Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Then rising afar in the western sea,

A new world stood in the morn of the day,
Ready to welcome the brave and free,

Who could wrench out the heart and march away
From the narrow, conservative, dear old land,

Where the poor are held by a cruel bit,
To ampler spaces for heart and hand-
For here was a chance for the Saxon grit.

Steadily steering, eagerly peering,
Trusting in God your fathers came,

Pilgrims and strangers, fronting all dangers,
Cool-headed Saxons with hearts aflame.
Bound by the letter,1 but free from the fetter,
And hiding their freedom in Holy Writ,
They gave Deuteronomy 2 hints in economy,
And made a new Moses of Saxon grit.

They whittled and waded through forest and fen,
Fearless as ever of what might befall;

Pouring out life for the nurture of men;
In faith that by manhood the world wins all.
Inventing baked beans and no end of machines;
Great with the rifle, and great with the axe-
Sending their notions over the oceans,

To fill empty stomachs and straighten bent backs.

1 The letter: the letter of the Scriptures.

2 Deuteronomy: the Book of Deuteronomy is largely made up of rules and regulations for the government of the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land; some of these rules relate to the management of domestic affairs.

Swift to take chances that end in the dollar,
Yet open of hand when the dollar is made,
Maintaining the "meetin'," exalting the scholar,
But a little too anxious about a good trade;
This is young Jonathan,1 son of old John,2
Positive, peaceable, firm in the right,
Saxon men all of us, may we be one,
Steady for freedom and strong in her might.

Then, slow and sure, as the oaks have grown
From the acorns that fell on that autumn day,
So this new manhood in city and town,
To a nobler stature will grow alway;
Winning by inches, holding by clinches,
Slow to contention, and slower to quit,
Now and then failing, never once quailing,
Let us thank God for the Saxon grit.

ROBERT COLLYER.

(Read at the New England dinner in commemoration of the Landing of the Pilgrims, Dec. 22, 1879.)

1 Jonathan: i.e. "Brother Jonathan." During the early part of the Revolutionary War General Washington placed great reliance in the good judgment of Governor Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut. In emergencies he was often heard to say, half humorously, "We must consult Brother Jonathan." From this fact some authorities suppose the name of "Jonathan" came, in time, to designate the American people.

Others think it was derived from Captain Jonathan Carver, an American traveller among the Indians before the Revolution, whom the aborigines were accustomed to call "Our dear brother Jonathan."

2 John: i.e. “ John Bull"; a nickname occurring first in Arbuthnot's satirical "History of John Bull," 1713. He applied it in ridicule to the famous Duke of Marlborough; later, it came to designate the English nation.

DECORATION.1

"Manibus date lilia plenis." 2

'MID the flower-wreathed tombs I stand,
Bearing lilies in my hand.

Comrades! in what soldier-grave
Sleeps the bravest of the brave?

Is it he who sank to rest

With his colors round his breast?
Friendship makes his tomb a shrine,
Garlands veil it; ask not mine.

One low grave, yon trees beneath,
Bears no roses, wears no wreath;
Yet no heart more high and warm
Ever dared the battle-storm.

Never gleamed a prouder eye
In the front of victory;

Never foot had firmer tread

On the field where hope lay dead,

Than are hid within this tomb,
Where the untended grasses bloom;
And no stone with feigned distress,
Mocks the sacred loneliness.

1 Compare Bryant's fine poem "The Conqueror's Grave." 2 Strew lilies with generous hands.

Youth and beauty, dauntless will,
Dreams that life could ne'er fulfil
Here lie buried, here in peace

Wrongs and woes have found release.

Turning from my comrades' eyes.
Kneeling where a woman lies,
I strew lilies on the grave
Of the bravest of the brave.

T. W. HIGGINSON.

SACRIFICE.

THOUGH love repine, and reason chafe,
There came a voice without reply, -
""Tis man's perdition to be safe,
When for the truth he ought to die."

R. W. EMERSON.

« ElőzőTovább »