Michigan historical collections. [Vol. 17]

356

ANNUAL MEETING, 1890.
Than that of Reverend R. C. Crawford;
His addresses to the Throne of Grace,
Are appropriate for the time and place.
And when his voice in song is heard,
The patriotic soul is stirred,
By a desire in every man,
To hail with joy, " My Michigan."
He is a pioneer of old,
And many stories has he told,
Of pioneers and of their ways,
When he was in his boyhoods days.
The graphic picture of the ways
That he pursued, in early days,
Brings to our mind, the long time since,
When we had the same experience.
Like trouble on the Pontiac road,
In hauling through the mud, a load,
Was known to almost every man,
That settled in northern Michigan;
At mother Handsome's little inn
A great many times, we too have been.
The content he had in the loghouse home,
Was enjoyed by others who had come
To Michigan, to spend their days,
In industry and virtue's ways.
His pleasant ways, and voice so clear,
Doth all our meetings greatly cheer.
His contributions of poetry,
(And more of them we ought to see),
Are adjudged to be the very best,
With which our volumes now are blessed.
Such talent for writing and singing songs,
To no other in our set belongs.
None his equal yet appears,
For entertaining pioneers.
His reading is so good, you see,
That this doggerel sounds like poetry.
With his twin cousin, Poppleton,
May he for years, continue on.
May they, at many annual meetings,
Receive from pioneers, kind greetings.