Born free, thus we resolve to live: Shake out their glories to the air, Then let the drums all roll! Born free, thus we resolve to live: Then let the drums all roll! JAMES BARRON HOPE. THE RÉVEILLE. HARK! I hear the tramp of thousands, Freemen, come! Ere your heritage be wasted," said the quick alarming drum. "Let me of my heart take counsel: Who shall stay and reap the harvest Echoed, "Come! Death shall reap the braver harvest," said the solemn-sounding drum. "But when won the coming battle, Answered, "Come! You must do the sum to prove it," said the Yankeeanswering drum. “What if, 'mid the cannon's thunder, Answered, "Come! Better there in death united than in life a recreant -come!" Thus they answered-hoping, fearing, Some in faith, and doubting some, Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming, Lo! was dumb; For the great heart of the nation, throbbing, answered, "Lord, we come!" BRET HARTE. "UNDER THE CLOUD AND THROUGH THE SEA." So moved they when false Pharaoh's legion prest, Chariots and horsemen following furiously,Sons of old Israel, at their God's behest, Under the cloud and through the swelling sea. So passed they, fearless, where the parted wave, A solemn aisle before-behind, a grave,— And Amorite spears flashed keen and fearfully: Sons of the Saints who faced their Jordan-flood save, O countrymen! God's day is not yet done; Beneath the Cloud and through the crimson Sea! APOCALYPSE. [Written in memory of Private Luther C. Ladd, killed by a mob which attacked his regiment, the Sixth Massachusetts, while passing through Baltimore on the way to Washington, April 19, 1861: the first life lost in the war.] STRAIGHT to his heart the bullet crushed; A sudden spasm shook his frame, Which in a moment ceased, and then Saul stood apart a little space And shook with shuddering awe to trace Thus, like a king, erect in pride, Raising clean hands toward heaven, he cried, “All hail the Stars and Stripes !” and died— Died grandly. But before he fell, Was granted to him, and his eyes And saw the seeds which sages cast Saw how the souls of men had grown, Saw how, by sorrow tried and proved, Saw Treason crushed and Freedom crowned, And clamorous Faction, gagged and bound, Gasping its life out on the ground. Saw how, across his country's slopes, Walked swarming troops of cheerful hopes, Which evermore to broader scopes Increased, with power that comprehends Saw how, throughout the vast extents That from beyond the utmost seas, Saw how, of all her trebled host Of widening empires, none might boast Because they grew so equal there With far-off vision gazing clear He-marking how her high increase Greeted, in one transcendent cry Saluting with most proud disdain So, lifted with prophetic pride, Raised conquering hands toward heaven and cried, “All hail the Stars and Stripes!" and died. RICHARD REALF. |