{"id":167,"date":"2021-04-01T11:27:42","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T15:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/flintandfeather\/?post_type=chapter&p=167"},"modified":"2022-02-04T09:44:37","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T14:44:37","slug":"the-riders-of-the-plains","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/chapter\/the-riders-of-the-plains\/","title":{"raw":"The Riders of the Plains","rendered":"The Riders of the Plains"},"content":{"raw":"[footnote]The above is the Territorial pet name for the North-West Mounted Police, and is in general usage throughout Assiniboia, Saskatchewan and Alberta. At a dinner party in Boston the writer was asked, \u201cWho are the North-West Mounted Police?\u201d and when told that they were the pride of Canada\u2019s fighting men the questioner sneered and replied, \u201cAh! then they are only some of British Lion\u2019s whelps. We are not afraid of them.\u201d His companions applauded the remark.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nWho is it lacks the knowledge? Who are the curs that dare\r\nTo whine and sneer that they do not fear the whelps in the Lion\u2019s lair?\r\nBut we of the North will answer, while life in the North remains,\r\nLet the curs beware lest the whelps they dare are the Riders of the Plains;\r\nFor these are the kind whose muscle makes the power of the Lion\u2019s jaw,\r\nAnd they keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.\r\n\r\nA woman has painted a picture,\u2014\u2019tis a neat little bit of art\r\nThe critics aver, and it roused up for her the love of the big British heart.\r\n\u2018Tis a sketch of an English bulldog that tigers would scarce attack,\r\nAnd round and about and beneath him is painted the Union Jack.\r\nWith its blaze of colour, and courage, its daring in every fold,\r\nAnd underneath is the title, \u201cWhat we have we\u2019ll hold.\u201d\r\n\u2018Tis a picture plain as a mirror, but the reflex it contains\r\nIs the counterpart of the life and heart of the Riders of the Plains;\r\nFor like to that flag and that motto, and the power of that bulldog\u2019s jaw,\r\nThey keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.\r\n\r\nThese are the fearless fighters, whose life in the open lies,\r\nWho never fail on the prairie trail \u2018neath the Territorial skies,\r\nWho have laughed in the face of the bullets and the edge of the rebels\u2019 steel,\r\nWho have set their ban on the lawless man with his crime beneath their heel;\r\nThese are the men who battle the blizzards, the suns, the rains,\r\nThese are the famed that the North has named the \u201cRiders of the Plains,\u201d\r\nAnd theirs is the might and the meaning and the strength of the bulldog\u2019s jaw,\r\nWhile they keep the peace of the people and the honour of British law.\r\n\r\nThese are the men of action, who need not the world\u2019s renown,\r\nFor their valour is known to England\u2019s throne as a gem in the British crown;\r\nThese are the men who face the front, whose courage the world may scan,\r\nThe men who are feared by the felon, but are loved by the honest man;\r\nThese are the marrow, the pith, the cream, the best that the blood contains,\r\nWho have cast their days in the valiant ways of the Riders of the Plains;\r\nAnd theirs is the kind whose muscle makes the power of old England\u2019s jaw,\r\nAnd they keep the peace of her people and the honour of British law.\r\n\r\nThen down with the cur that questions,\u2014let him slink to his craven den,\u2014\r\nFor he daren\u2019t deny our hot reply as to \u201cwho are our mounted men.\u201d\r\nHe shall honour them east and westward, he shall honour them south and north,\r\nHe shall bare his head to that coat of red wherever that red rides forth.\r\n\u2018Tis well that he knows the fibre that the great North-West contains,\r\nThe North-West pride in her men that ride on the Territorial plains,\u2014\r\nFor of such as these are the muscles and the teeth in the Lion\u2019s jaw,\r\nAnd they keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.","rendered":"

[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Who is it lacks the knowledge? Who are the curs that dare
\nTo whine and sneer that they do not fear the whelps in the Lion\u2019s lair?
\nBut we of the North will answer, while life in the North remains,
\nLet the curs beware lest the whelps they dare are the Riders of the Plains;
\nFor these are the kind whose muscle makes the power of the Lion\u2019s jaw,
\nAnd they keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.<\/p>\n

A woman has painted a picture,\u2014\u2019tis a neat little bit of art
\nThe critics aver, and it roused up for her the love of the big British heart.
\n\u2018Tis a sketch of an English bulldog that tigers would scarce attack,
\nAnd round and about and beneath him is painted the Union Jack.
\nWith its blaze of colour, and courage, its daring in every fold,
\nAnd underneath is the title, \u201cWhat we have we\u2019ll hold.\u201d
\n\u2018Tis a picture plain as a mirror, but the reflex it contains
\nIs the counterpart of the life and heart of the Riders of the Plains;
\nFor like to that flag and that motto, and the power of that bulldog\u2019s jaw,
\nThey keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.<\/p>\n

These are the fearless fighters, whose life in the open lies,
\nWho never fail on the prairie trail \u2018neath the Territorial skies,
\nWho have laughed in the face of the bullets and the edge of the rebels\u2019 steel,
\nWho have set their ban on the lawless man with his crime beneath their heel;
\nThese are the men who battle the blizzards, the suns, the rains,
\nThese are the famed that the North has named the \u201cRiders of the Plains,\u201d
\nAnd theirs is the might and the meaning and the strength of the bulldog\u2019s jaw,
\nWhile they keep the peace of the people and the honour of British law.<\/p>\n

These are the men of action, who need not the world\u2019s renown,
\nFor their valour is known to England\u2019s throne as a gem in the British crown;
\nThese are the men who face the front, whose courage the world may scan,
\nThe men who are feared by the felon, but are loved by the honest man;
\nThese are the marrow, the pith, the cream, the best that the blood contains,
\nWho have cast their days in the valiant ways of the Riders of the Plains;
\nAnd theirs is the kind whose muscle makes the power of old England\u2019s jaw,
\nAnd they keep the peace of her people and the honour of British law.<\/p>\n

Then down with the cur that questions,\u2014let him slink to his craven den,\u2014
\nFor he daren\u2019t deny our hot reply as to \u201cwho are our mounted men.\u201d
\nHe shall honour them east and westward, he shall honour them south and north,
\nHe shall bare his head to that coat of red wherever that red rides forth.
\n\u2018Tis well that he knows the fibre that the great North-West contains,
\nThe North-West pride in her men that ride on the Territorial plains,\u2014
\nFor of such as these are the muscles and the teeth in the Lion\u2019s jaw,
\nAnd they keep the peace of our people and the honour of British law.<\/p>\n

  1. The above is the Territorial pet name for the North-West Mounted Police, and is in general usage throughout Assiniboia, Saskatchewan and Alberta. At a dinner party in Boston the writer was asked, \u201cWho are the North-West Mounted Police?\u201d and when told that they were the pride of Canada\u2019s fighting men the questioner sneered and replied, \u201cAh! then they are only some of British Lion\u2019s whelps. We are not afraid of them.\u201d His companions applauded the remark. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":251,"menu_order":14,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-167","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":136,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/167\/revisions\/261"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/136"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/167\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/flintandfeather\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}