This Canada of ours and other poems/Notes
NOTES.
NOTE 1.
THE CANADIAN SONG SPARROW.
(Page 16.)
Every resident in the northern and eastern counties of the Dominion has heard the note of the song sparrow in all the woods and fields through the early days of spring. While his voice is familiar to the ear, very few can boast of having seen him, so carefully does he conceal himself from view. He dwells long upon his first and second notes, and, in metrical phrase, he forms a distinct "spondee." He then rattles off at least three "dactyls" in quick succession. In different localities different words are supplied to his music. Early settlers heard him echoing their despair with "Hard times in Canada, Canada, Canada." Others maintain that he is searching for traces of a dark crime, and unceasingly demands to know "Who killed Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy?" The thrifty farmer detects the words of warning—"Come now, sow-the-wheat, sow-the-wheat, sow-the-wheat." The writer has distinctly recognized in the little song the melancholy sentiments indicated in these lines.
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NOTE 2.
UN CANADIEN ERRANT.
(Page 20.)
This well-known song was composed by the late A. Gérin-Lajoie shortly after the Rebellion of 1837, when so many French-Canadians were in exile, "bannis de leurs foyers." Written to an old French air, its simple but touching words have given it an extraordinary popularity in the Province of Quebec.
NOTE 3.
THE GREAT DIVIDE.
(Page 33.)
Stephen, a station on the Canadian Pacific Railway, marks the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Here all trains are delayed to allow passengers to see the exact spot where the waters of a mountain spring divide, and overflow towards both the east and the west. These divided drops flow in opposite directions and by devious courses, and after descending more than 5,000 feet, they reach the sea levels of the Atlantic or the Pacific.
NOTE 4.
THE WHITE STONE CANOE.
(Page 34.)
The works of Schoolcraft contain many beautiful Indian legends, some of which, Longfellow tells us, he wove into his "Song of Hiawatha." "The White Stone Canoe" is one which he did not so immortalize, though it possesses great interest, and is rich in poetry and curious traditions. He made use of one of its incidents, however, where Chibiabos
"In the Stone Canoe was carried
To the Islands of the Blessed,
To the land of Ghosts and Shadows."
In my treatment of the story I have naturally fallen into the simple metre, which the great American poet adopted as most suitable for Songs of the Forest and Tales of the Wigwam.
NOTE 5.
LIA FAIL,
The Scottish Stone of Destiny.
(Page 59.)
The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, is the subject of many fabulous traditions. Ancient chronicles recount that, after having been Jacob's pillow at Bethel, it was a valued relic in the time of Gathelus, a Spanish king, and contemporary of Romulus. This monarch sent it with his son when the latter invaded Ireland. It was for centuries the coronation throne of Irish princes, until it was removed first to lona, where Fergus, son of Ere, was crowned upon it, A.D. 503, and thence to Scone, in 842, by Kenneth II., when the Scots had overcome the Picts. It remained in the Abbey of Scone as the coronation chair of the kings of Scotland, until carried off by Edward I., in order that nothing might be left to remind the Scots of their former independence. He, however, placed it, with veneration, near the altar in Westminster Abbey, where it may now be seen, forming the support of the coronation chair of the British sovereigns. The mysterious connection which this stone is supposed to have with the destinies of the Scots is celebrated in the well known Latin couplet:
"Ni fallat fatuni, Scoti quocunque locatum
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem."
It was not unnatural that the accession of the Stuarts to the throne of Great Britain should have been hailed by many as the accomplishment of this singular prophecy.