St. Catharines.

Lines read at the Welland House, St. Catharines, at a banquet given to the members in attendance at the Oddfellows' Grand Lodge.


        St. Catharines famed for mineral waters
        And for the beauty of her daughters,
        For some do worship at the shrines
        Of the fair St. Catharines.

        St. Catharines your greatness you inherit
        From the genius of a Merritt,
        You still would be a village dreary
        But for this canal from lake Erie.

        For on its bosom there doth float
        Full many a ship and steamboat,
        Brings world's commerce to your doors
        And many gifts on you it pours.

        Among its many great rewards
        It gives you dry docks and ship yards,
        To drive your mills great water power
        It doth give you as a dower.

        Since we above lines did compose,
        Through new canal vast stream it flows,
        The lock gates at the hill at Thorold
        Can not be equaled in the world.

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

Lines On Thorold.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Duck And Oyster.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Little Dora.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Bird Sent By Providence.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

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Lines On Thorold.

McCready, the great Irish tragedian, said that the view from Thorold was the finest in America.


        Thorold is famous for its mills,
        And the grand view from off its hills,
        A view so charming and extended,
        Nature's beauties sweetly blended.

        Poetic thoughts it doth awake
        To view Ontario's broad lake,
        And husbandmen have their reward in
        Fruits of this Provincial garden.

        For from the hill you see below
        Gardens where choice fruits do grow,
        The landscape all within your reach
        Doth both produce the grape and peach.

        McCready said in the New World
        The finest view was from Thorold,
        You see St. Catharines thriving town
        ...

James McIntyre

Province Of Ontario.

        In the land of woods and lakes,
        Pure happiness each one partakes,
        Who is sound in body and in mind,
        And to industry is inclined.

        Here in great lakes we do take pride,
        And them with Uncle Sam divide,
        Other lakes seem inferior
        In size to great Superior.

        And Canadians do take pride,
        In Huron's wide expanded tide,
        But it onward flows forever,
        Through St. Clair lake and river.

        But soon again it doth expand,
        Into Erie's lake so grand,
        Then behold its wondrous charms,
        When embraced in Niagara's arms.

        Then it more blessings doth bestow,
        On pure bosom of Ontario,
        Round it our towns and ...

James McIntyre

Holland River And Its Tributaries.

Meanderings of a stream rises twenty miles north of Toronto and sweeps around the whole of Southern Ontario.


        We love to sing of tiny stream,
            Through the lowland meadows running,
        To us it is a pleasing theme,
            Tracing it from first beginning.

        'Tis strange how far a brook will roam,
            Moving onwards in its motion,
        And not content till it reaches home,
            Two thousand miles to distant ocean.

        In county York springs a small brook,
            A few miles north of Ontario,
        But it doth take a wondrous crook,
            It northward many miles doth flow.

        Brook's progress south is stopped by ridge,
            Doth debar its southern course,
     ...

James McIntyre

Canadian Rivers And Lakes.

        We have here a sight as fair
        As bonnie Doon or banks of Ayr,
        Like modest worth meandering slow
        The quiet waters gently flow,
        Rose, thistle, shamrock, all combine,
        Around the maple leaf to twine,
        Whose outstretched arms so gigantic
        Clasp Pacific and Atlantic,
        Embracing lakes like burnished gold,
        With joy a Shakespeare might behold,
        For either Poet Burns or Moore[B]
        Such scenery they would adore.

James McIntyre

St. Thomas, 1884.

At time of Oddfellows Grand Lodge meeting.


        Oddfellows once they had to trudge
        O'er rough stage road to the Grand Lodge,
        But now they town of metal seek
        And find it on the Kettle Creek.

        For industry it here prevails
        As it was built by the steel rails,
        And here the wide expanded bridges
        Do connect the distant ridges.

        No more need to stay at home as
        There's lots of railroads to St. Thomas,
        You pluckily did boldly venture,
        Now you are great railroad centre.

        Your city now it hath high hopes
        From its great railway workshops,
        And higher yet it still will rise,
        This seat of so much enterprise.

        ...

James McIntyre

Credit Valley Trip.

The Credit Valley Railway Company having placed a car at the service of the council we were kindly invited to accompany them to Toronto.


        Whene'er we take a tour abroad
        We love to travel o'er new road,
        Where scenery to us is new
        And landscape pleasing to the view,
        When invited for to rally
        And take a trip on Credit Valley,
        We resolved for to afford
        A day with Council and School Board,
        For to view the rural charms
        Of hills and dales and fertile farms,
        With joy we saw the sunbeams gleam
        On Grand River beauteous stream,
        And those perpendicular walls
        Of rock, like old baronial halls,
        We saw the great lake ebb and flow,
        And quee...

James McIntyre