Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1968 Volume 15 Number 1, Page 16

A Few Lines to "Far Country"

F. R. Wandless

Page 2

A Few Lines to "Far Country" — Visited May 25, 1947

At "Far Country" in the month of May,
A few friends met on a rainy day.
And passed two hours in peace and freedom,
At Jenkins' Hemlock Arboretum.

And even on a rainy day,
The view at "Far Country" is gay.
Each tree and bush and lowly stone,
Has an int'resting story all its own.

History seems to wake and talk,
When you step along the "Signer's Walk"
And places very far and misty,
Seem to come close on the "walk of History."
We travel around the world and back
Along "Geographi[n]g's" winding track.

Our Charming Host made us feel at home
As he told us stories of tree and stone.
We left with regret for the charming hour,
Spent with Charles Jenkins in his Ivory Tower.

F. R. Wandless

EDITOR'S NOTE (2023): Charles Francis Jenkins (1865–1951) was a prominent editor, publisher, historian, and horticulturalist. He founded the Hemlock Arboretum at his home "Far Country" in Germantown, where he created two garden walks, one featuring stones from locations associated with signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the other with locations notable in world history. For more information on this remarkable man, please refer to the biographical article “Charles Francis Jenkins 1856–1951” written by Frank Aydelotte (a former colleague and president of Swarthmore College) and published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 75, No. 4 (January 1951) pp. 365–67.