27 July 1875
Listen to Louise Waldie perform On Drowning of W.V.
One more of those we loved has left
This world, through higher flights to roam,
And many saddened friends bereft,
Will miss him in their earthly home.
How fruitless all his study here.
Where are those hopes that rose so high ?
His friendship young, to us so dear,
But not too young or dear to die.
Drowned ! did they say? and near the spot,
Where we have played and sported too !
Then when we pass, awakened thought
Will remind of a heart ‘twas true.
His sparkling eyes and merry ways,
A generous heart with feelings fine,
Will be remembered all our days,
We’ll miss and mourn poor Willie Vine.
Source: Collection of Rhymes, &c. by John Blair. Parkhill, Ont.: Gazette Printing House, ca. 1892, 28-29.
Originally published in Poems. Serious, Sentimental, Patriotic, and Humorous by John Blair, Jun. St. Catharines: W. Meek, Book & Job Printer, 1875, 108.
Also published in: Kevin McCabe [ed.], The Poetry of Old Niagara. St. Catharines: Blarney Stone Books, 1999, 53.
Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024
The Historical Society of St. Catharines 