HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1975-06-26, Page 88Empty frame farm house in Ellice Twp., Perth County.
Deserted farm
house tells
pioneer's story
By W. G. Strong
"No one, indeed, remains to
mourn its fate,
No voice to tell its long and
varied tale."
"So lonely and silent it is, so
withered and warped with the sun
and snow,
You would think it the fruit of
some dead men's toil a hundred
years ago;
And he who finds it sudder.ly
there„ as he wanders far and
alone,
Is touched with a sweet and
blessed sense of something
tender and gone,
The sense of a struggling life in
the waste, and the mark of a
soul's command,
The going and coming of
vanished feet, the touch of a
human hand."
Lampman
On a rambling road in quaint
back country, remote from the
noise of traffic, stands a grey,
deserted, weather-beaten frame
house. Long years ago after the
settler's axe had felled the giant
trees, stumps cleared away and
stones piled to form fence
bottoms for rail enclosures, this
abode may well have tempted the
passing gaze of the wayfarer.
The cruel hand.of time has wasted
that hallowed scene and decay
marks a tottering relic of a
by-gone era.
Here the sunburned plough-
Man worked his weary way along
the furrow's length. Almost with-
out fail, the fertil acres he tilled,
yielded their preciotis crops. In
due time lowing heads and
bleating flocks augmented his
world wealth.
Here the thrifty housewife,
brushing dewdrops from the
grass in early morn, carried
foaming pails to the dairy where
shining rows of pans of milk were
arrayed on earthen floor or
spacious shelf. All day °she plied
her dextrous hands, baking,
churning, washing, ironing,
mendwg, )pinning. At evening
hour by her clean-swept hearth
while the steaming kettle on the
crane bubbled and sang and the
drowsy, house dog stretched at
her feet, she knit the silent hours
away. Within her view she saw
the baby's, rocker, the antique
chair, the fireside settle, the
broad-planked floor, the deep
window-sills, the hissing logs, the
leaping flames while on the wall
the clock, ticked with measured
beat and slovir. Above the wide-
spread chimney space hung the
musket and powder horn.
Occasionally the snowbound
traveller seeing the ruddy fight
sought shelter from the bluster-
ing storm and shared the warmth
and friendship and hospitality
extended. At other times the
neighbours came to share at
quilting, paring or husking bees.
On a lone winter's night joyous
sleigh bells announced the
gathering of sturdy youths and
red-cheeked damsels for a
spirited dance with its whirls and
stampings.
Tolling
Alas the toiling husbandman is
seen no more. No longer does he
drive his herds to upland glades,
wander along familiar woodland
paths nor sit in thought on 'the
door step when twilight shadows
linger on the hilltop. No more
does his sturdy plough turn the
rugged soil; no longer do golden
harvests yield to his sickle or
cradle. Hushed is the fireside's
cheer. No fires upon the hearth-
stone burn. No housewife waits
her spouse's tardy step.
Over all the scene, a solemn
stillness broods save for the
cawing of a distant crow. The
crumbling walls now desolate,
make haunts where swallows
build their muddy nests, where
timbers creak and floor-boards
moulder. The leaning doors on
rusty hinges squeak and leaky
rents yawn in the moss-clad roof.
Dusty shelves in kitchen- cup-
boards repel. A broken stairway
leads upstairs where circling bats
hold secret nightly revels. or a
"moping owl does to the moon
complain." The errant schoolboy
still shuns this gruesome place
where once he lost his courage
despite loud whistling when the
dreary wind moaned from
obscure places and with
quickened pace he fled from fear
of haunting ghosts.
Those early tenants lived in
contentment. Their deeds are not
recorded on history's page but in
a neglected burial ground a
crudely sculptured stone marks
their resting place.
CONGRATULATIONS SEAFORTH
on your
100th ANNIVERSARY
THE QUEENS IS 99 !
Be sure to visit our New
Centennial Lounge
built to celebrate Seaforth's incorporation
The Centennial Lounge features
nightly dancing and music
Neat 9 clean rooms are available at reasonable rates
Home cooked meals are served each evening in the
TOM STEVENS DINING LOUNGE
QUEE S HOTEL
MAIN GODERICH STS. SERF I RT
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JUNE 2C, 1075 —15