The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme The witch of Shiloh, the last of the Wampanoags, the gentle earl, the enchanted voyage |
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 | The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme |  |
III
So, grinding axe and chisel bright,
And felling trees o'er hill and dale,
He joinered out with Yankee sleight
A squadron of a single sail
About as terrible to meet
As Jefferson's mosquito fleet.
And felling trees o'er hill and dale,
159
A squadron of a single sail
About as terrible to meet
As Jefferson's mosquito fleet.
But like ingenious Crusoe, he
Forgot that seamen need the sea,
And built his ocean-scourge at home,
A score of miles from ocean's foam,
Where certainly she never struck
Her flag to foeman's better luck,
But also never shone in fray,
Nor ever made a knot a day;
For even clippers cannot travel
A sheet of cobblestone and gravel.
Forgot that seamen need the sea,
And built his ocean-scourge at home,
A score of miles from ocean's foam,
Where certainly she never struck
Her flag to foeman's better luck,
But also never shone in fray,
Nor ever made a knot a day;
For even clippers cannot travel
A sheet of cobblestone and gravel.
But genius finds all things a school,
And learns from errors how to rule.
Our skipper's purpose faltered not
Because he failed to sail a lot.
He saw that he must seek the main,
Or launch his navies all in vain;
That nothing short of ocean's roar
Would answer for a commodore.
And learns from errors how to rule.
Our skipper's purpose faltered not
Because he failed to sail a lot.
He saw that he must seek the main,
Or launch his navies all in vain;
That nothing short of ocean's roar
Would answer for a commodore.
Instructed thus, he climbed astride
His horse, as country vikings ride,
And journeyed south a summer day,
Enquiring all the drouthy way
If any seaport, wharf or pier
Existed near the vasty mere,
And also where a Whiggish grip
Might clapperclaw a Tory ship.
His horse, as country vikings ride,
And journeyed south a summer day,
Enquiring all the drouthy way
If any seaport, wharf or pier
Existed near the vasty mere,
And also where a Whiggish grip
Might clapperclaw a Tory ship.
| The Downing legends : Stories in Rhyme | |