That laughed on the vales and the tree-tops,

When he led his stalwort band

To slaughter the virgin forest

That blackened the Delaware’s brow,

And gayly and freely they slaughtered

The trees of the creek-fed river,

The river that leaped from its mountain-goblet

Glittering, clear as dew, and pure as a thought of the Deity,

Far up in its deep scoop of rock.

How they laughed as they swung their blows