Ohio History Journal

186        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

The gentle whispering ripples kiss the shore

Where rugged hills in darksome beauty rise,

Soft-drifted o'er with changing light and shade,

Deep-wooded, silent 'neath the silent skies.

 

The murmuring brooks that gleam through alder blooms

Shine here and there with many a bend and turn,

Like paths of glancing jewels in the sun,

Or darkly bright 'neath shadowing rock and fern.

And 'round the hill's green side a golden road

Winds ever upward, under arches free

Of oak and swaying elm and, flowering fair,

Ohio's pride, the sturdy buckeye tree.

 

Far on the hill's high summit lies a space

Broad-girdled by the dim, old forest wall,

Where magic seems to guard the sweet content

Of sunlit silence resting over all;

The wide, green lawns that reach so fair and far

Surround an ancient house, deep-walled and strong.

Against its gray, old stones the roses dream

And, clustering cling the pillared porch along.

 

Beneath the sun a terraced garden lies

Stately and sweet, where all fair flowers grow.

Guarding the broad, straight walks, in silence stand

The Yucca's dark-hued spears in seried row.

Bright bowers, fair, veiling vines and starry blooms,

And in the midst of myriad roses sheen

The mighty cedar that a hundred years

The changing sway of bud and bloom has seen.

 

Through fitful spaces lovely landscapes shine,

Clover and tasseled corn and meadows wide,

The blue Scioto winding through the vale,

The distant town against the mountain side.

Afar, Mount Logan rears its storied crest,

Where the sun's rising rays each morn reveal

The golden fields of ripened wheat below,

The picture, fair Ohio's mighty see.

 

Where through Adena's windows steals the light,

Faint-glimmering throughout the ancient hall,

It sees among the portraits grave and old,

'Neath storied sword and spur upon the wall.

Ohio Day at the Jamestown Exposition.            187

 

An honored picture, his who built so fair,

The soldier-statesman, who, in days of stress,

Toiled 'midst the brave, high-hearted pioneers

To make a garden of the wilderness.

 

From old Virginia he, blessed with her dower

Of courage high. Could nobler gift be given?

'Twas on her shore that our fair freedom's flower

Raised its first, bravely shining bud toward heaven!

Ah, those who went to brave the Western wilds,

To fell the forest, rout the savage foe,

Full well they showed how mighty were the sons

Of that first honored home of long ago.

 

Gathered in that first, many-memoried home,

On grand old Jamestown's honored soil we stand,

The sister States to her their greetings bring,

Freedom's first bulwark in our glorious land!

And here, as in some tale of Eastern lore,

Adena's walls, new-raised, show fair and strong.

Built by Ohio's hand, they witness well

Her dauntless strength the Western hills among.

 

Here, where the courtly Governor, of yore,

Gave stately welcome to his dwelling place,

Ohio's brave and gallant sons now greet

Virginia's deathless chivalry and grace-

Throng, as of old, beneath Adena's roof,

Hearts loyal to our country's high behests,

Making the ancient halls where welcome reigns,

Honored and proud to hold such noble guests.

 

Many   representatives of the Ohio     Society, Sons of the

American Revolution, were present and as a special tribute of

that Society to the program of the day, Colonel W. L. Curry,

President, Ohio Society, S. A. R., wrote the following poem,

which was distributed through the audience:

 

"OUR PATRIOTIC SIRES."

Today around this festal board,

With wonted zeal burn Freedom's fires;

Today we crown anew the sword

And musket of our patriot sires;