The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-06-09
THE PLANT OF THE PINES
Hy Helen A. Prince

When the Morn with rosy fingers
throws her eastern easement wide,
With her sunlit glance SHE fingers by
the Carrabassett' tide,
With its throbbing, rhythmic motion,
F. ripping wave and dashiug spray,
Rushing onward to the ocean in its own
tempestuous way
Quoth the Morn, Mine eyes are greet ed
every DAY by visions sweet.
Lake and river hill and valley blend TO
make the scene complete.
But this quiet little hamlet, where the
green hills gently ron,
Hath a charm for me SO wondrous that
ii fills my very soul
Hath a charm | cannot fathom that en-
chains with letters strong,
Stirring the inmost recesses of my
heart the whole day long
So the rosy Morning. smiling, kissed
the eyelids closed In sleep,
their dreamless slumbers deep.
rouse yye up my ladies true,
Little Journeys wait your footsteps lit
tie tasks for you to do
Hank the frowning Pines whisper COM
plants to the Morn,
From their watch-towers like sentinels
so bold,
All too soon will those children leave
the home of their birth,
All too soon suffer hunger, thirst and
cold
For they'll chase the glittering rain
DOW TO the enUS OF the edFtn,
AS they search for the hidden pot of
gold"
Still the Carrabassett fingers, sunny
verdant banks between.
Dimpling meath the Mornings kisses
and the sunlight's golden sheen:
While the Morning true and tender,
spake unto each older one
Wrapped In dreams of fame and splend
or and of glories unhegun.
Rouse, ye smiling youths and maidens.
go We with an earnest will.
With CHEEKY hopeful purpose to the
temple on the hill
To the temple built for learning in the
years that now have fled.
BY the wisdom of your fathers. long
since numbered with the dead"
Thus admonished, in the springtime of
our lives we gladly went.
And with more or less of ardor, youth
full days in study spent.
Nibbling here and there a morsel from
the feast of wisdom spread.
Oft times causing patient teachers aeh-
ing heart and weary head
Still the tail, murmuring Pines com
planned to the Morn,
And their grieYing tones in muffed sad
ness rolled,
They viii go to seek their fortunes
leave the home of their birth.
Suffer pangs Of hunger, thirst, heat
and cold,
They will chase the heeting rainbow to
to the ends of the earth,
AS they hunt for the tabled pot Of
Now the noon of life is Ger us, youth
full dreams are fading fast,
Voices Of the worlds great chorus.
blending in an anthem vast,
Sing to us of deeds of valor, sing to us
of hopes fulfilled,
Sing to us of victory joyous. sorrows
healed and weeping stilled.-
But beneath the gladstone chorus runs
a saddened undertone.
MurmuriQPS of mig-SDeDt moments for
which we would fain atone;
Or the deeper means of sorrow for the
loved ones gone before.
Vanished ones, whose loving accents we
may hear. all. never-more
Dust to dust. their ashes lying, some on
Sunset hill. nearby,
Some entombed within the ocean, some
beneath a foreign sky.
And the sorrowing Pines speak again
to our hearts
With voice sadder far than that of
old,
"They went TO seek their fortunes.
left the home Of their birth
Suffered pangs of hunger. thirst, heat
and cold,
They chased the feeting rainbow to the
ends OF the earth.