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Impromptu lines delivered at the opening of Maple Leaf Encampment, Woodstock, in the year 1883, in connection with Odd Fellows Lodge there. Olive Branch is the subordinate Lodge.
Well tell a tale, it shall be brief / It is of rise of Maple Leaf, / From noble Olive Branch it sprung, / And its good deeds shall yet be sung;
This Encampment, though in its youth, / Glories in friendship, love, and truth / Of all our lodges yet the chief / May be this youthful Maple Leaf;
Built of good timber, it doth launch / Well worthy of the Olive Branch, / And though it only is a shoot / We hope that it will take deep root, / And soon be vigorous Maple tree / In Canada so broad and free.
And may its usefulness ne'er cease / Sprung from the Olive Branch of peace, / But comfort brothers in distress, / Widows and orphans it will bless, / And console them in their grief, / Protected by the Maple Leaf.
Poor travellers in the wilderness / They oft do suffer great distress, / But may no pilgrim get rude shock / Sojourning here in Woodstock.