The Ideal Preacher Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDE FFGGHHIIJJ KKBLMMNN OOPPQQJJRRSSJJ JJNNTTJJ JJUUVVTTWW XXRRYY ZZA2A2 NNJJB2B2C2C2 D2D2JJE2E2 F2F2G2G2H2H2JJ UUI2I2JJJ2J2It was back in Renfrew County near the Opeongo line | A |
Where the land's all hills and hollows and the hills are clothed with pine | A |
And in the wooded valleys little lakes shine here and there | B |
Like jewels in the masses of a lovely woman's hair | B |
Where the York branch by a channel ripped through rugged rocks and sand | C |
Sweeps to join the Madawaska speeding downward to the Grand | C |
Where the landscape glows with beauty like a halo shed abroad | D |
And the face of nature mirrors back the unseen face of God | E |
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I was weary with my journey and with difficulty strove | F |
To keep myself awake at first as sitting by the stove | F |
In old William Rankin's shanty I attended as I might | G |
To the pioneer backwoodsman's tales far on into the night | G |
But William talked until the need of sleep one quite forgot | H |
Not stopping but to stir the fire which kept the stove red hot | H |
For the wind was raw and cold without although the month of May | I |
Up north the winter struggles hard before it yields its sway | I |
And the snow is in the forests and the ice is in the lakes | J |
And the frost is in the seedland oft when sunny June awakes | J |
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He talked of camps in winter time of river drives in spring | K |
Of discords in the settlement in fact of everything | K |
He told of one good elder who'd been eaten by a bear | B |
And wondered that a beast of prey should eat a man of pray'r | L |
Of beast from wolf to porcupine killed with gun axe and fork | M |
And finally of college men who did not pine for pork | M |
But yet among them students said the bushman there wuz one | N |
As hit me an' the settlement as fair as any gun | N |
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O' course he wa'nt no buster hed no shinin' gifts o' speech | O |
But jis' as reg'lar he could give some pointers how to preach | O |
He talked straight on like tellin' yarns more heart I'd say 'an head | P |
But somehow people felt he meant 'bout every word he said | P |
He wa'n't chuck full o' larnin' from the peelin' to the core | Q |
Leastwise he wa'n't the kind they call a college batch o' lore | Q |
He'd no degree the schoolma'am said though soon he let 'em see | J |
That o' certain sterlin' qualities he had a great degree | J |
Leastwise he hed no letters till the hind end o' his name | R |
But preacher say you don't set much importance by them same | R |
Y' may hev titles o' y'r own an' think I'm speakin' bold | S |
But there's that bob tailed nag o' mine the chestnut three year old | S |
It's true she can't make such a swish to scare away the flies | J |
But if y'd see her cover ground y'd scarce believe y'r eyes | J |
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O' course he hed his enemies you preachers alluz hez | J |
But 'twa'n't no use their tellin' us he wa'n't the stuff I gez | J |
An' after while they closed right up an' looked like it wuz fun | N |
When they seed the way he 'sisted out ol' Game leg Templeton | N |
O' course y' knows ol' Templeton twuz him as druv y' in | T |
Y' noticed maybe how he limped and sort o' saved his shin | T |
He's run the mail through fair and foul 'tween this and Cumbermere | J |
And faithful served Her Majesty fur nigh on twenty year | J |
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The preacher stayed with Templeton the same's you're stay'n' with me | J |
On a new clearance back o' this which course y' didn't see | J |
An' one day on a visit tour the chap wuz startin' out | U |
In the way o' Little Carlow twuz good twelve mile round about | U |
An' in the bush he'd lose hisself as everybody knowed | V |
'I'll take the axe ' says Templeton 'an' go an' blaze a road | V |
It's only three mile through the bush ' An' so they started in | T |
Quite happy like men never knows when troubles will begin | T |
'Bout noon the folks was in the house a eatin' o' their snack | W |
The chap comes home with Templeton a hangin' on his back | W |
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The call wuz close fur Templeton who'd somehow missed his stroke | X |
He alluz swung a heavy blow an' the bone wuz well nigh broke | X |
An' wust of all 'twuz two whole days afore the doctor came | R |
He was up the Long Lake section seein' what's that fellow's name | R |
Well never mind An' when he did examine of the wound | Y |
He said 'twould take all summer fur the man to git around | Y |
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Well what y' think thet preacher done but turn right out an' mow | Z |
The meadow down an' put it in and th' harvest too although | Z |
The ol' man worried and complained as how he'd orter stop | A2 |
An' there wa'nt no binders in them days and work wuz work sure pop | A2 |
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Well when the people heerd about the way that preacher done | N |
All on 'em growed religious straight sir every mother's son | N |
The meetin' house wuz crowded from the pulpit to the door | J |
Some on 'em hadn't showed face there fur twenty year or more | J |
An' them as sot out on the fence an' gossiped all the while | B2 |
Jis' brought the fence planks in and sot down on 'em in the aisle | B2 |
An' listened sir no orator as ever spoke aloud | C2 |
Worked on his audience the way as that chap on our crowd | C2 |
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We aint no shakes o' people we aint up to nothin' new | D2 |
But we knows a man what's shammin' and we knows a man what's true | D2 |
An' when we heerd that preacher talk 'bout Christian sacrifice | J |
And bearin' burdens for the weak we valued his advice | J |
An' we showed it there wuz nothin' as we thought too good for him | E2 |
We poured our cup o' gratitude an' filled it to the brim | E2 |
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He aint been near so fort'nate 'n the city where he's went | F2 |
Some folks as didn't like him set them sticklers on his scent | F2 |
An' the presbytery giv him fits fur trimmin' of his lamp | G2 |
The way it shined the brightest an' he jined another camp | G2 |
But most men leastwise such as him I take it fur my part | H2 |
Aint got much devil in their brains when God is in their heart | H2 |
An' I'll allow it yet although they puts me in the stocks | J |
That religion what is practical's sufficient orthodox | J |
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Well thet's the finest preacher as hez struck back here to spout | U |
An' there never wuz another we cared very much about | U |
I've heerd o' Beecher's meetings an' such men as John B Gough | I2 |
But fourteen waggon loads druv down to see that preacher off | I2 |
We sent him back to college with a fresh supply o' socks | J |
Nigh everything a student needs wuz jammed intill that box | J |
An' preacher spite of what yourself with all your parts may feel | J2 |
Fur me an' Game leg Templeton that man is our ideel | J2 |
W. M. Mackeracher
(1)
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