FRANKLIN HISTORY PROJECT

 

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Franklin
By Mrs. Alice M. Shepard

 O Franklin is a Princess,
She sits on seven hills,
And looks down through the valley
At churches, schools and mills.
She looks down in the valley,
And sees the smoke clouds swell
From hearth fires that are kindled
At early bell.

There's Summit Street for sunrise,
And Morningside for dawn, -
Out Leighton road you'll likely
Surprise a timid fawn, -
But if it's forth you're faring
Up Brown hill speed your way,
For mountain peaks are calling:
"It's clear today."

Or if Smiling Spirit
Should beckon from the lake,
Up Willow Hill ascending,
Your happy way you'll take,
And pass the old stone mortar
  Where "squaws"* first ground their corn, -
It stands and waits in silence
Quite forlorn.

'Tis View Street for the sunset,
(Or Bible Hill for saint,)
And Sanborn Street for healing,
For sick, and weak, and faint.
The Princess loves them truly,
Each height surveys with pride
At one she stops and lingers
Long beside.

For that hill holds the ashes
Of those she loved who died;
It holds them up to Heaven,
And so, rests satisfied.
And there the Princess lingers,
And reads a neighbors name,
And sighs and weeps at failure,
Forgetting blame.

O Franklin is a Princess,
She sits on seven hills,
She looks down through the valley
Crowded with clicking mills,
She sees the two soft rivers
Rush headlong down to wed, -
In work, play, beauty, service,
At the head.

 * language of the time