A Treasury of Canadian verse : with brief biographical notes

Preface

TO one opening this book for the first time, it may be permissible to say that the verse included in the volume does not treat solely nor chiefly of Canadian themes. While Canadian environment and life necessarily supply the note of inspiration and impart its timbre and accent, the thought and emotion are of wide range, and seek response in the universal heart.

The practical energies of the Canadian people are abundantly attested by extensive systems of railways and canals, a wide commerce, systems of free public education in the several provinces and territories, liberal facilities for the higher education of men and women, and an enterprising and influential press. Thirty-two years have passed since the organization of the Dominion of Canada, These years have witnessed great progress in civil and social institutions, and no unworthy beginning of an adequate development of the illimitable material resources of Canada's vast domain. It is noteworthy, as marking the quality of life of the people, that from the earliest settlement of the several provinces there have not been wanting public evidences of the presence of the scientific and literary spirit. The latter has expressed itself both in prose and verse, and in these recent years there is an increased activity in Hterary production commensurate with the expanding life of Canada.

It has been my purpose to present worthy specimens of Enghsh-Canadian verse, selected from the entire field of our history. Such a collection should be of

ix

X

Preface interest, not only to Canadians, but to all Englishspeaking peoples. Here are reflected the singular loveliness of our evanescent spring, the glow and luxuriant life of our hasting summer, the sensuous glory of our autumn, and the tingle of our frosty air and the white winter's cheer. Every form and aspect of natural beauty is, in some degree, caught and expressed— sometimes in homely, sometimes in classical phrase ; often with striking simplicity, and generally with much purity of thought and an authentic note. A sane and wholesome spirit is characteristic of the verse, and its spiritual quality seems to me to be of a high order. The sympathetic reader will notice a marked pictorial use of nature in some of the specimens given, as well as a sensuous delight in nature itself, depicted, as it is, with true feeling and not infrequently with an almost flawless art. He will notice also that nature is often humanized, and tenderness, love and pity, and the subtle problems of man's life and existence, are enshrined in original and poetic simiUtudes to the melody of haunting music. Nor are there altogether wanting instances of that insight and vision which beholds the phenomenal and cosmic with rapt wonder as awesome beauty-gleams, radiant symbols, or sublime manifestations of the immanent and loving One in whom all things consist. Great personalities, high achievement, and noble character, also, have inspired Canadian song. From the earliest to the latest singer, a glowing devotion to native land and a loyal and loving reverence for our gracious Sovereign are characteristic notes. If it should appear that the abundant verse inspired by these latter motives is insufficiently represented in this anthology, it may suffice to say that such verse is already widely known and is not by any means the highest product of the Canadian muse. Room has been made for the less hackneyed and richer inspirations of our poets — the virgin freshness and promise of our country ; the life and deeds of men everywhere ; the

Preface xi yearnings of the individual soul ; and the aspirations of a people after the noblest and the divinest. These, with domestic loves, have kindled our singers to beautiful expression that demands a wider appreciation, as supplying sustenance and stimulus essential to fulness of national and imperial life. It will be observed that not only in recent verse, but also in that of nearly fifty years ago, Canadian poets have given expression to Anglo-centric conceptions and aspirations, divining with poetic insight the coming good.

While the selections have been carefully made, it will be apparent that some verse has been included whose chief claim to recognition is found in local and popular associations. It should also be said that much popular verse has been excluded, in order that the volume be kept of usable form and size. It did not fall within the plan of this anthology to include sacred and devotional lyrics, otherwise not a few hymns must have found a place, notably Joseph Scriven's " What a Friend we have in Jesus," known as widely as the language is spoken.

The printing together of the selections from any author has been advisedly adopted, as affording a greater variety and interest than could be secured by an abstract or logical classification of the verse of the entire volume. The convenience of an alphabetical order of authors is apparent, while the dates supplied in the Notes afford ample chronology. Here and there the reader may find unfilled dates of birth or death, or unexpanded initials of names, but all reasonable effort has been made to furnish complete and trustworthy information.

I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Charles C. James, M.A., Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, who has given me free access to his valuable and extensive collection of the works of Canadian poets ; to Mr. James Bain, Jr., of the Toronto Public Library, for special facilities for inspecting the xii

Preface excellent collection in his charge ; and to Mr. E. S. Caswell, of the publishing house of William Briggs, for many courtesies, and specially for aid in procuring well-nigh inaccessible materials for examination. To the many persons who have so cordially responded to letters of inquiry, and whom I may not thank by name, I express my acknowledgments. The following special works have been of service : Selections from Canadian Poets (1864), by Edward Hartley Dewart; 2'he Canadian Birthday Book (1887), by Seranus; Songs of the Great Dominion (1889), by William Douw Lighthall, M.A., and Morgan^s Canadian Men and Women of the Time,

Special thanks are rendered to the authors who have permitted the use of their poems, and to the various publishers for copyright permission. I regret that I was unable to secure permission to include any poems by Mr. William Wilfred Campbell. Perhaps the selections from my own verse should not appear in the volume. Their inclusion, it is proper to say, is in deference to the wishes of persons of acknowledged taste, rather than to any desire of my own.

A Canadian by birth, education, and life-service, as were my father and his father, my mother and her mother, I may be pardoned the expression of a feeling of national pride that the materials are so abundant from which to prepare a representative volume, much of whose contents will not suffer by comparison with the verse of older countries. I trust that this anthology may serve as an open door through which the voices of Canadian singers may vibrate yet more widely on sympathetic ears both at home and abroad.

T. H. R.

Toronto, Canada, February. 1900.

AUTHORS AND SELECTIONS

PAGE

The Whitethroat (T. H. R. ) • . . . i

A

Margaret H. Alden—

Mother's World 2

Joseph Antisell Allen—

From *'Deiydi'ea.ms" ..... 2

Grant Allen—

Only an Insect ...... 3

William Talbot Allison—

"There sat the Women weeping for Thammuz " . 6 The Men of the North ..... 8 Vanishings . . , . . .8

Sophie M. Almon-Hensley—

There is no God ...... 11

Duncan Anderson—

The Death of Wolfe . . . . .11

Alice M. Ardagh—

Sic Passim ...... 20

Isidore G. Ascher—

By the Firelight ...... 22

Samuel Mathewson Baylis

In Matabele Land

The Coureur-de-Bois John Wilson Bengough—

Sir John A. Macdonald

Restitution

Craven Langstroth Betts — In Memoriam Chaucer .

Pope

23 25

26 27

30 30 xiv Authors and Selections

Blanche Bishop—

The Bride o' the Sun Winter Flowers Christmas Morn .

Edward Blackadder— Annapolis Royal .

Jean Blewett —

The Two Marys .

She just keeps house for me

At Quebec

John Breakenridge — The Troubadour .

John Henry Brown—

The Parliament of Man .

A Sunset .

Edward Burrough Brownlow— The Whippoorwill The Sonnet

C

George Frederick Cameron— The Golden Text .

Is there a God ? .

On Tiptoe What matters it? .

Bliss Carman —

Low Tide on Grand Fr6 The Gravedigger The Crimson House Hack and Hew .

Phillips Brooks The White Gull .

Amos Henry Chandler— When Dora died .

Edward J. Chapman — A Summer Night

Annie Rothwell Christie— The Woman's Part After the Battle .

Welcome Home

George Herbert Clarke— Skater and Wolves To a Butterfly Resentment Ecclesiastes

A Child's Evening Hymn

Authors and Selections

XV

PAGE

Hugh Cochran—

Ideal 70

Hereward K. Cockin—

The Death of Burnaby . . . . .70

Sara Jeanette Duncan Cotes—

Isabella Valancy Crawford—

The Master-Builder . . . . .73

The Axe of the Pioneer ..... 73

The Sword ...... 7^

"These Three" . . . . . . 77

Francis Blake Crofton—

The Battle-Call of Anti-Christ . . . .78,

John Allister Currie—

My Mother ...... 8i

Margaret Gill Currie—

By the St John ...... 81

Sarah Anne Curzon—

Visit of the Prince of Wales to Laura Secord . . 83 Invocation to Rain .... 85

D

Nicholas Flood Davin—

A. B. De Mille—

The Ice King ...... 89

James De Mille—

T^Tf?;^ " Behind the Veil " . . . ,92

Edward Hartley Dewart—

Shadows on the Curtain . , . ,96

On the Ottawa . . . . . . 97

Frederick Augustus Dixon —

William Henry Drummond —

The Habitant's Jubilee Ode . , . . loi

John Hunter Duvar—

John A'Var's Last Lay . . , . , 104

The Minnesingers Lied ..... 106

How Balthazar the King went down into Egypt — . 107 xvi Authors and Selections

PAGE

E

Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton—

The Egyptian Lotus . * . , . 109

Purple Asters . . . . . . no

Deepening the Channel . . . . .111

The Phantom Light of the Baie des Chaleurs . .112

The Meadow Lands . , . . .113

My Purest Longings spring . . . .114

I watch the Ships . . . . .114

James David Edgar—

This Canada of Ours . . • , , 116

F

Constance Fairbanks—

Those far-off fields . . . . .118

Joseph Kearney Foran —

The Aurora Borealis . . . . .118

William Henry Fuller—

A Song of the Sea . . . • . 120

G

Alexander Rae Garvie—

From " PhsLTitSisy " . . ♦ , , 121

H

Pierce Stevens Hamilton—

From ' ' The Heroine of St John . , . . 123

S. Frances Harrison—

Villanelle . . . , , . . 126

Chateau Papineau . . . . .127

September . . . . . .128

Theodore Arnold Haultain—

Charles Heavysege —

Magnanimous and Mean . . . .131

The Coming of the Morn .... 132

The Mystery of Doom , . , . • i33

John Frederic Herein—

Authors and Selections xvii

PAGE

Across the Dykes . . . . .137

The Sonnet ...... 138

Annie Campbell Huestis—

Gentle- Breath ...... 138

The Little White Sun . . . . .139

Twenty-Old and Seven- Wild ...» 140

James C. Hodgins—

A Greek Reverie . , , , , , 146

Joseph Howe —

The Flag of Old England . . . .147

The Deserted Nest . , . . ,148

William Edward Hunt —

The Sea's Influence ..... 142

The Passing of Summer ..... 142

Richard Huntington—

Sunrise on the Tusket . . . • « 142 Louisburg 144

J

Charles Edwin Jakeway—

An Unfinished Prophecy ,

E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) The Song my Paddle sings At Husking Time Shadow River . .

Brier ....

Prairie Greyhounds

K

Robert Kirkland Kernighan —

The Song of the Thaw . . , , ,160 Peepy is not dead , . , . .161

William Kirby—

The Marquis of Lome's visit to the North- West , 162

At Spencer Grange . . • . . 163

Matthew Richey Knight—

Jacques Cartier ..... 166

Sovereign Moments . . . • , 167 The Mercy of God , , , , ,167

b xviii Authors and Selections

PAGE

L

Archibald Lampman— The Railway Station Outlook .

Among the Millet The Loons • The Sun Cup After Rain June

September The Goal of Life .

Mary Jane Katzmann Lawson— The Face in the Cathedral

Sophia V. Gilbert Lee —

The Brook . . ... . , i8o

Lily Alice Lefevre—

Imprisoned . . . , . .180

Inspiration . . . , , , 181

R. E. MuLLiNS Leprohon—

The Huron Chiefs Daughter . , .182

William Douw Lighthall— •

The Artist's Prayer . . , . .184

The Sweet Star . . . , . . 186

My Native Land ...... 186

Stuart Livingston—

The Volunteers of '85 , . . . , 187

The King's Fool ...... 189

Arthur John Lockhart-—

The Waters of Carr . . . , .193 The Lonely Pine . . . . . , 194

Burton Wellesley Lockhart—

Love and Song ...... 197

By the Gaspereau ..... 197

John E. Logan—

The Indian Maid's Lament — .... 198

M

Agnes Maule Machar—

William Ewart Gladstone .... 199

Schiller's Dying Vision ..... 200

Love and Faith ...... 202

A Madonna of the Entry ..... 202

Authors and Selections

Evan MacColl—

The Child of Promise Glenorchy

Elizabeth Roberts Macdonald— A Song of Seasons

John Macfarlane— The Two Angels .

A Grave in Samoa A Midsummer Madrigal .

Kate Seymour Maclean— Ballad of the Mad Ladye Bird Song

Elizabeth S. Macleod— Alexander Mackenzie

A. D. Macneill — TheSea-Gull

Donald M'Caig—

The Tramp . . .

James M 'Carroll— A Royal Race

Dawn ....

The Grey Linnet .

William M'Donnell— From ^'MsLniia." .

Bernard M'Evoy—

A Photograph in a Shop Window Revised Proofs

Thomas D'Arcy M'Gee— Our Ladye of the Snow .

William P. M'Kenzie— Moonlight

Gabrielle ....

The Mother's Song Lullaby Song

Alexander M'Lachlan— Indian Summer .

Bobolink ....

The Man who rose from Nothing

John M'Pherson — The Mayflower In the Woods

Charles Mair —

Untamed ....

The Voice of the Pines .

The Humming Bird Innocence , , , »

xix

PAGE

204 205

206 207 208

208 210

. 215 216 216

218 218

224 224 225 226

227 229 230

231 232

233 234 236 236

XX Authors and Selections

PAGE

George Martin—

To My Canary Bird . , . . , 238

Helen M. Merrill—

The Blue Flower ..... 241

At Edgewater . . . . . , 243

The Promise of Spring ..... 243

Susanna Moodie—

The Maple Tree ...... 244

The Fisherman's Light ..... 247

Mary Morgan—

" In apprehension, so like a God " Charity ....

Life . . . .

Irene Elder Morton— Browning Completeness My Garden Wall In June ....

Song of the Pagan Princess Song ....

Charles Pelham Mulvaney— Poppoea ....

George Murray— The Thistle

247 248 248

249 250

254 254

N

H. M. NiCKERSON—

A Recollection . . ... • , 260

O

Cornelius O'Brien—

St Cecilia ...... 261

Thomas O'Hagan—

Ripened Fruit ...... 261

The Song My Mother Sings .... 262

P

Horatio Gilbert Parker —

I loved my Art ...... 264

It is enough ...... 264

Their Waving Hands . , , , , 265

Authors and Selections

Amy Parkinson—

The Messenger Hours Frank L. Pollock—

Ad Bellonam . . .

The Trail of Gold

R

Andrew Ramsay— Jephtha's Daughter I will not tell Atkinson's Mill

Theodore Harding Rand— The Dragonfly- Beauty ....

Love ....

The Hepatica

The Veiled Presence

The Ghost Flower

Glory-Roses

The Carven Shores

Walter A. Ratcliffe—

Wanted ....

John Reade—

Rizpah ....

Pictures of Memory (i. -iv. )

In My Heart

To Louis Frechette

Kings of Men

Dominion Day Robert Reid —

Poesie ....

A Song of Canada Charles George Douglas Roberts—

A Nocturne of Consecration

A Nocturne of Spiritual Love

An Ode for the Canadian Confederacy

Canadian Streams

The Silver Thaw

Epitaph for a Sailor Buried Ashore The Train among the Hills A Song of Growth Sleepy Man

Night in a down- town Street

The Falling Leaves

An Epitaph for a Husbandman

Origins

The Wrestler

Recessional

Ascription , , xxii Authors and Selections

PAGE

Theodore Roberts —

The Spears of Kan-Mar .... 309

The Men of my Heart's Desire . . . .311

William Carman Roberts —

An Easter Memory . , . . •313

My Comrade Canoe ..... 314

George John Romanes—

I ask not for Thy love, O Lord , . . .315

Carroll Ryan—

S

Charles Sangster—

England and America ..... 318

A Living Temple . , . . . . 320

The Illumined Goal ..... 321

Love's Renewal ...... 321

'Tis Summer Still . . . . .322

Duncan Campbell Scott— The Fifteenth of April .

Above St Ir^n^e .

Off Riviere Du Loup The End of the Day A Flock of Sheep .

Memory , Home Song Life and Death Ottawa

Frederick George Scott—

Easter Island . . . . . .331

A Dream of the Prehistoric .... 332

Charles Dawson Shanly—

The Walker of the Snow . . . . . 336

Francis Sherman—

The Builder .... . . 338

Between the Battles ..... 339

A Little While before the Fall was done . .341

Goldwin Smith —

Flossy to her Mistress . . . . •34^

323 325 326 326

327 328

329 329

Authors and Selections xxiii

Lyman C. Smith—

Canada to Columbia

From "A Day with Homer"

William Wye Smith—

The Canadians on the Nile

Albert E. Stafford Smythe— The Forgotten Poet Death the Revealer

Hiram Ladd Spencer — The River

A Hundred Years to come

Ezra Hurlburt Stafford — Chinook ...

The Strange Vessel The last Orison .

Alexander Charles Stewart — From " The Wanderer" ,

Phillips Stewart— Hope

From " Corydon and Amaryllis ' From ' ' De Profundis " ,

Barry Straton—

Love's Harvest , .

Charity , America .

Arthur J. Stringer— A Song in Autumn Beside the Martyr's Memorial Canada to England Beethoven . , ,

Alan Sullivan—

Venice . , , The White Canoe

T

Bertram Tennyson —

Edward William Thomson

The Song-Sparrow ..... 364

The Bad Year ...... 364

John Stuart Thomson—

The Vale of Estabelle . . . . .365

Late Autumn ..... . 368 xxiv Authors and Selections

PAGE

w

Francis L. Dominick Waters From ' ' The Water Lily "

Arthur Weir

A Snowshoe Song Voyageur Song . , The Little Trooper Little Miss Blue Eyes A Christmas Lullaby

Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald

The House of the Trees . . . , . 376

At the Window . . . . . . 377

To February . . . . . . 377

The Hay Field ...... 378

William Henry Withrow—

Cloud Castles . ... . . . 379

R. Walter Wright—

Easter Morn .... . , 380 A Still Small Voice . . . . .381

G. F. W.

Sense and Spirit ...... 382

Y

Eva Rose York—

I shall not pass this way again , ... 382

Pamelia Vining Yule—

The Beautiful Artist . . . . » 384

Warble thy lays to me . ' . . . = 386

370 372 373 374 375

A TREASURY OF CANADIAN VERSE

THE WHITETHROAT

SHY bird of the silver arrows of song, That cleave our Northern air so clear, Thy notes prolong, prolong,

I listen, I hear — " I — love — dear — Canada, Canada, Canada."

O plumes of the pointed dusky fir. Screen of a swelling patriot heart.

The copse is all astir

And echoes thy part ! , . .

Now willowy reeds tune their silver flutes As the noise of the day dies down ;

And silence strings her lutes.

The Whitethroat to crown. . . .

O bird of the silver arrows of song, Shy poet of Canada dear,

Thy notes prolong, prolong, We listen, we hear —

" I — love — dear — Canada, Canada, Canada."

A

MARGARET H. ALDEN

MOTHER'S WORLD

EYES of blue and hair of gold, Cheeks all brown with summer tan, Lips that much of laughter hold, That is mother's little Man.

Shining curls like chestnut brown, Long-lashed eyes, demure and staid,

Sweetest face in all the town.

That is mother's little Maid.

Dainty room with snow-white beds, Where, like flowers with petals curled,

Rest in peace two dreaming heads. That— is mother's little World !

JOSEPH ANTISELL ALLEN

From "DAY-DREAMS"

In time, 'neath this stratum of stars. Secretes by her spell This fair, wondrous shell

Self-substanced, till bursting the bars Of chrysalis time, Free, joyous, sublime.

She mounts the blue space, winged with li Where, deep in the soul.

Is mirrored the whole.

As in a calm lake the pure night !

H, what if the mind.

By sense-law confined.

And what, if the whole Are things of the soul,

This frame, Earth, bright Moon, garnished Skies, If from the great Sun Of spirit are spun

All systems which gravity ties To their focal source, By a hidden force

Mysterious, dynamic, unknown — A power that controls Each orb as it rolls,

And links to the great central throne ! . . .

When the dew-drops shine, On each sunlit line,

Of gossamer network, on sod Of emerald green.

In the morning's sheen,

Tis a miniature sky-work of God. . . •

Arachne how oft, In the twilight soft.

Seems poised in mid-air ; yet some tie Holds spider, moon, mote.

All known, near, remote,

From mind to yon azure-domed sky !

GRANT ALLEN

ONLY AN INSECT

I

V-/ Of my study desk A lustrous moth Poised statuesque.

Of a waxen mould

Were its light limbs shaped, And in scales of gold

Its body was draped : While its luminous wings

Were netted and veined With silvery strings,

Or golden grained, Through whose filmy maze

In tremulous flight Danced quivering rays

Of the gladsome light.