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L. W. STEVENS OF FORT FAIRFIELD.

THEY blazed the way to the Border,
In the scarf of the sapling pine;
They cleared the virgin forest
And planted the corn and the vine;
And the sounds, that broke the silence,
Were the settler's axe and saw,
Where the mills now sing defiance
To the Forest's primal law.
From the first man's trackless searching .
To the man who goes at will,
Is a stretch of modern progress
That is measured from axe to mill,
And the toll of Aroostook's seasons
Is paid to those men of years
Who like Stevens of Fort Fairfield
Were of its lumbermen-pioneers,
He has helped to build her cities
And has dealt in her real estate.
For Fort Fairfield's business progress
He has labored long and late:—
This the tribute that they offer
To this man of modest ways;
"He attends strictly to his business,"
Which I consider highest praise.