Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1847-05-12
From the Batavia Spirit of the Times
POEM BY THOMAS MOORE.

During the years 1893 and 1904 the celebrated
Irish poet, Thomas Moore, visited this country.
In looking through the beautiful octave edition Of
his works, just issued by the Appletons, our
attention was arrested by the following "Song of
the Evil Spirit of the Woods, but more particular
" by an explanatory note annexed In which Mr.
Moore says
The idea ofths poem occurred to me iii passing
through the very dreary wilderness between Bata
via, a new settlement in the midst of the woods,
and the little village OF Buffalo, upon Lake Ere
This is the most fatigung part of the route in trav
cling throng the Gencsee country TO Niagara
This was written i'll 1S0I-torty-th.ce years ago.
how stupendous the change this region OF country
has undergone since that period! Batavia, a new
settlement in the midst of the woods, is now one
of the most delightful villages in the Union. And
the little village OF Buffalo on Lake Erie what
would "Anacreon" exclaim could he be transported
tht her for moment after the lapse OF such an in
erval! 1t was then, in truth, very little village,
and remained so for many years. In 1912 it be-
came military post and in the winter of S13
was burned by the British; at that time it contained
about one hundred buildings two OF which, Zone
large the other small dwelling,) belonging to
Mrs St John; one of these left standing
the only building LEFT standing by the enemy. A
daughter of Mrs. ST. John is married to Dr. Fooe.
the able editor of the Buffalo Daily Commercial
Advertiser At the close OF the war the IN
babitants of Buffalo received from the L. States
government $4,000 in compensation for their loss
O. by the condagration. Buffalo is the nine
tenth city in the Union 1t has larger popua-
ton than many OF the oldes cities in Europe larger
than Oxford Cambridge Carlisle, Greenwich, Lynn
Southampton, Exeter or Derby in England. Scot
land has only five cities larger than Buffalo, Ireland
only four 1t is twice as large as a Carmarthen,
the largest city in Wales 1t exceeds Cherbourgh,
Bayonne Rochelle Grenoble Tours, Poitiers or AK,
in France: Salamanca, Bboa, Badajos, Tarragona,
or Burgos in Spain Fotsdam, Coblentz, or Braden-
burg in Prussia: Bergen Christlana, chief cities
OF Norway; Harlem, Lubec. bort Gotla or Wei
mar 1t outnumbers the ancient city OF Geneva In
Switzerland and is about twice as large as the old
cities of Pisa Lodi Alantua or Ancona, IN the ltaI
ian States And all these il has outstrpped within
two score years.
At the tine Moore visited Niagara, Rochester
was not: now it has population OF nearly thirty
thousand. In 1912 it had only two framed dwell
ings. each containing a single room; and icw
wears before, when proposition was made IN the
legislature to build there bridge across the Genes
see river, it was strongly oppoSedi and member re-
marked that il was God-.orsaken place, lnhahIt-
ed only bv unuskrats visited only by Struggling
trappers. through which neither man nor beast
could Gallon without fear cf starvation or fever and
ague-- TIE act TO build the bridge passed, never
,heless bat vas reprcba,cd by many as an eKtra'a-