Great Fire In Ingersoll, May, 1872.

        'Twas on a pleasant eve in May,
        Just as the sun shed its last ray,
        The bell it rang, citizens to warn,
        For lo! a fire appears in barn.

        An ancient barn near hotel stood,
        The joining buildings all were wood,
        This barn a relic of the past,
        There farmers' horses were made fast.

        Our once fair town is now in woe,
        And we have had our Chicago,
        But soon a nobler town will rise,
        For our town is all enterprise.

James McIntyre

James McIntyre was a Canadian poet, most notable for his poetry concerning cheese, cheese-making, dairying, and dairy products. Often referred to as 'The Cheese Poet,' McIntyre's work is celebrated for its earnestness and unintentional humor, making him both a beloved and an infamous figure in literary circles. He emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1851 and settled in Ingersoll, Ontario, where he became a successful businessman and community leader.

James McIntyre

Canadian Romance.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Broken Raft Adventure.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Bird Sent By Providence.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Will Carleton.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

English

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How We Fought The Fire.

I.

        'Twas a drowsy night on Tompkins Hill:
        The very leaves of the trees lay still;
        The world was slumbering, ocean deep;
        And even the stars seemed half asleep,
        And winked and blinked at the roofs below,
        As yearning for morn, that they might go.
        The streets as stolid and still did lie
        As they would have done if streets could die;
        The sidewalks stretched as quietly prone
        As if a foot they had never known;
        And not a cottage within the town,
        But looked as if it would fain lie down.
        Away in the west a stacken-cloud,
        With white arms drooping and bare head bowed,
        Was leaning against - with drowsy eye -
        The dark blue velveting of the sky...

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Flash:" The Fireman's Story.

    "Flash" was a white-foot sorrel, an' run on Number Three:
    Not much stable manners - an average horse to see;
    Notional in his methods - strong in loves an' hates;
    Not very much respected, or popular 'mongst his mates;
    Dull an' moody an' sleepy, an' "off" on quiet days;
    Full o' turbulent, sour looks, an' small, sarcastic ways;
    Scowled an' bit at his partner, an' banged the stable floor -
    With other means intended to designate life a bore.



    But when, be't day or night time, he heard the alarm-bell ring,
    He'd rush for his place in the harness with a regular tiger spring;
    An' watch, with ...

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Fire!

By Sir W. S.


Written on the occasion of the visit of the United Fire Brigades to Oxford, 1887.



I.

St. Giles's street is fair and wide,
    St. Giles's street is long;
But long or wide, may naught abide
    Therein of guile or wrong;
For through St. Giles's, to and fro,
The mild ecclesiastics go
    From prime to evensong.
It were a fearsome task, perdie!
To sin in such good company.



II.

Long had the slanting beam of day
Proclaimed the Thirtieth of May
Ere now, erect, its fiery heat
Illumined all that hallowed street,
And breathing benediction on
Thy serried battlements, St. John,
Suffused at once with equal glow
The cluster'd Archipelago,
The Art Professor's studio
    An...

Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

Fire.

[From Farmer Harrington's Calendar.]


MARCH 15, 18 - .

    Fire! - fire! - fire! - fire! - it sets me in a craze
    To see a first-class building all ablaze;
    A burning house resembles, when I'm nigh,
    Some old acquaintance just about to die;
    For structures that a person often sees
    Look some like human beings - same as trees.
    (There used to be some trees on my old place
    That I'd know anywhere - just by their face.)
    And when, last night, some bells began to cry,
    And big fire-engines rushed and rattled by,
    In just three minutes down the stairs I strode,
    And hurried - somewhat dressed - into the road
    (Partly to help a bit, if so might be,
    And partly, I suppose, to hear and see).
    It was a d...

William McKendree Carleton

Ingersoll.

Ex-Mayor Thomas Brown may be considered the father of the town, he projected the first roads and bridges.

        The Thames and tributary rills,
        Here they do drive numerous mills,
        Enabling millers to compete
        To pay high price for oats and wheat.
        Here streams do drive many a wheel
        For to grind both flour and oatmeal,
        And town will extend its boundaries
        With its enterprising foundries.
        For fine pianos town is famed
        And highest rank for them is claimed,
        And brighter days for it yet dawns
        With its grand mansions and fine lawns,
        And it has now the title grand
        The capital of dairyland.

James McIntyre

Land Clearing.

        The first winter which I did spend
        In Canada was with a friend,
        And when the snow had passed away
        Quite early in the month of May.

        Friend started off for a barn raising,
        And told me to get stumps ablazing,
        Around each stump I heaped a pile
        Of roots and junks of wood so vile.

        For he wished the field to clear
        So it a crop of wheat would rear,
        And there was one high withered pine
        Which was full of turpentine.

        As soon as I applied the torch,
        Blaze quick did start and it did scorch
        The fences, and the woods were nigh,
        For the old tree it blazed on high.

        I was the only man or boy
        Near there that ...

James McIntyre