Part 3 (1/2)

And brineless rivers furrow down its sides; The thirsty sailor steals a glad supply, And sultry trade winds quaff the boreal sky.

But oft insidious death, with mist o'erstrown, Rides the dark ocean on this icy throne; When s.h.i.+ps thro vernal seas with light airs steer Their midnight march, and deem no danger near.

The steerman gaily helms his course along, And laughs and listens to the watchman's song, Who walks the deck, enjoys the murky fog, Sure of his chart, his magnet and his log; Their s.h.i.+pmates dreaming, while their slumbers last, Of joys to come, of toils and dangers past.

Sudden a chilling blast comes roaring thro The trembling shrouds, and startles all the crew; They spring to quarters, and perceive too late The mount of death, the giant strides of fate.

The fullsail'd s.h.i.+p, with instantaneous shock, Dash'd into fragments by the floating rock, Plunges beneath its bas.e.m.e.nt thro the wave, And crew and cargo glut the watery grave.

Say, Palfrey, brave good man, was this thy doom?

Dwells here the secret of thy midsea tomb?

But, Susan, why that tear? my lovely friend, Regret may last, but grief should have an end.

An infant then, thy memory scarce can trace The lines, tho sacred, of thy father's face; A generous spouse has well replaced the sire; New duties hence new sentiments require.

Now where the lakes, those midland oceans, lie, Columbus turn'd his heaven-illumined eye.

Ontario's banks, unable to retain The five great Caspians from the distant main, Burst with the ponderous ma.s.s, and forceful whirl'd His Laurence forth, to balance thus the world.

Above, bold Erie's wave sublimely stood, Look'd o'er the cliff, and heaved his headlong flood; Where dread Niagara bluffs high his brow, And frowns defiance to the world below.

White clouds of mist expanding o'er him play, That tinge their skirts in all the beams of day; Pleased Iris wantons in perpetual pride, And bends her rainbows o'er the das.h.i.+ng tide.

Far glimmering in the north, bleak Huron runs, Clear Michigan reflects a thousand suns, And bason'd high, on earth's broad bosom gay, The bright Superior silvers down the day.

Blue mounds beyond them far in ether fade, Deep groves between them cast a solemn shade, Slow moves their settling mist in lurid streams, And dusky radiance streaks the solar beams.

Fixt on the view the great discoverer stood, And thus addrest the messenger of good: But why these seats, that seem reserved to grace The social toils of some ill.u.s.trious race, Why spread so wide and form'd so fair in vain?

And why so distant rolls the bounteous main?

These happy regions must forever rest, Of man unseen, by native beasts possest; And the best heritage my sons could boast Illude their search in far dim deserts lost, For see, no s.h.i.+p can point her pendants here, No stream conducts nor ocean wanders near; Frost, crags and cataracts their north invest, And the tired sun scarce finds their bounds awest.

To whom the Seraph: Here indeed retires The happiest land that feels my fostering fires; Here too shall numerous nations found their seat, And peace and freedom bless the kind retreat.

Led by this arm thy sons shall hither come, And streams obedient yield the heroes room, Spread a broad pa.s.sage to their well known main, Nor sluice their lakes, nor form their soils in vain.

Here my bold Missisippi bends his way, Scorns the dim bounds of yon bleak boreal day, And calls from western heavens, to feed his stream, The rains and floods that Asian seas might claim.

Strong in his march, and charged with all the fates Of regions pregnant with a hundred states.

He holds in balance, ranged on either hand, Two distant oceans and their sundering land; Commands and drains the interior tracts that lie Outmeasuring Europe's total breadth of sky.

High in the north his parent fountains wed, And oozing urns adorn his infant head; In vain proud Frost his nursing lakes would close, And choke his channel with perennial snows; From all their slopes he curves his countless rills, Sweeps their long marshes, saps their settling hills; Then stretching, straighteningsouth, he gaily gleams, Swells thro the climes, and swallows all their streams; From zone to zone, o'er earth's broad surface curl'd, He cleaves his course, he furrows half the world, Now roaring wild thro bursting mountains driven, Now calm reflecting all the host of heaven; Where Cynthia pausing, her own face admires, And suns and stars repeat their dancing fires.

Wide o'er his meadowy lawns he spreads and feeds His realms of canes, his waving world of reeds; Where mammoth grazed the renovating groves, Slaked his huge thirst, and chill'd his fruitless loves; Where elks, rejoicing o'er the extinguished race, By myriads rise to fill the vacant s.p.a.ce.

Earth's widest gulph expands to meet his wave, Vast isles of ocean in his current lave; Glad Thetis greets him from his finish'd course, And bathes her Nereids in his freshening source.

To his broad bed their tributary stores Wisconsin here, there lonely Peter pours; Croix, from the northeast wilds his channel fills, Ohio, gather'd from his myriad hills, Yazoo and Black, surcharged by Georgian springs, Rich Illinois his copious treasure brings; Arkansa, measuring back the sun's long course, Moine, Francis, Rouge augment the father's force.

But chief of all his family of floods Missouri marches thro his world of woods; He scorns to mingle with the filial train, Takes every course to reach alone the main; Orient awhile his bending swreep he tries, Now drains the southern, now the northern skies, Searches and sunders far the globe's vast frame, Reluctant joins the sire, and takes at last his name.

There lies the path thy future sons shall trace, Plant here their arts, and rear their vigorous race: A race predestined, in these choice abodes, To teach mankind to tame their fluvial floods, Retain from ocean, as their work requires, These great auxiliars, raised by solar fires, Force them to form ten thousand roads, and girth With liquid belts each verdant mound of earth, To aid the colon's as the carrier's toil, To drive the coulter, and to fat the soil, Learn all mechanic arts, and oft regain Their native hills in vapor and in rain.

So taught the Saint. The regions nearer drew, And raised resplendent to their Hero's view Rich nature's triple reign; for here elate She stored the n.o.blest treasures of her state, Adorn'd exuberant this her last domain, As yet unalter'd by her mimic man, Sow'd liveliest gems, and plants of proudest grace, And strung with strongest nerves her animated race.

Retiring far round Hudson's frozen bay, Earth's lessening circles shrink beyond the day; Snows ever rising with the toils of time Choke the chill shrubs that brave the dismal clime; The beasts all whitening roam the lifeless plain, And caves unfrequent scoop the couch for man.

Where Spring's coy steps in cold Canadia stray, And joyless seasons hold unequal sway, He saw the pine its daring mantle rear, Break the rude blast, and mock the brumal year, s.h.a.g the green zone that bounds the boreal skies, And bid all southern vegetation rise.

Wild o'er the vast impenetrable round The untrod bowers of shadowy nature frown'd; Millennial cedars wave their honors wide, The fir's tall boughs, the oak's umbrageous pride, The branching beech, the aspen's trembling shade Veil the dim heaven, and brown the dusky glade.

For in dense crowds these st.u.r.dy sons of earth, In frosty regions, claim a stronger birth; Where heavy beams the sheltering dome requires, And copious trunks to feed its wintry fires.