"_So we fin' some fence dot's handy for
mese'f an' Rosalie._"

PRO PATRIA

"_Jus' tell dem de news of Gedeon 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 Riviere,
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