The following poem was authored by my grandmother's brother Bramwell Quinton of Charleston, and sent to me by my aunt Violet Quinton. It was printed in a newspaper, presumably The Clarenville Packet, although the publication date is not known.

Spraying the Budworm


Come people all both great and small
Give heed to what I say
Concerning those who do intend
Our forest to spray
With some man-made insecticide
The budworm to destroy
At this they never will succeed
No matter how they try.

The budworm is beyond control
This surely they must know
Most every tree in all the land
Their blighted limbs doth show
Their efforts will be all in vain
This insect for to kill
They never could control the pest
Why do they think they will.
Some years ago the CNR
Their right-of-way did spray
Who gave permission this to
Is more than we can say
It killed the trees and all the plants
The birds and rabbits too
Someone sure gave permission
Or this they would not do.

Five horses from this place
Did die from grass they ate
When grazing by the railway track
Twas there they met their fate
These poor dumb things grazed on the grass
Where they grazed every year
No thinking man with knowledge blest
Would take their lives so dear.

That summer countless birds did die
And rabbits old and young
We saw them by the hundreds lie
Birds who so often sung
For us when we were children
But now they all are gone
Victims of man's stupidity
No more we'll hear them sing.

I'm sure we all remember well
How nice it used to be
When we could hear the birdies sing
And watch them in the tree
But now our woods are silent
Not a songbird can we hear
O how could man so thoughtless be
Or did they really care.

They'd be no need to spray our trees
If the birds will still around
They would take care of all the grubs
We'd have to aftermath to fear
When drinking from our streams
But now they'll be polluted
And nobody cares it seems.

It's sad to see how we can mar
The earth God made for man
And gave us knowledge to protect
All nature in our land
If we won't heed the warning given
If nature we defy
And man persists in doing wrong
Himself he will destroy!

                        
By Bramwell Quinton, Charleston


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Last Modified: Tuesday, 24-Aug-1999 21:17:56 NDT