The Frankfort roundabout., 1886-10-09

|
The cold. ambitious Aaron Burr
His scheme of Empire brooded;
But some are mindful Of the dance,
In stately grace perfected
Where once the proffered hand of Franc,
A Frankfort queen rejected.
In camp, in court, at chancel rail,
For all great trusts selected,
These lives that early left the vale
Were rounded and perfected,
They had their time throughout the past
In shade and sunlight dapples;
They ripened here and fell at last
Like golden.cnated apples.
They lived and fed this hamlet's homes,
by times rude passage smitten;
Their history in granite tones
On yonder mount is written.
There sleeps this City of the Past,
Its palld marbles showing
! Where, through The silent ways, at least
This of to-day is going.
And people yet shall rise and fall,
While still, in sunlight glowing,
These monarch heads above them all
| Will stand, their gold crowns showing;
And still to hide from ruder fells,
|
This valleys steadfast sentinels
| Will hold their honored places.
Mrs. J. e. Morton next read the fol-
lowing "Rhyme of the Women of
Frankfort"
1t is from the deep gloom OF the wilderness
wide;
1t is from the bright stream thro' her dark
| riven side;
1t is from the green hills that recede in the
clouds.
That the lost years float out, in their shad-
owy shrouds.
And like white spirits sail all along the blue
sky;
And they bend in the breeze, as they wist.
fully hy;
Or they bow themselves down low, as if
to draw near
For the praise and the song of their people
to hear.
Our Poets may sing of this rich sylvan wild;
| OF scenes that enchanted, spell-bound the
red child,
When autumn, the queen Of our beautiful
world,
In triumph her color, gem tinted, unfurled;
grand,
That fought for the prize and that con.
quered the land.
But in silver trace you, rare silhouette,
A type of woman that graced this vignette.
They came with their husbands to this, a
wild wood,
And lived in log cabins where wigwams
had stood,
So crooked in.the cradle" of danger they
slept,
While savage or panther close stealthily
crept.
Environed with peril, they warped and
they wove;
For simplest home comforts they fearlessly
strove;
Oft kept their night watches, these martyrs
to care,
With children clasped tightly, and heads
bowed in prayer.
Tho starved or stolen, by barbarous thieves,
Tho threatened or tortured or scattered
like leaves,
They spurned every ransom Of trait'rous
And dared the death arrow with courage
divine.
We hear Of one woman; at midnight she
rose,
Pressed her babe to her bosom, rode down
thro' her foes,
And sped thro' the wilderness, guessing the
way
To her husband, by Indians wounded that
day.
We hear Of maiden who wove of her hair,
For her Indian captors goldeny snare;
She fled them and scattered a tress by the
way;
They followed her track, so were captured
next day.
In the hardships OF cabin and fort.life, they
bore
Such rough burthens daily as made the
heart sore;
But dauntless as Deborah, Rachel-like fair,
And faithful and prudent, the Fathers de.
clare.
Fresh as the Byzantine climbing the boughs,
They went up the hillside, a-calling the
cows; !
And sat at their milking, while husbands
stood by
With rifle, lest Indians were lurking a.nigh;
Such the Pioneer woman, whose names we
engrave
To-day with the noble, the true, and the
brave;
Stephens and Roberts, Blair Logan and Lee,
Bryan and Bacon, and grand McAfee.
When guns were hung up, and swords used
no more,
Like hens on the edges of clouds passing
DER
We're white flags of peace; then at morning
were seen
These women, who came forth to labor and
CLEAN.