Baptism In Lake Allumette

Oh Allumette, hemmed with thy fringe of pine,         Watched over by thy mountains far away,     Thy waters have been troubled oftentime,         Never before as they have been to day!     The red man on the war path, with light stroke,         Hath cleaved thy waters moving stealthily;     Hunter and hunted deer thy surface broke         With splash and struggle of the living prey.     Across thy bosom venturous Champlain         And faithful Brule have pursued their way;     Seeking for distant golden Indian vain         Finding Coulonge while searching for Cathay     The knights of industry the sons of toil,         Trouble thy waters in the eager strife     To win success and wealth, the glittering spoil         For which men daily peril more than life     'Twas a new motive from their homes to day         That drew an eager wondering people out,     Like those who from Mount Zion took their way,         From Judah and the regions round about     It might have been the Jordan flowed along         Or that, sweet stream where people met for prayer,     Still expectation held the gathering throng         By the lake shore, in the hushed Sabbath air     And earnest, fervent pleading prayer was made         Rose the sweet strains of the old Scottish psalm     And words of witness for God s truth were said,         The only sound that broke the sacred calm     Then down into the waters of the lake,         The preacher and believer slowly came,     Not heeding scornful words for His dear sake,         Who bore the cross for us despised the shame     Buried with Him by baptism to death         Following the path which He the Sa lour trod,     To rise with Him to that new life He saith         He hath laid up for us with Christ in God