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Tribute Home Land
The following poem was written by a resident of Weldon
Spring as a tribute to the residents of the TNT area who are moving from their
old homes. The writer said the residents played an important part in the
history of St. Charles county and moving to new homes means a great sacrifice
to them. The author said the poem is not meant to take sides but is just a
remembrance of all the area meant to the people.
IN REMEMBRANCE
’Tis not in
opposition
That I pen
these lines today,
But in a
simple tribute
To those who’ve
moved away.
From the old
Howell’s Prairie Country
Bordering
Highway 94,
From the
Dardenne Creek and Femme Osage,
To the old
Missouri shore.
To those
familiar places
Known to all
of us I sing,
The land of
Howell and Hamburg
and near to
Weldon Spring.
To a land of
happy villages,
Of fruit and
wheat and corn,
Land of
churches, schools, and happy homes,
And many
fertile farms.
To a place
of many friendships,
Neighbors
who once lived near,
And worked
in loyal striving
For the
things they all held dear.
For the good
of home and church and school,
In the true
American way,
Let us pause
in remembrance,
And turn our
thoughts their way.
True it was
some fields were barren,
Yielding not
as once before,
But the few
of those who lived there
Suffered as
the very poor.
In the early
eighteen hundreds,
in a time
that long is gone,
The Indians
roamed these prairies
And ’twas
known to Daniel Boone.
’Tis rich in
history’s memories,
Of the early
pioneer
Who came to
a land of forests
Yielding not
to easy fear.
Some served
with Callaway’s rangers
In the times
of Indian strife,
To protect
their homes and loved ones,
From the
dreaded scalping knife.
From south
and north and east
And o’er the
ocean wide,
The pioneers
came there
And planned
there to abide.
They dreamed
of time in the future
When this
land still would be,
The home of
a good people
And their
posterity.
In the
several district grade schools,
Simple
learning long was given,
And in its
little country churches
Many sought
to learn of Heaven.
And the home
of early learning,
Francis
Howell School had grown
To a high
school of the present
Where many
youths have gone.
There are
many who will cherish thoughts
Of athletic
games they knew,
While others
will remember
The joys of
Riverview.
Now those
who lately lived there
Have bravely
moved away,
Not with
defeat but courage,
Not
faltering in dismay.
But ever in
the hearts of those
Who once
lived in and near,
Will memory
be sacred
And old
visions very clear.
For though
forever from us
Those sights
are closed to view,
Yet ties of
friendship made there,
We hope will
still be true.
In the
distant unknown future,
For our
country’s good we’ll pray,
And then
lets pause in remembrance
And let our
memories stray.
To the old
Howell’s Prairie country
Bordering
Highway 94,
From the
Dardenne Creek and Femme Osage
To the old
Missouri shore.
—Contributed.
