A poem by Sherm Doody
Back when Aroostook was an infant, newly borned so to speak,
When two families were considered a neighborhood and a tote road was a street.
When there were no churches, no schools, and but very few stores,
When a footpath was a sidewalk, ‘long the Aroostook River shores.
There some outstanding men, whose memory will ever last,
They were a grand generation, a landmark of the past.
There were the Collins, Cochrans, Kelleys and Hales
who cruised and surveyed, and spotted out trails.
There were the Waltons, Whitnecks, Daleys and Doyles,
Who through lumbering and farming, made a living by their toil.
And there were some others, equally as grand, who could vision a great future,
For this rich and fertile land.
One day up the river, a large strange man came, he wore the clothes of a woodsman,
not shabby, but plain.
He stopped this side the border, and took a brief rest, admiring that beautiful river,
flowing out of the west.
Then he pulled on up the river, perhaps eight miles or more,
where he reached his coarse dugout, and stepped out on the shore.
He viewed his surroundings, glancing at the western sun.
and said to himself, “I have found it, by gum.”
His provisions were meager, pork, flour and tea.
but he was footloose and happy, and in the land of the free.
At the mouth of the Madawaska, on a fair sloping bank.
he decided to locate, and build a small camp.
He had large square shoulders, stood strong six-foot-four, and strong as the saplings, that grew by the shore.
He fished, trapped and hunted, worked now and then,
always contented, and a giant among men.
He knew all the settlers, they called him Uncle Dave,
he feared no thing living, yet never assumed to be brave.
He was a fearless as a lion, strong as an ox,
meek as a rabbit, shrewd as a fox.
He had no equal as an axe-man, falling trees was just fun.
he could travel two days without eating or eat six meals in one.
He knew the lakes and the rivers, and every small brook,
to him the uncharted wilderness, was as a plain open book.
He was always good natured, generous and kind.
all the troubles of yesterday, were left forever behind.
When a footpath was a sidewalk, ‘long the Aroostook River shores.
There some outstanding men, whose memory will ever last,
They were a grand generation, a landmark of the past.
There were the Collins, Cochrans, Kelleys and Hales
who cruised and surveyed, and spotted out trails.
There were the Waltons, Whitnecks, Daleys and Doyles,
Who through lumbering and farming, made a living by their toil.
And there were some others, equally as grand, who could vision a great future,
For this rich and fertile land.
One day up the river, a large strange man came, he wore the clothes of a woodsman,
not shabby, but plain.
He stopped this side the border, and took a brief rest, admiring that beautiful river,
flowing out of the west.
Then he pulled on up the river, perhaps eight miles or more,
where he reached his coarse dugout, and stepped out on the shore.
He viewed his surroundings, glancing at the western sun.
and said to himself, “I have found it, by gum.”
His provisions were meager, pork, flour and tea.
but he was footloose and happy, and in the land of the free.
At the mouth of the Madawaska, on a fair sloping bank.
he decided to locate, and build a small camp.
He had large square shoulders, stood strong six-foot-four, and strong as the saplings, that grew by the shore.
He fished, trapped and hunted, worked now and then,
always contented, and a giant among men.
He knew all the settlers, they called him Uncle Dave,
he feared no thing living, yet never assumed to be brave.
He was a fearless as a lion, strong as an ox,
meek as a rabbit, shrewd as a fox.
He had no equal as an axe-man, falling trees was just fun.
he could travel two days without eating or eat six meals in one.
He knew the lakes and the rivers, and every small brook,
to him the uncharted wilderness, was as a plain open book.
He was always good natured, generous and kind.
all the troubles of yesterday, were left forever behind.
