ON THE BANKS OF THE TENNESSEE

By William D. Gallagher



I sit by the open window,

And look to the hills away,

Over beautiful undulations

That glow with the flowers of May;

And as the lights and the shadows

With the passing moments change,

Comes many a scene of beauty

Within my vision's range.

But there is not one among them

That is half so dear to me

As an old log cabin I think of,

On the banks of the Tennessee.



Now up from the rolling meadows,

And down from the hilltops now,

Fresh breezes steal in at my window,

And sweetly fan my brow;

And the sounds that they gather and bring me.

From rivulet, meadow, and hill,

Come in with a touching cadence,

And my throbbing bosom fill;

But the dearest thoughts thus wakened,

And in tears brought back to me,

Cluster 'round that old log cabin

On the banks of the Tennessee.



To many a fond remembrance

My thoughts are backward cast,

As I sit by the open window

And recall the faded past;

For all along the windings

Of the ever moving years

Lie wrecks of hope and of purpose,

That I now behold through tears;

And, of all of them, the saddest

That is thus brought back to me

Makes holy that old log cabin

On the banks of the Tennessee.



Glad voices now greet me daily,

Sweet faces I oft behold,

Yet I sit by the open window,

And dream of the times of old--

Of a voice that on earth is silent,

Of a face that is seen no more,

Of a spirit that faltered not ever

In the struggles of days now o'er;

And a beautiful grave comes pictured

For ever and ever to me,

From a knoll near that old log cabin

On the banks of the Tennessee.



DEFINITIONS:

Undulations, wavelike motion.

Rivulet, a small stream.

Knoll, a round-topped hill of medium height.



EXERCISE:

On the map, trace the course of the Tennessee River.

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