Ohio History Journal

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THE RAREY MANSION

BY SARA LOWE BROWN

Dear old mansion, crowning the hill,

Sweetest of memories cling to you still,

Memories of the Rareys brave and good,

Who cleared the acres dense with wood.

They gathered brush from the wilderness wide

And, wearying home at eveningtide,

The mansion built at the edge of the wood

Where a lowly cabin once had stood.

They tilled the soil and sowed the grain,

They chopped the logs to burn under the crane;

Spinning and weaving by candle-light,

They labored late in the winter night.

O folk of the "covered-wagon" days,

To you how much we owe of praise!

How little we of the hardships know

That were borne by you of the long ago!

The mansion, inn-like, welcome gave

Alike to white and Indian brave;

And here Tecumseh, gaily dressed,

Oft stopped for food and drink, or rest.

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