INTRODUCTION.

A number of the songs in this collection have been heard by campfire and trail from the camps of British Columbia to the lumber camps of Maine. Several of the songs have been fired at the Huns "somewhere in France," no doubt with deadly effect. And also at the Turks on the long long hike to Bagdad and beyond.

And it is not impossible that some of my countrymen are now warbling snatches of my humble verse to the accompaniment of bagpipes on the streets of the New Jerusalem! Many of the verses have appeared from time to time in leading publications from Vancouver, B. C., to the New England States and Eastern Canada; while others appear in print here for the first time.

From all parts of the land I have received letters at various times asking for extra copies of some particular song in my humble collection, which I was not in a position to supply at the time.

I therefore decided to publish some of the songs for which a demand had been expressed, and in so doing offer to the reading public in extenuation of my offense the plea that in a manner this humble volume is being published by request.[6]

I offer no apology for my "dialect" songs as they have already received the approval of music lovers whose judgment is beyond criticism.

For the errors which must inevitably creep into the work of a non-college-bred lumberjack, I crave the indulgence of all highbrows who may resent my inability to comb the classics for copy to please them. All the merit I can claim is the ability to rhyme a limerick or sing a "come-all-ye" in a manner perhaps not unpleasing to my friends.

The lumberjacks will understand me, I am sure, and will appreciate my humble efforts to entertain them.

As for the genial highbrow, should he deem me an interloper in the realm of letters and imagine that my wild, uncultured notes are destroying the harmony of his supersensitive soul, I shall "lope" back to the tall timber again and seek sympathy and appreciation among the lumberjacks of the forest primeval, where, amid the wild surroundings and the crooning of the trees, there is health for mind and body borne on every passing breeze. Yes, there's something strangely healing in the magic of the myrrh, in the odor of the cedar and the fragrance of the fir.[7]

There the hardy lumberjack is the undisputed lord of the lowlands and chief of the highlands, and at the present time no soldier in the trenches or sailor on the rolling deep has a more arduous task to perform or a more important duty to discharge than he.

Toil on, ye Titans of the tall timbers; steadfast soldiers of the saw, and able allies of the axe. Carry on till the stately trees which constitute the glory of the West are converted into ships and planes in countless thousands, to win the great war for freedom and to make the world safe for democracy—and lumberjacks!

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ILLUSTRATIONS

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DESTINY

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THE SONS OF OUR MOTHERS

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[15]

CHRISTMAS IN QUEBEC.

This sketch is truer of the Quebec of last century than that of today. I am glad to hear that whisky blanc does not "cut the figure" in French festivities now that it did twenty years ago; and no one will rejoice more than Oscar Dhu to see the demon rum utterly destroyed in Canada ere many moons.

Yes, I sincerely hope that the day will soon dawn when the baneful influence of both De Kuyper and de Kaiser will be forever banished from my dear native province, queenly Quebec!

[22]

"THE CLEVELAND MESSAGE."

The seeming hostile spirit towards the United States pervading some of the sketches in this volume is more apparent than real, as they were introduced in the spirit of fun to accentuate the oddities of certain characters, and not to disparage our neighbor; for notwithstanding petty quarrels and misunderstandings we always loved our great big, bluff brother to the South.

We always maintained that closer relationship with our kindred people was our manifest destiny and that nothing could happen that would keep us permanently apart. According to this song, written many years ago, we have been "interwooing" and "intermarrying" for a long time. We have been flocking to their cities and they have been flocking to our farms, and naturally the ties between us have been growing stronger with the years.

Consequently when the present great war engulfed the world in a holocaust of blood, kindred cried to kindred and the resulting alliance was both natural and logical.

Time alone can prove the value of the services rendered the Allied cause in this great war by British Americans and Americanadians residing in the United States.

The Germans and pro-Germans of this country thot in their overweening pride with overbearing Kultur to obtain a greater "pull" with Uncle Sam than we possessed. By the most cunning propaganda ever known they endeavored to widen the breach between brother Jonathan and John Bull, but failed miserably. While they "hoched" for the "fatherland" till the cows came home, we "coached" for the "motherland" till the children came home!

Kultur may be a powerful persuader but the call of the blood is more powerful still, and when the old lion roared his appeal the sound went round the world, and the whelps, true to their breed, gathered from all corners of the earth, not into alien jungles, but home! The fur is now flying and blood is flowing, and when the combatants shall have emerged from the great conflict the two powerful branches of the English-speaking peoples will be bound together in ties of friendship stronger than ever before, and by thunder they will not be under!

[23]

THE CLEVELAND MESSAGE or HOW CANADA AND THE U. S. MAY BECOME ONE.

[27]

THE SULTAN AT THE KAISER'S KOURT

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JOHN LABONNE'S DREAM Or A SAD AWAKENING

[44]

THE DERELICT (When Seattle Was Wide Open.) ——————

FOOTNOTE:

[A] Main Street, Seattle.

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