Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 78 pages of information about Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants.

Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 78 pages of information about Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants.
Searching the depths of memory,
A monument to Colonel By,
Beholds, enduring as each pile
Which stands beside the Ancient Nile,
As o’er the past my vision runs,
Gazing on Bytown’s elder sons,
The portly Colonel I behold
Plainly as in the days of old,
Conjured before me at this hour
By memory’s undying power;
Seated upon, his great black steed
Of stately form and noble breed. 
A man who knew not how to flinch—­
A British soldier every inch. 
Courteous alike to low and high
A gentleman was Colonel By! 
And did I write of lines three score
About him, I could say no more. 
Howard and Thompson then kept store
Down by “the Creek,” almost next door,
George Patterson must claim a line
Among the men of auld lang syne;
A man of very ancient fame,
Who in old ’27 came. 
One of the first firm doth remain,
He is our worthy Chamberlain,
Who ne’er in life’s farce cut a dash
On other people’s errant cash;
Who guards, as it is right well known,
Better than e’er he did his own,
The people’s money, firm and sure,
To the last cent, safe and secure. 
And opposite across the street,
A friend or foe could always meet
A man deserving hero’s title,
Uncompromising Watson Litle! 
A stern upholder of the law
Who ne’er in justice found a flaw,
With well charged blunderbuss in hand
He asked not order or command,
But sallied forth semper paratus
To aid the Posse Comitatus
“Peace to his ashes!” many a score
Of heads he smashed in days of yore! 
Where is the marble slab to show
Where Watson Litle’s dust lies low? 
Close by “the Creek,” on the south side
Of Rideau Street, did then reside
John Cuzner, a British tar,
For pluck renown’d both near and far! 
Nor would I willingly forget
While tracing recollections met
Of other days, and from the past
Collecting memories fading fast,
Of lines our earliest purveyor,
John MacNaughton, the Surveyor,
The only one who then was quite
At home with the theodolite,
And boxed the trembling compass well,
Before the days of Robert Bell. 
A little further up the street,
James Martin’s name the eye did greet
A round faced Caledonian, who
Good eating and good drinking knew;
And “Four-pence-half-penny” McKenzie
Daily vended wolsey linsey,
Next door to one of comic cheer
Acknowledged the best auctioneer,
That ever knock’d a bargain down,
Or bidder if he chanced to frown;
He set himself up in the end
As Carleton’s most worthy friend
And by vox populi was sent
To Parliament to represent
The men of Carleton, one and all,
In ancient Legislative Hall. 
And by “The Tiger” sleek and fat,
Our old friend “Jimmy Johnston” sat,
The corner stock’d with silks and ribbon,
Was kept and owned by Miss Fitzgibbon. 
A good stand it has ever been
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Project Gutenberg
Recollections of Bytown and Its Old Inhabitants from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.