Poems (Stephens)/The Derby Extension

by Eliza Jane Stephens

THE DERBY EXTENSION.

They came from the crowded cities,
 Those men of the tireless brain,
And roamed o'er the hills and mountains
 As well as the valley and plain.

A Starbuck and Stevenson came,
 With surveyors, contractors and bosses.
Each eagerly looking for gains
 And keenly forseeing the losses.

With transit and chain and level
 They carefully measured the sod,
Where never before in the ages
 A foot of humanity trod.

And when all the inches were counted
 And noted down ever so nice,
Ten all of these briars and brambles
 Were bought at a liberal price.

And then came a host from Italia
 And Erin, beautiful isle,
And hurrying hither and thither
 Were jabbering all the while.

They slaughtered the kings of the forest,
 As well as the tenderest shoot,
And lest there should be a revival
 They burned them branches and root.

And rocks that were firm as a fortress,
 And towering high in the air,
Were quickly broken asunder
 And scattered everywhere.

And bridges were thrown o'er the chasm
 Though yawning ever so wide,
And tunnels were made through the mountain
 And streamlets forever were dried.

And the sound of th« pick and shovel
 From dawn until dark was heard,
And quite too often was mingled
 With none of the gentlest word.

With horses, and mules, and oxen,
 With drag, wheelbarrow and car,
They shifted the dirt from the hillside
 And scattered it near and far.

There were shanties along the roadside,
 And tents on the meadows were seen,
And little was known of the Sabbath
 As if there had none ever been.

Some men have been blown in fragments
 Some blinded, and crippled beside,
Some wearily homesick have been,
 Some alas! sickened and died.

But oft we've heard the rock-a-lay song
 Come floating over the hill,
And sung as none again can sing,
 Whatever may be their will.

As often heard the dancers' feet
 Keep time on the old barn floor,
The music's hushed, that old tin pan
 Is brighter than twas before.

But now the ties are all scattered,
 The rails are holding them down,
And soon the brightest of engines
 Will sweep us into the town.

Yes, now we have a new railroad,
 'Tis puff and whistle and whew!
But this is only the telling
 What push and the cash can do.