The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-15

SEATTLE IN EARLY DAYS.
Some thirty years and FIVE have passed away
Since first saw Seat c's sylvan shore,
Beheld the beauty OF her bonny hay
And wondered II had not been famed before
'Tis true that endless woods and somber shade
Obscured the glory OF the Eastern skies,
But westward lofty mounta rs, snow-arrayed,
Were never-ending sources of surprise.
The margin OF town was mapped between
AZ least that's what newcomers understood
A sea OF silver and OF green,
And lost in either, one was Lost for good
Its widest highway was an Indian trail,
Warped out of line by hiilock, stone or tree.
At nj; ht maze dreary by some wild beasts wall
Or proving savage painted capapie.
The settlement, as memory see. it still,
Consisted OF few log huts, brand-new,
dozen wigwams just below the hill,
shack built shanty and tent or two
But even then a change was in the air,
The ocean sensed and sung it to the hills;
The soil was waiting for the white mans care,
The bays were dreaming of the buzz of mills.
Propi.ious nature had ordained mart
Of grand proportions bordering lake and bay;
A few brave men had learned the signs by
heart,
Wooed the wild woods and pitched their tents
to stay.
Among them Yesler; jolly as a boy.
Yet shrewd TO see and thwart the red mans
wi.es;
Whose heart was big With hope, while rosy Joy
Enwreathed his fine bcnisnant face with
smiles.
He had two hobbies, all old settlers know,
That time ne'er changed, reverses never
baked;
The stronger was to see Seattle grow,
The other was to white while hs talked.
And knowing cities never grew by chance.
That well directed efforts seldom strand.
To start the town, the country TO advance
He planned mill, and whitfield while he
planned.
The passing years that grace and beauty lend
The growing town. and fill with sails the bay,
Confirm him every struggling farmers friend,
Aud every pioneering loggers stay.
n fancy still his stores oi-latches click
| From morn till night while men with sun
Drowned arms
Are loaded down with goods obtain ed on tick
Till logs are sold or settlers clear their farms.
And memory hears the sawmilrs buzziur
wheels,
And sees the best free restaurant on the Sound
Where hungry hunters took untimely meals
And tramps aud cripples ready welcome found.
For even then the merry tramp was here
I'll tell Is now because he'll hardly mind IT,
In quest OF work to last at least a year
While praying heaven that he might not
fad il.
And here the bankrupt traveller paused for rest
And paid his way with story, jest or song
And bummers always did their leve. best
To be IN hearing OF the cook house gong
For In those days no Occidental flashed
Its hundred windows TO the setting SUM-
Along thronged thoroughfares street cars
dashed
In headlong hurry to the Arlington.
But what was given in kindness was not lost,
And never caused our whiting friend a sigh:
And when his loaded ships the harbor crossed
He crossed has legs aud whitfield them goodby
And when the ships, returning from below,
With passengers and freight were loaded
down.
He always stood within a cables throw
And whitfield them a welcome to the town.
And when at immigrant came overland
With empty pockets AID temper nifty,
Our whiting genius WAS the first on hand
And whitfield up a sAanty in a jItty
He whitfield clothes upon the chidren's backs,
barefoot
Into the pantry hour III snowy stacks
TAI tears OF sorrow turned 10 tears Of Joy.
You ask ne how Seattle got its start?
one honest answer on.y can be made:
While nature mapped il Tor mighty mart
It's sturdy founders Whitfield whilo they
prayed.
And ignorance verify would cease TO scold
II ali they did for Others were confessed;
~ -
That coming generations might be blessed.
Our hero's stick became a magic wand,
Aud as The shav.ugs last aud faster few,
HI y.escient IN nj was looking far beyond
4he wall OF woods thai hid the TOWN isom
view.
He waved it Ia The wind and forests fell,
lie balanced it shout with graceful pose,
And coy cottages went UP pe.l-ine,l,
And business blocks arranged themselves in
rows
The graadest monuments that meet your view,
4 splendid earnest os the thrifty West.
We're out stray whites That took root and
grew
UnIiI they lowered over all the rest
Ana every whitfield stick became Plea,
And every shaving proved q v hits-winged
prayer,
II Hen ,. language for the mart 20 be
When meu would Iniss anu own tie masters
care.
oar ctty's t4rougng streets aud crowded
piers.
Batsh.Ie he whites IN the thriving town
Remorse.ess time is whiting down his years.
All though his DAYS are whitfield to span.
q