Another Brownie Book

<h2 style="page-break-before: avoid;"><SPAN name="THE_BROWNIES_AT_NIAGARA_FALLS" id="THE_BROWNIES_AT_NIAGARA_FALLS"></SPAN>THE BROWNIES AT NIAGARA FALLS.</h2> <div class="container"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <span class="figpoeml"> <ANTIMG src="images/i035a.jpg" width-obs="70" height-obs="120" alt="T" class="alignlefta" /> </span> <div class="i0"> &nbsp;</div> <div class="i4"> &nbsp; &nbsp;<span class="smcapa">HE</span> Brownies' Band, while passing through</div> <div class="i5">The country with some scheme in view,</div> <div class="i5">Paused in their race, and well they might,</div> <div class="i5">When broad Niagara came in sight.</div> <div class="i5">Said one: "Give ear to what I say,</div> <div class="i5">I've been a traveler in my day;</div> <div class="i5">I've waded through Canadian mud</div> <div class="i5">To Montmorenci's tumbling flood.</div> <div class="i5">But ah! Niagara is the fall</div> <div class="i5">That truly overtops them all&mdash;</div> <div class="i5">The children prattle of its tide,</div> <div class="i5">And age repeats its name with pride</div> <div class="i5">The school-boy draws it on his slate,</div> <div class="i5">The preacher owns its moral weight;</div> <div class="i5">The tourist views it dumb with awe,</div> <div class="i5">The Indian paints it for his squaw,</div> <div class="i5">And tells how many a warrior true</div> <div class="i5">Went o'er it in his bark canoe,</div> <div class="i5">And never after friend or foe</div> <div class="i5">Got sight of man or boat below."</div> <div class="i5">Another said: "The Brownie Band</div> <div class="i5">Upon the trembling brink may stand,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</SPAN></span> <span class="figpoeml"> <ANTIMG src="images/i036a.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="122" alt="" class="alignleft" /> </span> <span class="figpoemr"> <ANTIMG src="images/i036b.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="114" alt="" class="alignright" /> </span> <div class="i7">Where kings and queens have sighed to be,</div> <div class="i7">But dare not risk themselves at sea."</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i7">Some played along the shelving ledge</div> <div class="i7">That beetled o'er the river's edge;</div> <div class="i7">Some gazed in meditation deep</div> <div class="i7">Upon the water's fearful leap;</div> <div class="i7">Some went below, to crawl about</div> <div class="i7">Behind the fall, that shooting out</div> <div class="i7">Left space where they might safely stand</div> <div class="i7">And view the scene so wild and grand.</div> <div class="i7">Some climbed the trees of cedar kind,</div> <div class="i7">That o'er the rushing stream inclined,</div> <ANTIMG src="images/i036c.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="97" alt="" class="aligncenter" /> <div class="i0">To find a seat, to swing and frisk</div> <span class="figpoemr"> <ANTIMG src="images/i036d.jpg" width-obs="80" height-obs="135" alt="" class="alignright" /> </span> <div class="i0">And bend the boughs at fearful risk;</div> <div class="i0">Until the rogues could dip and lave</div> <div class="i0">Their toes at times beneath the wave.</div> <div class="i8">Still more and more would venture out</div> <div class="i8">In spite of every warning shout.</div> <div class="i8">At last the weight that dangled there</div> <div class="i8">Was greater than the tree could bear.</div> <span class="figpoeml"> <ANTIMG src="images/i036e.jpg" width-obs="120" height-obs="142" alt="" class="alignleft" /> </span> <div class="i8">And then the snapping roots let go</div> <div class="i8">Their hold upon the rocks below,</div> <div class="i8">And leaping out away it rode</div> <div class="i8">Upon the stream with all its load!</div> <span class="figpoemr"> <ANTIMG src="images/i036f.jpg" width-obs="140" height-obs="107" alt="" class="alignright" /> </span> <div class="i8">Then shouts that rose above the roar</div> <div class="i8">Went up from tree-top, and from shore,</div> <div class="i8">When it was thought that half the band</div> <div class="i8">Was now forever leaving land.</div> <div class="i8">It chanced, for reasons of their own,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span> <span class="figpoemr"> <ANTIMG src="images/i037.jpg" width-obs="315" height-obs="550" alt="" class="alignright" /> </span> <div class="i0">Some men around that tree had thrown</div> <div class="i0">A lengthy rope that still was strong</div> <div class="i0">And stretching fifty feet along.</div> <div class="i0">Before it disappeared from sight,</div> <div class="i0">The Brownies seized it in their might,</div> <div class="i0">And then a strain for half an hour</div> <div class="i0">Went on between the mystic power</div> <div class="i0">Of Brownie hands united all,</div> <div class="i0">And water rushing o'er the fall.</div> <div class="i0">But true to friends the</div> <div class="i0">Brownies strained,</div> <div class="i0">And inch by inch the tree was gained.</div> <div class="i0">Across the awful bend it passed</div> <div class="i0">With those in danger clinging fast,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span> <span class="figpoeml"> <ANTIMG src="images/i038a.jpg" width-obs="70" height-obs="100" alt="" class="alignleft" /> </span> <div class="i4">And soon it reached the rocky shore</div> <div class="i4">With all the Brownies safe once more.</div> <div class="i4">And then, as morning showed her face,</div> <div class="i4">The Brownies hastened from the place.</div> </div></div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i038b.jpg" width-obs="100" height-obs="101" alt="" /></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />