Now, Dad McGuire was old, and bent of form, Tanned by exposure to the sun and storm; Of grizzled beard and seam-indented brow, The furrows traced by Time's remorseless plough; Hardy and gnarlèd as the mountain oak, Bent by the hand of Time but still unbroke; Bowed by the weight of years and labors done, A man whose course had neared the setting sun; His face a blending of the calm and sad, Paternal-looking, so they called him "Dad." * * * * * This man, so near his journey's close, With great deliberation rose, Coughed once or twice and scratched his nose; Then, as became a veteran, Surveyed his hearers and began; "Since Uncle Jim and Russian Pete Declared the reasons why their feet This rugged wilderness have trod, And left for aye their native sod, I, too, will recapitulate That chapter, from my book of fate. Where Rappahannock's silver stream Reflects the moon's resplendent beam, And sheds a mellow lustre o'er The trees and shrubs that fringe the shore; Where Nature's lavish hand bestows The crystal dews and generous showers; Where lily, hollyhock and rose, And many-tinted herbs and flowers Combining, form a floral scene On background of eternal green; Where through the solemn night is heard The warbling plaint of feathered throats, As whippoorwill and mockingbird Pour forth their wealth of liquid notes, [Blank Page] While the accompanying breeze Sighs through the underbrush and trees, And rippling waters blend their tune, In salutation to the moon; Where singing insects, bugs and bees Mingle their droning harmonies, With croakings of loquacious frogs In the adjacent swamps and bogs; Where from the water, air and ground, Rises a symphony of sound; Mid nature's fond environment, My boyhood's happy hours were spent. But now, my narrative begins: I had a brother, we were twins, Sunburnt and freckled, light of heart, Resembling each other so That few could tell the two apart. We grew, as two twin pines might grow, Upon the isolated edge Of some lone precipice or ledge, That overlooks the vale below; Remote from every wooded strip, With but each other's fellowship, In solitary station placed, With branches locked and interlaced, As sworn to cherish and defend Each other, to the bitter end. [Illustration: "With swift and spoliating flow, Uprooting many a noble tree, To strew the desert's waste below, With scattered drift-wood and debris." _See page 22._]