"On a beautiful morning in June, they say,
Two hundred and twenty years ago."


Captain Holyoke and Captain Thomas with a little company of stanch
followers started out on a survey of the country.


"Holyoke, the gentle and daring, stood
On the Eastern bank, with his trusty four,
And Rowland Thomas, the gallant and good,
Headed the band on the other shore.

The women ran weeping to bid them good-bye,
And sweet Mary Pynchon was there (I guess)
With a sigh in her throat, and a tear in her eye
As Holyoke marched into the wilderness."


The melodious rhyme goes on to describe the journey up the valley and
the night camp, where:


"The great falls roared in their ears all night,
And the sturgeon splashed, and the wild-cat screamed,
And they did not wake till the morning light
Red through the willowy branches streamed."