Below is the text of Rev. Dr. Rufus P. Stebbins, referenced in the Berkshire County Eagle article above. Reference: An historical address, delivered at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Wilbraham, June 15, 1863, by Rufus P. Stebbins, pp. 66-67,

No literary productions have come down from this period except the precinct records... and a celebrated poem, on the death of "Leut. Thomas Mirick's only Son," who "dyed, August 7th, 1761, By the Bite of a Ratle Snake, Being 22 years, two months and three days old, and very nigh marridge," as faithful Clark Warner records. This poem had a wide circulation in both manuscript and print, and is the great Elegy of the "Mountains." Like the author of another immortal poem, the Iliad, its author and his residence are alike mythical; but his work and his fame have endured....

Longmeadow and Ludlow and Springfield will strive to rob Wilbraham of the honor of giving him birth and guarding his ashes, they cannot rob us of the unspeakable glory of having within our borders the grave of the immortal subject of the poem. Without waiting to invoke the aid of muses or gods, either sacred or profane, the poet, seized and carried away with the magnitude and inspiration of his subject, burst forth,—

"On Springfield Mountains there did dwell
A Likely youth who was known full well,
Leutenant Mirick's only sone
A likely youth nigh twenty-one."

I may well be excused from repeating the pathetic lines which follow, as I am informed that better justice can be done them by the plaintive music of "ye olden tyme" in which they will be sung after we are refreshed at the table. [1]

[1] ((This note references Appendix G, which quotes the poem exactly as above, with the title "ELEGY ON THE YOUNG MAN BITTEN BY A RATTLESNAKE," plus)):

I hardly overstated the variety of claimants, or rather authors, to whom this Elegy(?) is attributed, — to Daniel or Jesse Carpenter, to a young lady to whom young Merrick was engaged, and to Nathan Torrey. The latter has the honor of authorship, if any reliance can be placed upon the most direct and authentic tradition on the subject. The original hi been tampered with by editors. I have done my best to approach the author's copy.