V · Section 3

V

OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS

1897

(_Canadian Preferential Tariff, 1897_)

A Nation spoke to a Nation. A Queen sent word to a Throne: "Daughter am I in my mother's house But mistress in my own. The gates are mine to open, As the gates are mine to close, And I set my house in order," Said our Lady of the Snows.

"Neither with laughter nor weeping, Fear or the child's amaze-- Soberly under the White Man's law My white men go their ways. Not for the Gentiles' clamour-- Insult or threat of blows-- Bow we the knee to Baal," Said our Lady of the Snows.

"My speech is clean and single, I talk of common things-- Words of the wharf and the market-place And the ware the merchant brings: Favour to those I favour, But a stumbling-block to my foes. Many there be that hate us," Said our Lady of the Snows.

"I called my chiefs to council In the din of a troubled year; For the sake of a sign ye would not see, And a word ye would not hear. This is our message and answer; This is the path we chose: For we be also a people," Said our Lady of the Snows.

"Carry the word to my sisters-- To the Queens of the East and the South I have proven faith in the Heritage By more than the word of the mouth. They that are wise may follow Ere the world's war-trumpet blows, But I--I am first in the battle," Said our Lady of the Snows.

_A Nation spoke to a Nation, A Throne sent word to a Throne: "Daughter am I in my mother's house, But mistress in my own. The gates are mine to open, As the gates are mine to close, And I abide by my Mother's House," Said our Lady of the Snows._