Who Cares for History?

They tore down the old Saylor house,
the one historic mansion left in town
built by the first Saylor almost
two centuries ago. He grew rich from
furs from the Indians, a general store
for settlers, his motto said:
‘‘If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.’’
When the last leaf fell, frail Miss Saylor,
fell from the family tree, they tore
down the house. We few remember
the exquisite walnut and cherry panels,
the wide stairway with its graceful curve,
the white marble Italian fireplaces.
A chrome and glass office building
will rise where it stood. Perhaps
the Mayor is right, you can’t stop
progress. Probably our reproaches will
fade away and our children have
no emotion about it. No one will remember
the picture over the living room fireplace
of a stern elderly gentleman who watched
out the window at Indians
burning a log cabin.