Source: McClure’s Magazine, October 1894, p. 436
Publisher’s note: “ThispoemwaswrittenbyJohnErnestMcCannandthelateFrancisS.Saltus,in1888,andisreprintedbyspecialpermission.”
Francis Saltus Saltus, from the frontispiece of The Witch of En-dor Courtesy of WikiMedia
In his Anthology and Bibliography of Niagara Falls, Charles Mason Dow wrote: “A short poem, written in 1888 and reprinted by special request. Has real literary merit.”
Lines suggested by General Brock’s stirring appeal to the people of Upper Canada at the opening of the War of 1812
Sir James David Edgar Image courtesy of Library & Archives Canada
Canadian arms are stout and strong,
Canadian hearts are true;
Your homes were in the forest made,
Where pine and maple grew.
A haughty foe is marching
Your country to enthral;
Arouse ye, brave Canadians,
And answer to my call!
Let every man who swings an axe,
Or follows at the plough,
Abandon farm and homestead,
And grasp a rifle now!
We’ll trust the God of Battles,
Although our force be small;
Arouse ye, brave Canadians,
And answer to my call!
Let mothers, though with breaking hearts,
Give up their gallant sons;
Let maidens bid their lovers go,
And wives their dearer ones!
Then rally to the frontier,
And form a living wall;
Arouse ye, brave Canadians,
And answer to my call!
Source: James David Edgar. This Canada of Ours and Other Poems. Toronto: William Briggs, 1893.
Niagara is the betrothal of earth’s life
With the heavenly life.
That has Niagara told me to-day.
And now can I leave Niagara. She has
Told me her word of primeval being.
Source: Fredrika Bremer. Translated by Mary Howitt. The Homes of the New World: Impressions of America, vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853
Bremer wrote the following in her diary, before the poem above.
September 9th [1850].
In the morning of time, before man was yet created, Nature was alone with her Creator. The warmth of His love, the light of His eye awoke her to the consciousness of life; her heart throbbed with love for Him of whose life of love she had partaken, and she longed to present Him with an offering, to pour out her feeling, her life, for Him who gave it. She was young and warm, with the fullness of primeval life; but she felt, nevertheless, her weakness in comparison with His power. What could she give to Him from whom she received every thing? Her heart swelled with love and pain, with infinite longing, with the fullness of infinite life, swelled and swelled till it overflowed in—Niagara. And the spirit of thanksgiving arose as the smoke of an eternal sacrifice from the depth of the water toward heaven. The Lord of heaven saw it, and His spirit embraced the spirit of Nature with rainbows of light, with kisses of brilliant fire in an eternal betrothal.
Thus was it in the morning of the earth’s life. Thus we behold it to this day. Still, we behold to-day the spirit of nature ascend from Niagara toward heaven with the offering of its life, as an unspoken yearning and song of praise; and still, to-day it is embraced by the light and the flames of heaven, as by divine love.
