spensions heard of not,
And specie was the only cash we got,
Hard silver with no discount on our dollars,
Ere brokers reigned, or flourished paper collars.
Tho' dim the light of learning's genial rays
Amongst the masses in those bygone days--
Tho' daily papers, modern luxury's food,
The bold apostles of the public good,
The tribunes of the people were not found
On guard our infant liberties around,
Tho' institutions based on mental light,
Shed scanty radiance o'er that primal night,
Tho' science, wealth and philosophic lore
Were _rara aves_ upon Ottawa's shore;
Tho' commerce scarce had spread her gilded wings,
The herald of a costlier state of things;
Tho' such an institution as our own,
Was to our early pioneers unknown,
An institution, let me say, in short,
Worthy of every patriot's support;
Established on a comprehensive base.
Where every man of worth may find his place--
temple of intelligence to give
To mind the sustenance on which to live,
Tho' all such modern glories then were rare,
Yet old Bytonians did not badly fare.
Churches were few in that benighted time,
Seldom was heard the Sabbath's welcome chime--
Yet brotherhood abounded in the land,
And charity with soft and tender hand
Relieved distress, and made the weeper smile,
Scarce conscious of the good she did the while,
And not the worst among poor sons of men,
Money was plenty in the village then,
For Mother Britain with a lavish hand
Scattered her treasures over all the land.
Simplicity then held her peaceful reign,
And vice and crime were seldom in her train.
No litigation marked our young career,
No Police Magistrate with brow severe,
And frown of justice upon trembling crime,
Made culprits shiver in that happy time;
Neighbor to neighbor owed so little grudge,
Disputes were settled then without the Judge--
The learned profession boasted not one gown,
And but one lancet was in all the town--
And it was busy, and got wondrous praise,
For venesection flourished in those days.
People owed little, and were seldom sued,
No bailiff marred our ancient solitude;
Duns were a nuisance in our soil not grown,
Fifteen per cent, was totally unknown!
Things then were taken as they happened quite,
And insults were decided by a fight,
In boyhood I have witnessed many a fray
Within the ring by daylight and fair play--
No constable poked his unwelcome nose
Between the pastime of two transient foes,
Who choose like Sayers and Heenan to decide
Their diffe