressed him back, as 'twere, in years To when the hope of youth appears; Yet not a child--disconsolate, Though realizing not his state; He loved the sunshine, bright and clear; He loved the river's voice to hear, And oft would wander by the shore, As studying deep its mystic lore; Or viewing pictured scenes, where deep It flowed on with resistless sweep. Kind were the Indians to him then, And asked him o'er and o'er again, Whence he had come, and where he willed To go, but still his answer tilled Them both with trouble, for he prayed But for their company and aid, And begged them not to leave him there, But let him in their journey share. Up stream, o'er lake and portage wide, And water-shed, whence eastward glide The streams that swell the Gatineau In its romantic southward flow; Off to a region wild and lone, Unsettled and almost unknown; There finds the moose congenial home, And through the wilds the shy deer roam; And hungry wolves in n...