504 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
THE BUCKEYE
PIONEERS.
OSMAN C. HOOPER.
[This poem was written for the Franklin
Centennial, held at Co-
lumbus, Ohio, September 15, 1897.]
Fair Buckeyeland! we sing your praise
And bare our head to them
Who lived and wrought in other days
And framed your diadem!
Their handiwork none can forget;
The jewels of the years
Would in your crown be still unset,
But for the pioneers.
CHORUS.
Then a song for the pioneers!
The praise of a hundred years
For the women true
And the brave men who
Were the pioneers!
They blazed their way through forests
deep,
A hundred years ago,
And, in the trusty rifle's keep,
They braved a wily foe.
They felled the monarchs of the wood,
They tilled the fertile plain;
Kind Heaven saw and called it good
And made earth laugh with grain.
With latchstring out, the cabin door
Gave greeting unto friend;
To live was good, but it was more
To succor or defend.
And here, in every breast there beat
A heart to country true,
Which clad with strength the hurrying feet
When this old flag was new.
Undaunted then by any foe,
If red in coat or face;
Unconquered still, their spirits grow
And give us of their grace.
And here, where toiled the pioneers,
There rises now elate,
The glory of a hundred years,
The beauteous Buckeye state.