The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1852-07-15
p % IA Hla Y.
Lines to Lake Pepin.
By ROB ERT ID. CLARKE

Lines to Lake Pepin.
By RoBERrD. CLARKE
o! brightly flashing meath our ste1mer's prov,
Lake Pepin! curls thy silver-sheeted wave;
While grandy frown ming, from their rock bound brow
These high old rani1arts which thy waters lave
Stand gazing down upon thy sIumbering breast,
As they were scntred to protect thy rest!
For To- the prince who sways the realms Of Frost
Has now withdrawn beyond far Baain's Bay
His geld legions, while advance the host
Ot Summers rosy-bosomed daughter gay
w ith dainty fingers hanging all in green
The hills and forests--scatt'iin fow'rs between
Welcome! We children Of the sunny coast,
Where, IN the bosom of the southern sea
These ling ring waters shall at length be lost
Gomez with thy unbound and tresses Free,
Drapng with richness all the prospect fair,-
Thy censors swinging on the breezy air!
And who, Lake Pepin, should behold thy face,
AS do now beneath the morning light
Sunlight and shadow in enanored chase
=, And yis'as opening up each dreamy, height.
Methinks might challenge every lovely land
For graees such as by thy shores expand,
What cunning hand has scooped those hollows out!
And set those forests in such proud arrayl
w hose skill dispensed those oaken groves about?
The shaded covert Of the elf and fay.
What hand but that which stained those walls of stone
W 18th venerable rust of ages gone.
Or if the spirits of the cherished dead
Still stray In fondness DER Earths bcauteous face
ween twere in such airy groves spread
on rounded heights-such wild arcades as grace
\ on plaine's slopc--such beings make their glad
retreat,
And in high converse or sweet dalliance meet.
And who can look upon each wavc-woru height,
Nor hear the roll of centuries gone bv,
Gould we but question of their distant flight
"H'w came these 'odtes doaru ,chre aosc they he?''
W hat were the answer a voice SO bold
Ouest ning the ages hoar and old!
Was it slow at,ra,oa that the food
w 18th silent tooth has gnawed its ienr,h Of corseq
Or on these cliff has St. An,hony's stood,
LAUNDERING with tripie-N ia,arcau force!
an me! an me- stunning sound Of aeons gone,
Is ali the answer from the tongue of stone.
And still, Lake Pepin! | must look on thee
And feel my gladness chastened as raze,
or looming yond Winona's Rock see--3
Nho well hath earned the need of lasting praise
VI truth nirnoitaized-who sadly proved
'But death could part her from the she loved"
Yet not in vain lost maiden, hast thou made
For duys sake, the sacrifice Of life
lhy names place is henceforth with the shade
OF famed Lucreta; with Virginia, and the wife
OF Romeo. 4. That Rock thy monument shall be
While Mississippi rolls his waters to the sea.
And westward hence, il may be for league or so,
Pierces the air in isolation grand
casteIlated cone, whose Iamparts show
grim old feudal strength which seems to stand
The fortress OF the place, and may entwne
II mem res Tor the stranger, with the storied Rhine.
And have seen thee under hues Of night,
When deepening shadows hung along thv coastsi
When Dian's bow shed splendor, and the torch
blaze bright,
OfVenus and the myriad cleaning hosts
Flung down their shadows, in solid flake,
Upon thy silver bosom, charming Lake,
When wheeled right over head the Greater Bear.
And in the South, the flame of wand ring Jove,
When in the No th the Lady of the glittering chair,
Sent down their IL tire from their seats above;
And poised between two heGrens seemed to glide
Our gallant steamer, As thy waves divide.
But mid the day-beams or the gorgeous night,
Still survey thee with lnsatiate eye,
And if thought diverts from tho sight,
1t is to wish an9tho form were by
The sole charm wanting to the bliss that
feel in looking on thy crystal brow
For look | on Won arch Of over-spanning blue
Or Rivers rush, OF forests garniture of green,
Still certain ewes of hazel, and ctherial hue
Some rays OF freshness would impart each scene;
Some certain voices add a swceter thrill,
To the rich hiuInones which Nature fill
>. Is. RANkLiN, NO. 4, June list, 1902.
NorEs.-"Vencrabe r,,st,' &c This expression
has reference to the rich and beautiful hue OF the
Magnetism limestone, called by Fcatherstonhaugh
the ''fawn-colorcd" limestone.
2. The rock from which tradition says the Indian
maiden Winona flung herself, in despair, being
fused a union with the youth Of her choice and to
avoid being compelled TO marry whom she could
not love.
3. The inquiry here suggested is Of deep geo.
logical interest for if Sir Charles Lye has correctly
supposed such lapse of ages for Niagara to have
reached It's present position from Queenstown, how
doth il still dwintlle into insignifieapce, compared
with the time requisite to account for the present level
Of the Mississippi.
1. These cases similar to that of Wnona in
their and their results though it need scarcely
be mentioned that Virginia not the minister Of
her own destruction.
5. Cassiopca.