The Voyageur and Other Poems

A free download from www.dertz.in

Project Gutenberg's The Voyageur and Other Poems, by William Henry
Drummond
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Voyageur and Other Poems
Author: William Henry Drummond
Illustrator: Frederick Simpson Coburn
Release Date: February 16, 2007 [EBook #20609]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
VOYAGEUR AND OTHER POEMS ***
Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: "So I fill de glass an' I raise it high
An' drink to de Voyageur."]
THE VOYAGEUR
AND OTHER POEMS
By William Henry Drummond, M.D.
Author of "The Habitant," "Johnnie Courteau," etc.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
Frederick Simpson Coburn
SIXTEENTH THOUSAND
New York and London
G. P. Putnam's Sons
The Knickerbocker Press
COPYRIGHT, 1905
BY
WILLIAM HENRY DRUMMOND
Fourteenth Printing
TO
WILLIAM HENRY PARKER
LAC LA PÊCHE
Philosopher of many parts,
Beloved of all true honest hearts,
A man
who laughs at every ill,
Because "there's corn in Egypt still."
[Illustration: Border]
CONTENTS
THE VOYAGEUR
BRUNO THE HUNTER
PRIDE

DIEUDONNÉ (GOD-GIVEN)
THE DEVIL
THE FAMILY
LARAMIE
YANKEE FAMILIES
THE LAST PORTAGE

GETTING ON
PIONEERS
NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

CHAMPLAIN
PRO PATRIA
GETTING STOUT
DOCTOR

HILAIRE
BARBOTTE (BULL-POUT)
THE ROSSIGNOL

MEB-BE
SNUBBING (TYING-UP) THE RAFT
A RAINY
DAY IN CAMP
JOSETTE
JOE BOUCHER
CHARMETTE

LAC SOUCI
POIRIER'S ROOSTER
DOMINIQUE

HOME
CANADIAN FOREVER
TWINS
KEEP OUT OF
THE WEEDS
THE HOLY ISLAND
THE RIVIÈRE DES
PRAIRIES
THE WIND THAT LIFTS THE FOG
THE FOX
HUNT
[Illustration: Border]
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE VOYAGEUR . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
"_So I fill de glass an' I raise it high
An' drink to de Voyageur._"
THE VOYAGEUR
"_Far, far away from hees own vill-age
An' soun' of de parish bell._"
BRUNO THE HUNTER
"_So de devil ketch heem, of course, at las'._"
THE LAST PORTAGE
"_De moon an' de star above is gone,
Yet somet'ing tell me I mus' go
on._"
PIONEERS
"_So we fin' some fence dot's handy for
mese'f an' Rosalie._"
PRO PATRIA

"_Jus' tell dem de news of Gédéon Plouffe--
How he jump wit' de
familee._"
MEB-BE
"_Don't bodder no wan on de school
Unless dey bodder heem._"
SNUBBING (TYING-UP) THE RAFT
"_To-night I can hear hees darn ole fiddle,
Playin' away on Joe
Belair._"
JOSETTE
"_So dat's de reason dey call Josette
Leetle sister of de poor._"
CHARMETTE
"_You see dat lake? Wall! I alway hate
To brag--but she's full of
trout._"
[Illustration: Border]
The Voyageur and Other Poems
The Voyageur
Dere's somet'ing stirrin' ma blood tonight,
On de night of de young
new year,
Wile de camp is warm an' de fire is bright,
An' de bottle
is close at han'--
Out on de reever de nort' win' blow,
Down on de
valley is pile de snow,
But w'at do we care so long we know
We 're
safe on de log cabane?
Drink to de healt' of your wife an' girl,
Anoder wan for your frien',

Den geev' me a chance, for on all de worl'
I 've not many frien' to
spare--
I 'm born, w'ere de mountain scrape de sky,
An' bone of ma
fader an' moder lie,
So I fill de glass an' I raise it high
An' drink to

de Voyageur.
For dis is de night of de jour de l'an,[1]
W'en de man of de Grand
Nor' Wes'
T'ink of hees home on de St. Laurent,
An' frien' he may
never see--
Gone he is now, an' de beeg canoe
No more you 'll see
wit' de red-shirt crew,
But long as he leev' he was alway true,
So we
'll drink to hees memory.
Ax' heem de nort' win' w'at he see
Of de Voyageur long ago,
An' he
'll say to you w'at he say to me,
So lissen hees story well--
"I see de
track of hees botte sau-vage[2]
On many a hill an' long portage
Far
far away from hees own vill-age
An' soun' of de parish bell--
[Illustration: "Far, far away from hees own vill-age
An' soun' of de parish bell."]
"I never can play on de Hudson Bay
Or mountain dat lie between

But I meet heem singin' hees lonely way
De happies' man I know--

I cool hees face as he 's sleepin' dere
Under de star of de Red Rivière,

An' off on de home of de great w'ite bear,
I 'm seein' hees dog
traineau.[3]
"De woman an' chil'ren 's runnin' out
On de wigwam of de Cree--

De leetle papoose dey laugh an' shout
W'en de soun' of hees voice
dey hear--
De oldes' warrior of de Sioux
Kill hese'f dancin' de w'ole
night t'roo,
An de Blackfoot girl remember too
De ole tam
Voyageur.
"De blaze of hees camp on de snow I see,
An' I lissen hees 'En
Roulant'
On de lan' w'ere de reindeer travel free,
Ringin' out strong
an' clear--
Offen de grey wolf sit before
De light is come from hees
open door,
An' caribou foller along de shore
De song of de
Voyageur.

"If he only kip goin', de red ceinture,[4]
I 'd see it upon de Pole

Some mornin' I 'm startin' upon de