Ontario Readers Third Book, The

<h2><SPAN name="Camping" id="Camping"></SPAN>A CANADIAN CAMPING SONG</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span>A white tent pitched by a glassy lake,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Well under a shady tree,<br/></span> <span>Or by rippling rills from the grand old hills,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Is the summer home for me.<br/></span> <span>I fear no blaze of the noontide rays,<br/></span> <span class="i1">For the woodland glades are mine,<br/></span> <span>The fragrant air, and that perfume rare,<br/></span> <span class="i1">The odour of forest pine.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>A cooling plunge at the break of day,<br/></span> <span class="i1">A paddle, a row, or sail,<br/></span> <span>With always a fish for a mid-day dish,<br/></span> <span class="i1">And plenty of Adam's ale.<br/></span> <span>With rod or gun, or in hammock swung,<br/></span> <span class="i1">We glide through the pleasant days;<br/></span> <span>When darkness falls on our canvas walls,<br/></span> <span class="i1">We kindle the camp fire's blaze.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>From out the gloom sails the silv'ry moon,<br/></span> <span class="i1">O'er forests dark and still,<br/></span> <span>Now far, now near, ever sad and clear,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Comes the plaint of the whip-poor-will;<br/></span> <span>With song and laugh, and with kindly chaff,<br/></span> <span class="i1">We startle the birds above,<br/></span> <span>Then rest tired heads on our cedar beds,<br/></span> <span class="i1">To dream of the ones we love.<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="citation"><span class="smcap">Sir J.&nbsp;D. Edgar</span>: "This Canada of Ours."</p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />