The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 25, 1896, Page 15

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1896. 15 azi12 T LA ] LR L N R R L L R R R L LR L IN BARDIC STRAIN IS TOLD THE STORY OF THE LAND OF GOLD LR 9099000209999222202999222999220292222202229R9822899292829222288. u!////% {I e %//,?’ 1 am the patriarch of the pines, The father of the wood; Through winter storms and symmer winds For centuries | have stood ' Where meet the ocean and the bay Which modern mef¥ call Monterey. Long, long ago when youth was mine, Amid the rocks and sand, 1 grew a tall and lonely pine Within a lonely land: And watched, a single sentinel tree, Beside an undiscovered sea. ‘ Then came a rude and savage race Of simple, stolid men, To make their brief ablding place Beneath my shade, and then To wander without thought or care Of wiser peoples otherwhere. But lo! cne eve beside-the sun A wide sail glistened white: A loud and unaccustomed gun Resounded through the night: At mom Cabrillo’s vessels lay % Within the broad arms of the bay The fateful storm, the breakers’ roar Forbade the Spaniard’s stay, And warned him from the friendly shorei But ere he bore away, He swept its surf-encircled lines And christened this “The Bay of Pines. Anon across the western sky From Orient lands of sun, And isles of spice, came creeping by The freighted galleon: And hovering fiercely on its wake The pirate fleet of Francis Drake. A new-born century saw the ships Which bold Vizcaino bore, Rise where the dim horizon dips, Seeking this wooded shore; And heard, amid my forest dim, The Carmelite chant his solemn hymn, The Spaniard went and solitude Resumed her ancient reign Over the acean, bay and wood. The waning power of Spain Bade no bold captains to the west To scourge its seas or break its rest. No shadow. from the troubled world . Crossed my_ horizon lines: No State its bloody flag unfurled Among my peaceful pines; The savage grandsire mumbled o'er. A dim tradition by the shore. So crept the sleepy years along, Until one bright May morn Through the wide woodland went a song On scented breezes borne: It was the mission fathers, come To seek a settlement and home They built their church beside the sand And swung the mission bell, Which answered back across the land, From Carlos to Carmel: To virgin vales they gave increase, To savage souls they whispered peace, But all too soon the evil strife Of men from many climes Destroyed the peaceful mission life And filled the land with crimes, While stronger peoples watched the prize Of these rich shores with lustful eyes. One summer morn 2 stotely ship Sailed up the sunlit vay, Flaunting a flag which did not dip To other flag that day ; But, high uplifted on the shore, Proclaimed the old dominion o'er. Beneath that banner's ample told Gathered with swift increase A restless race athirst for gold, Yet skilled in arts of peace, And strong to found, in laws secure, An ordered State which should endure. For gold they delve in mountain mines * For go'd they sift the sand— They make the valleys laugh in vines. And till the fertile land To freight their ships for every shore, Whose trade-may swell their golden store. But when, their weary spirits spent In that mad race for wealth, They sigh for peace and sweet content, And seek for rest and health, To my wide woods beside the bay They come and dream their cares away And wandering in my forest dim. Or lingering by the shore They seem to hear the solemn hymn The fathers sung of yore -While echoes of a mission bell = ~Creep through the pines from old Carmel. ey