National Policy

A poem by William Henry Drummond

Oor fader lef' ole France behin', dat's many year ago,
An' how we get along since den, wall! ev'ry body know,
Few t'ousan' firse class familee was only come dat tam,
An' now we got pure Canayens; t'ee million peop' bedamme!

Dat's purty smart beez-neese, I t'ink we done on Canadaw,
An' we don't mak' no grande hooraw, but do it tranquillement
So if we're braggin' now an' den, we mus' be excuzay,
For no wan's never see before de record bus' dat way.

An' w'y should we be feel ashame, 'cos we have boy an' girl?
No matter who was come along, we'll match agen de worl';
Wit plaintee boy lak w'at we got no danger be afraid,
An' all de girl she look too nice for never come ole maid.

If we have only small cor-nere de sam' we have before
W'en ole Champlain an' Jacques Cartier firse jomp upon de shore
Dere's no use hurry den at all, but now you understan'
We got to whoop it up, ba gosh! for occupy de lan'!

W'at's use de million acre, w'at's use de belle riviere,
An' t'ing lak dat if we don't have somebody leevin' dere?
W'at's mak' de worl' look out for us, an' kip de nation free
Unless we're raison' all de tam some fine large familee?

Don't seem long we buil' dat road, Chemin de Pacifique,
Tak' honder dollar pass on dere, an' nearly two t'ree week,
Den look dat place it freeze so hard, on w'at you call Klon-dak,
Wall! if we have to fill dem up, we got some large contrac'!

Of course we're not doin' bad jus' now; so ev'rybody say,
But we dunno de half we got on Canadaw to- day,
An' still she's comin' beeger, an' never mak' no fuss,
So if we don't look out, firse t'ing, she'll get ahead of us.

De more I t'ink, de more I'm scare, de way she grow so fas',
An' worse of all it's hard to say how long de boom'll las'
But if she don't go slower an' ease up leetle bit,
Bimeby de Canayens will be some dead bird on de pit.

Den ev'ry body hip hooraw! an' sen' de familee
Along de reever, t'roo de wood, an' on de grande prairie,
Dat's only way I'm t'inkin arrange de w'ole affaire
An' mebbe affer wíle dere won't be too moche lan' for spare.