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One Hundred Years Ago. Once more with thankful hearts we greet This glad returning day, Once more within these walls we meet, To sing, and praise and pray. To offer grateful thanks to God, With hearts that overflow, And trace the paths the fathers trod, A hundred years ago. A wild, unbroken solitude, By foot of man untrod, The grand primeval forest stood, And stretched green arms abroad, And where our church bells call to prayer, And feet of hundreds go, The wolf's long howl distrubed the air A hundred years ago. Our grandsires came with axe and plough, They felled the forest tree, Where fruitful fields are smiling now, They broke the stubborn lea; They laid foundations firm and broad, They builded sure and slow; We reap rich harvests where they sowed, A hundred years ago. By Mrs, Nancy Priest Wakefield, a descendant of the first settlers of Winchendon. |
