Aquila Chase As I think of Aquila Chase And size him up and down, He was just a common farmer In a small New England town But beneath that garb of his There throbbed a heart as kind, As the maker in his wisdom Ever made to match a mind. And so it is that I rhyme his name With everything that is grand, With all the praise that I can give to make you understand. Though nature never gifted him With silver-plated speech, It never filled his mind with thoughts his language could not reach. More than that she gave him Common sense enough to know, That the simple path of duty Was the one in which to go. Aquila Chase with Wheeler Ann, Took up the yoke together; And in sixteen hundred forty-six they braved New England's weather They blazed the way for you and me Each an advancing pioneer, That we might live in this fair land, Land of freedom and good cheer. Eleven children blessed this home Ann, Sarah, John, and Priscilla, Mary, Elizabeth, Thomas, Ruth, Moses, Daniel and Aquila. This family of whom we are proud, May their memory live forever; We'll do no act to soil it's fame; no never, never, NEVER. So may we live in that same way As our fathers have before, And when we are ushered into heaven They'll meet us at the door. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Composed by Rev. H.B. Chase, a Red Cross officer of Charbonneau, North Dakota and appearing in the July, 1919 issue of the Chase Chronicle.