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34       MARGARETTA V. FAUGERES.

But when the vernal breezes pass away,
And loftier Phœbus darts a fiercer ray,
The spiky corn then rattles all around,
And dashing cascades give a pleasing sound;
Shrill sings the locust with prolonged note,
The cricket chirps familiar in each cot.
The village children, rambling o'er yon hill,
With berries all their painted baskets fill.
They rob the squirrel's little walnut store,
And climb the half-exhausted tree for more;
Or else to fields of maze nocturnal hie,
Where hid, the elusive water-melons lie;
Sportive, they make incisions in the rind,
The riper from the immature to find;
Then load their tender shoulders with the prey,
And laughing, bear the bulky fruit away.


MARGARETTA V. FAUGERES,

DAUGHTER of Mrs. Bleecker. Her poems were published in the same volume with those of her mother; but far exceed them in force of expression, and originality of thought.


THE HUDSON.

NILE'S beauteous waves, and Tiber's swelling tide
Have been recorded by the hand of Fame,
And various floods, which through earth's channels glide,
From some enraptured bard have gained a name;
E'en Thames and Wye have been the poet's theme;
And to their charms hath many a harp been strung;
Whilst oh! hoar genius of old Hudson's stream,
Thy mighty river never hath been sung!


MARGARETTA V. FAUGERES.       35

Say, shall a female string her trembling lyre,
And to thy praise devote the adventurous song?
Fired with the theme, her genius shall aspire,
And the notes sweeten as they float along.
Where rough Ontario's restless waters roar,
And hoarsely rave around the rocky shore;
Where their abode tremendous north winds make,
And reign the tyrants of the surging lake;
There, as the shell-crown'd genii of its caves,
Toward proud Lawrence, urged their noisy waves,
A form majestic from the flood arose;
A coral bandage sparkled o'er his brows,
A purple mantle o'er his limbs was spread,
And sportive breezes in his dark locks played;
Toward the east shore his anxious eyes he cast,
And from his ruby lips these accents passed;
"O favoured land! indulgent nature yields
Her choicest sweets to deck thy boundless fields;
Where in thy verdant glooms the fleet deer play,
And the hale tenants of the desert stray,
While the tall evergreens that edge the dale,
In silent majesty nod to each gale:
Thy riches shall no more remain unknown,
Thy wide campaign do I pronounce my own;
And while the strong armed genii of this lake
Their tributary streams to Lawrence take,
Back from its source my current will I turn,
And o'er thy meadows pour my copious urn."
He said, and, waving high his dripping hand,
Bade his clear waters roll toward the land.
Glad they obeyed, and struggling to the shore,
Dashed on its broken rocks with thundering roar;
The rocks in vain oppose their furious course;
From each repulse they rise with tenfold force
And gathering all their angry powers again,
Gush'd o'er the banks, and fled across the plain.

Transcription Notes:
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