Frozen Niagara River with the American Falls in the background just before the fatal disaster of February 4, 1912. Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library
TO MY DEAR BROTHER
ELDRIDGE STANTON (JUNIOR)
WHO DIED BRAVELY AT NIAGARA, ON THE AFTERNOON OF
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH, 1912
No tears for thee, no tears, or sighs,
Or breaking heart —
But smiles, that thou so well that bitter hour
Didst play thy part !
Source: Virna Sheard. The Miracle and Other Poems. Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1913
A dedication to Eldridge Stanton, Junior, who died alongside his wife, Clara, and Burrell Hecock when the ice bridge across the Niagara River just below Niagara Falls broke up suddenly, leaving them adrift. Read Brian Busby’s account of the tragedy and the dedication in Virna Sheard’s book in his posting “A Dedication Born of Tragedy” in The Dusty Bookcase blog, November 7, 2019.
The ice boom on Lake Erie at the mouth of the Niagara River, designed to stop ice from stopping the flow of water in the Niagara River. Photo by Dr. Frank Seglenieks
It happened once in early spring, ‡‡While there did float great thick ice cakes,
That then a gale did quickly bring ‡‡Them all down from the upper lakes.
And from Buffalo to Lake Erie, ‡‡Across the entrance to river,
It was a scene of icebergs dreary, ‡‡Those who saw will remember ever.
Then gale blew up lake and river, ‡‡And left Niagara almost dry,
This a lady did discover ‡‡As above the Falls she cast her eye.
Such scene it had been witnessed never, ‡‡Since Israelites crossed the Red Sea,
When they had resolved forever ‡‡From Pharaoh’s bondage to flee.
Lady she resolved to venture, ‡‡Proudly carrying British flag,
Erecting it in river’s centre ‡‡In crevice of a rocky crag.
It seems like a romance by Bulwer, ‡‡How she captured Niagara,
But it was seen by Bishop Fuller, ‡‡Who did at sight of flag hurrah.
Ten thousand years may die away ‡‡Before another dry can tread,
In bottom of Niagara, ‡‡For she doth jealous guard her bed.
But ice her entrance did blockade, ‡‡And wind it kept the waters back,
So that a child could almost wade ‡‡Across the brink of cataract.
Source: McIntyre, James. Poems of James McIntyre. Ingersoll: The Chronicle, 1889.
Nor similes nor metaphors avail!
All imagery vanishes, device
Dies in thy presence, wondrous dream of ice!
Ice-bound I stand, my face is pinched and pale,
Before such awful majesty I fail,
Sink low on this snow-lichened slab of gneiss,
Shut out the gleaming mass that can entice,
Enchain, enchant, but in whose light I quail.
While I from under frozen lashes peer,
My thoughts fly back to take a homeward course.
How dear to dwell in sweet placidity,
Instead of these colossal crystals, see
The slender icicles of some fairy “force,”
And break the film upon an English mere!
Source: Professor Gregory Betts, Brock University, Department of English. First published 1891.
