How quick upon the eye and mind,
Flashes the prospect on the sight;
Like a surprise, which Nature planned,
For those who climb this lofty height.

With patient steps we upward wind,
Till on its rocky brow we stand;
Where, at one glance, we see outspread
A picture fair of sea and land!

The harbor with its islands green,
The rocks o'er which the breakers foam,
And, inland far, the city's spires,
The factory's towers, and many a home;

From which a merry band has come
Of sportive children, bright and fair,
To swing and dance and rove and sing,
And breathe a while a purer air.

Their elders, too, their sports enjoy,
For once they all were children too;
Mid scenes like this their years forget,
And with the young their youth renew.

The music and the social feast
Add to the pleasures of the hour,
And swift the winged moments fly,
Beneath the pine grove's sheltering bower.

For see aglow the western sky,
With the last rays of parting day;
We bid farewell to hill and grove,
And to our homes we speed away.