When Canada was New France

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J.M. Dent & Sons, 1919 - Canada - 154 pages
 

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Page 152 - LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER Much have I travelled in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen ; Round many western islands have I been, Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told, That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne : Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken ; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared...
Page 29 - THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Page 153 - The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky Their giant branches tossed ; And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore.
Page 153 - Faintly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune, and our oars keep time. Soon as the woods on shore look dim We'll sing at St. Anne's our parting hymn. Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The Rapids are near, and the daylight's past.
Page 151 - Adm'r'l, speak; what shall I say?" "Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!' " "My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly, wan and weak." The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. "What shall I say, brave Adm'r'l, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?
Page 48 - On that day, the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi, from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of the Gulf; from the woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky Mountains, — a region of savannas and forests, sun-cracked deserts, and grassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, ranged by a thousand warlike tribes...
Page 153 - Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, Through thy corn-fields green, and sunny vines, oh pleasant land of France ! And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters, Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters. As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy, For cold, and stiff, and still are they who wrought...
Page 11 - And of the wonders wrought for them through the Gospel of St. John. He told them of the river, whose mighty current gave Its freshness for a hundred leagues to ocean's briny wave ; He told them of the glorious scene presented to his sight, What time he reared the cross and crown on Hochelaga's...
Page 107 - My hour of rest is done; On the smooth ripple lifts the long canoe; The hemlocks murmur sadly as the sun Slants his dim arrows through. Whither I go I know not, nor the way, Dark with strange passions, vexed with heathen charms, Holding I know not what of life or death; Only be Thou beside me day by day, Thy rod my guide and comfort, underneath Thy everlasting arms.
Page 154 - ON the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French, — woe to France ! And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue, Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue, Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Ranee, With the English fleet in view.

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