[Hughes, Luke .7] (c. 1880-1900) ’The O’Leary Road’. The Island Farmer, 16 October 1918, (p. 7). 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The poem ’The O’Leary Road’ was printed in a Summerside newspaper, The Island Farmer, in 7918 with the editor 
     
     stating that it had been ”written and kindly contributed by an aged resident of Lot 7 1 According to Morrison 
     
     (1983), subsequent research has revealed that the poem was found in an old scrapbook, and at the time the author 
     
     was believed to have been Luke Hughes of lnverness in Lot 7 l (b. 7832, d. 7909/, though this is not certain. The 
     
     author claims to have known the O'Leary road before there was any settlement along it, saying that his first 
     
     acquaintance was ”forty years ago and more”. Since the line of the road had been laid out by the surveyor 
     
     Alexander Anderson in July 1838, and if settlement had begun shortly after, the poem could have been written any 
     
     time from 7880 on wards. It describes the changes that had occurred along the road within the living memory of 
     
     the author, with the area having passed from undisturbed hardwood forest of ”birch and beech ” to cleared 
     
     agricultural land, and it exto/s the progress that has been made and the industry of the settlers who had been 
     
     responsible for the changes. 
     
    
   
   
    
     REFERENCES: 
     
     Surveyors’ Fieldbooks 1830-1900. PARO: Commissioner of Public Lands. RG 15/9/42, pp. 4-13. 
     
     Morrison, J. C. (1983) Along the North Shore — A Social History of Township 77, P.E./., 7765-7982. (pp. 236-38). 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The 0 ’L eary Road 
     
    
   
   
    
     ’Tis forty years ago and more 
     
    

    
     Since I have seen this road before. 
     
     How lonely then, how dark and still, 
     
     For silence reigned on vale and hill. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Tall birch and beech from either side 
     
     Hung o'er the road their branches wide. 
     
     No sign was there of Man’s abode 
     
    

    
     On all that long O’Leary Road. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ’Birch and beech ’. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The prowling fox and vagrant bear 
     
    

    
     Long claimed a wild dominion there. 
     
    

    
     Now woods and wilds have all been cleared; 
     
     The fox and bear have disappeared. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Foxes and bears. 
     
    
   
   
    
     From ’forest wi/d' And passing years have changed the scene 
     
     to flame land. From forest wild to meadows green. 
     
    

    
     The reaper and the iron plough 
     
    

    
     Proclaim ‘tis Man's dominion now. 
     
    
   
   
    
     And o’er the large and level plains 
     
    

    
     Are spreading fields of ripening grains. 
     
     The woods are gone and in their room 
     
     Large clover files and orchards bloom. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The farmer’s toll is well repaid; 
     
    

    
     To guide the plough his chosen trade; 
     
     His sprightly team well groomed and fed; 
     
     His chosen seed with system spread. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Pioneer To native thrift, with practice skilled, 
     
     attributes. The grateful soil abundance yields. 
     
     And me, its merits marks are well bestowed 
     
     For plenty crowns O’Leary Road. 
     
    
   
   
    
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