[OCTOBER 13TH, 1872.
A PLEA FOR THE VETERANS OF 1812.]
| Forget not, Canada, the men who gave, In fierce and bloody fray, their lives for thine. Pause thou, Ontario, in thy forward march, And give a tear to those who, long ago, On this day fell upon those Heights where now Their ashes rest beneath memorial pile. And while those names, BROCK and MACDONELL, wake A throb of emulative gratitude And patriotic fervour in thy breast, Forget not those—"the boys," the nameless ones,— Who also fought and fell on that October day; Nameless their ashes, but their memories dear! Remember, too, Those grandsires at thy hearths who linger still; Whose youthful arms then helped to guard thy peace, Thy peace their own. And ere they go to join Their ancient comrades of the hard-won fight, Glad their brave hearts with one applauding cheer In memory of the day. Comfort their age With plenty. Let them find that sturdy youth, Whose heritage they saved, bows rev'rent head, And lends a strong right arm to ancient men, Whose deeds of patriot prowess deck the silk That waves so proudly from the nation's towers. |
[LOYAL.]
"The Loyalists having sacrificed their property to their politics, were generally poor, and had to work hard and suffer many privations before they could reap crops to support their families. In those early days there were no merchants, no bakeries, no butchers' shop's, no medical men to relieve the fevered brain or soothe a mother's aching heart, no public house, no minister to console the dying or bury the dead, no means of instruction for the young; all was bush, hard labour and pinching privation for the present, and long toil for the rising generations."
REV. G. A. ANDERSON,
Protestant Chaplain to the Reformatory, Penetanguishene.
| O Ye, who with your blood and sweat Watered the furrows of this land,— See where upon a nation's brow In honour's front, ye proudly stand! Who for her pride abased your own, And gladly on her altar laid All bounty of the older world, All memories that your glory made. And to her service bowed your strength, Took labour for your shield and crest; See where upon a nation's brow Her diadem, ye proudly test! |