Page:Summer on the lakes, in 1843.djvu/58

48 {|align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"
 * Familiar to the childish mind were tales
 * &emsp;Of rock-girt isles amid a desert sea,
 * Where unexpected stretch the flowery vales
 * &emsp;To soothe the shipwrecked sailor's misery.
 * Fainting, he lay upon a sandy shore,
 * And fancied that all hope of life was o'er;
 * But let him patient climb the frowning wall,
 * Within, the orange glows beneath the palm tree tall,
 * And all that Eden boasted waits his call.
 * Almost these tales seem realized to-day,
 * When the long dullness of the sultry way,
 * Where “independent” settlers' careless cheer
 * Made us indeed feel we were “strangers” here,
 * Is cheered by sudden sight of this fair spot,
 * On which “improvement” yet has made no blot,
 * But Nature all-astonished stands, to find
 * Her plan protected by the human mind.
 * Blest be the kindly genius of the scene;
 * &emsp;The river, bending in unbroken grace,
 * The stately thickets, with their pathways green,
 * &emsp;Fair lonely trees, each in its fittest place.
 * Those thickets haunted by the deer and fawn ;
 * Those cloudlike flights of birds across the lawn;
 * The gentlest breezes here delight to blow,
 * And sun and shower and star are emulous to deck the show.
 * Wondering, as Crusoe, we survey the land;
 * Happier than Crusoe we, a friendly band;
 * Blest be the hand that reared this friendly home,
 * The heart and mind of him to whom we owe
 * Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know;
 * May he find such, should he be led to roam;
 * }
 * But Nature all-astonished stands, to find
 * Her plan protected by the human mind.
 * Blest be the kindly genius of the scene;
 * &emsp;The river, bending in unbroken grace,
 * The stately thickets, with their pathways green,
 * &emsp;Fair lonely trees, each in its fittest place.
 * Those thickets haunted by the deer and fawn ;
 * Those cloudlike flights of birds across the lawn;
 * The gentlest breezes here delight to blow,
 * And sun and shower and star are emulous to deck the show.
 * Wondering, as Crusoe, we survey the land;
 * Happier than Crusoe we, a friendly band;
 * Blest be the hand that reared this friendly home,
 * The heart and mind of him to whom we owe
 * Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know;
 * May he find such, should he be led to roam;
 * }
 * Those cloudlike flights of birds across the lawn;
 * The gentlest breezes here delight to blow,
 * And sun and shower and star are emulous to deck the show.
 * Wondering, as Crusoe, we survey the land;
 * Happier than Crusoe we, a friendly band;
 * Blest be the hand that reared this friendly home,
 * The heart and mind of him to whom we owe
 * Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know;
 * May he find such, should he be led to roam;
 * }
 * Happier than Crusoe we, a friendly band;
 * Blest be the hand that reared this friendly home,
 * The heart and mind of him to whom we owe
 * Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know;
 * May he find such, should he be led to roam;
 * }
 * Hours of pure peace such as few mortals know;
 * May he find such, should he be led to roam;
 * }
 * }