Linn Grove

       by Mrs. M. J. Sparks

  Reprinted by Edna Robbins in "The Linn Grove Story" 1976

Far from the city's dim and strife

Far from the whirl of busy life

    I've found a sweet secluded spot

Where work and worry are forgot.

    A village quaint among the hills

Where singing birds and murmuring rills

    Are chanting melodies so sweet

Earth seems an Eden all complete.

    A picture fair is each vine clad hill;

And the whirling sound of the watermill">

Linn Grove        by Mrs. M. J. Sparks   Reprinted by Edna Robbins in "The Linn Grove Story" 1976   Far from the city's dim and strife Far from the whirl of busy life     I've found a sweet secluded spot Where work and worry are forgot.     A village quaint among the hills Where singing birds and murmuring rills     Are chanting melodies so sweet Earth seems an Eden all complete.       A picture fair is each vine clad hill; And the whirling sound of the watermill,     As the restless wheel in the stream below Keeps time to the river's ceaseless flow,     Falls on the ear with cadence sweet In this charming, beautiful retreat,     And the lime-tree's bough with easy grace, Bends low above the old mill-race.       The world of work seems far away When at the close of a summer day     I watch the sun like a tale that is told Go down in a sea of amber gold.     And one by one as the stars come out The evening breezes waft about     From the wooded glen a fragrance wave, Of dainty wild flowers blooming there.       The river bordered on each side With wooded hill-sides green and wide,     Goes merrily on its silvery way, Chanting the self-same song each day;     Dreaming perchance of golden hours, Of mossy banks and blooming flowers, Of lovers walking side by side, Plighting their vows by its silvery tide.       There is something about the river song That calls to my heart the whole day long.     I have sat for hours on the grassy bank Where grow the lilies tall and rank,     While the river was singing soft and low Songs we mortals can not know,     And tried to catch the mystic note The rippling current set afloat.       Idly I've watched the leaf-lets float On the silvery tide each a fairy boat     As I listened to the sweet refrain The river chanted again and again,     Still one can't dream forever you know So back to the work-day world I go;     But lovely river - Little Sioux I fear I'm leaving my heart with you.