Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TOO MUCH LAKE CHAMPLAIN IN VERMONT, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TOO MUCH LAKE CHAMPLAIN IN VERMONT, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If lake champlain was ten times smaller
Last Line: Might try and have the lake made smaller.
Subject(s): Lake Champlain; Vermont


IF Lake Champlain was ten times smaller
I'm sure we'd have ten times more fun;
We'd all go boating after supper
And come home rested, every one;
We'd row and sail and scull and paddle,
We'd all get tissued-up and taller—
We'd be a different race of beings
If Lake Champlain was only smaller.

Champlain discovered too much water,
Too many whitecaps, coves and capes;
Too many headlands where the squall-sprite
Delights to get us into scrapes;
I don't exactly want to blame him—
Our first Canadian friend and caller—
But even if it hurts his feelings
I wish his lake was ten times smaller.

We'd have a smiling little lakelet,
And not a raging inland sea;
'Twould be a mile or two to Plattsburg,
To Rouses perfumed Point but three:
'Twould be great fun to pass Stave Island—
No bigger, much, than half a dollar—
Oh! there'd be sport and plenty of it
If Lake Champlain was ten times smaller.

We'd get some joy into our systems,
We'd get our socks and sainthood tanned;
We'd have a dandy Champlain club house
That wasn't built on railroad land;
There'd be a splendid show of sport clothes,
From wide-wale skirt to hemstitched collar—
I'll leave it to the Klifa ladies
If Lake Champlain should not be smaller.

The air would fairly bloom with banners,
And Cap'n Rockwell, he'd be there,
And run a little fleet of joy boats
And never think of charging fare;
There'd be a hunderd yachts and yachters
Where now there's one old yawl and yawler—
I tell you what, we'd all be different
If Lake Champlain was only smaller.

There'd be aquatic tilts and tourneys,
The kind they have up near Lachine;
There'd be a shell game every Thursday
And every June a Water Queen;
We'd meet, we'd laugh, we'd flirt, we'd chatter,
We'd all grow talkative and taller—
It seems to me Professor Perkins
Might try and have the Lake made smaller.





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