Monday, November 18, 2013

"Light on the Old Stone Road" by Hattie E. Goewey (1921)

Light on the Old Stone Road

BY HATTIE E. GOEWEY.

The old Stone Road has held its own

        Since seventeen forty two.

Oxen and mules have traveled it,

        As well as horses too.


Until the automobile came

        And shoved them out of sight,

For now the auto horn is heard

        From dawn will late at night.


For many years the old Stone Road

        Served our forefathers well,

And hub deep was the mud those days

        We often heard them tell.


It stood in darkness year by year,

        Except on moonlight nights,

While roads in other towns nearby

        Had bright electric lights.


To Centre Brunswick came one day

        A pastor who is game.

He is an earnest Methodist,

        Fred Sawyer is his name.


He saw the darkness which prevailed

        Since this old earth was made;

The darkness which had reigned long since

        The old Stone Road was laid.


He had a vision bright and clear,

        He saw a shining light;

He knew that electricity

        Could brighten darkest night.


For him to think was but to act,

        He started out at once.

He did not find a rosy path

        And weeks ran into months.


A light shines on the corner now,

        And Darkness no more reigns,

For lights stream forth night after night

        From many window panes.


So Perseverance won the day

        And Victory onward rode;

Electric lights shine on the way

        Upon the old Stone Road.

Troy Times. December 15, 1921: 7 col 1.


"The Stone Road, known earlier as the McAdam Road, closely follows the path of the ancient Hosek Road, the first public highway to traverse the area that would become Rensselaer County in 1791."

Zankel, Sharon Martin. Brunswick. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1998. 9.

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