McCrossen, Perkins, Pelon, Vanderlip
And Ullom Family Genealogy Pages

The Ada Bridge

By Bill And Bennie Perkins
Originally Published In The "Lowell Ledger" 1916

They’re ripping down the Ada Bridge
That stood for all these years,
They’re pulling out the girders
And tearing down the piers.

I went to see the new one
They’ve put across the River Grand
It’s built of iron and mighty solid
I know ‘twill “allus” stand.

I s'pose the new one’s better
For it does seem might fine;
But somehow for me I’d ruther
Cross the old one any time.

That old bridge was mighty friendly
And when there came snow or rain,
You could stop aneath her cover
Till the sun shone thru again.

And a coming home at noon hour,
When the sun was b’iling hot;
That old bridge was glad to shade ye
And a man’s plumb glad ter stop.

On the covering of her girders,
Why, ‘twas like a hall of fame.
And as I looked ‘em over
I saw Will McMurray’s name.

So I looked a little further
An’I saw Jim Bristol’s too.
And Uncle Heniy Bradfield
He had carved her up a few.

And I saw some names ‘twas there,
An’my eyes got full o’ tears;
For the carvers had been sleeping
On the hillside many years.

The bridge is like the carvers
Who cut their names upon the beams.
They all have served their usefulness
They all must go, it seems.

They built the new one just above ‘er,
A mighty thing of steel and stone;
An’ I reckon ‘twill be stan ‘in’
When us old uns all are gone.

For we’re all like wood bridges,
That are built with Oaken beams;
We serve our time an’ new ones
Span our places o’er life’s streams.

So let them tear the old bridge down
And make way for the new,
For the old one stepped aside for me
And they made a place for you.

So tear her all asunder
From her piers up to her ridge.
There’s a place up in my memory
Where I’ll keep the Ada bridge.