Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-07-14
FRIDAY, JULY IA, 1926.
POETRY.
Fran the Boston Centinel.


oNTHE DEATH OF JOHN ADAMS.
WHAT mean these bells that thus incessant tol'
Why doth that lannon's roar each moment roll?
The flags at halfmast hang But yesterday
They crown'd each top mast with proud display.
The echoes of the song yet fill our Halls
Ensigns of Triumph decorate their walls:
Our last nights bon6res still are burning low.
What means this medley strange ofjoy and wo'
Grief hath no limits, sorrow seems to rage.
But once before such gloom has wrapped our age.
But look above! what spirit hov'ring there,
Fen now waits midway in those realms FART
His wings are upward, yet he looks below;
He's suminon'd heavenward, yet seems 10th to CO.
Angels attendant on his passage wait,
And heaven unfods to him its golden gate,
Aud, 10, our WASHINGTON brings forth crown,
Yet still has looks on are Bonded down,
And ev'n while heaven receives hissanted part,
His look proclaims his Country hath his heart
The silenttears of every rank and age
Announce the loss of QUINCY'S PATRIOT SAGE.
In days ofdanger, peril was his pride.
In hours of darkness, prudence was his guide.
In times oftempest, at the helm of state,
His grasp was nervous but his look sedate;
His eve was watchful; and his arm was strong;
His care incessant, and his vigils longs
His mind decisive; and the deed design'd
seem'd twin born with the thought that fld his mind;
Or else, so instantly the deed was wrought,
VoGtion seem'dthe secundine ofthought;
Yet no untimely birth brought plan obscure,
Weak. or not vigorous, or immature.
HIS Youths first queries manhood's mind engage.
His youthful doubts were oft unsolv' d byage.
Where ere he questioned, doubt was sure to rise;
But where he doubted, wisdom slow replies.
We saw his look the mirror of his mind,
Commemorative, determin'd well defin'd.
In council ready; lucid in debate;
In mind decisvei purpose, sure as fate;
In action prompt; and fertile in design,
With rich inve ntion's still exhaustless mine;
With genius bright, and yet, endowmentra rare,
The skill ofprudence, the reserve of care.
His courage seconded, with dauntless hand,
The bOldest measures which his daring plann'd.
His foresight seem'd to men prophetic gaze.
Undsunted he beheld wars lightning blaze,
lie mark its progress, told its coming path,
And seiz'd the rod to shisldus from its wrath:
WRAPPED in cloud we saw him fearless rock,
Unscath'd BY lightning and the thunder's shock;
Fast round his form the fiery flashes fall,
He ewes, sustains, averts, directs them all
He trod pathway unexplor'd before;
An unknown ocean, midst tempsst's roar.
Men'shearts misgaye them as they rode its waves;
He fires their courage, every danger braves;
With vigorous arm the barque ofSta'e he steers,
Fill freedoms land in view, all green, appears.
Past are the dangers. of that troubled deep
Calld Revolution; where whole nations sleep
Passd are those bars which PASSIONS currents raise,
Ambition, envy, pride, in counter ways
The shoals and quicksands of the shore are past,
Where wrecks of proud Republics have been cast.
There lie the vestiges of Grecian poweri
of Macedonia's nterregnun hour
There are the ruins of each later age,
Since Macedonia storm Of civil rage;
When hate and envy all the East invest,
While Rome's ambitious pride convuls'd the West;
When factions, urg'd Ger factions fallen, swell,
From Perdiccas till old Seleucus fell
Last of that farfamed band who made their age
bloody portraiture of civil rage.
There is the wreck OF Carthagenian fame;
And there the remnant OF the Roman name.
Let France, let Englands Commonweslth's-men teach
Our Sage's prudence, forecast, mental reach.
Nav look at States and laws more near our own,
The same prominence is clearly shown.
And though no Delphian oracle foretold
His nlans more perfect than all codes of old,
The wisdom of our Fathers early saw
The all but faultlessness of every law
The voice Lycurgus needed fer his fame
To them in wisdom's surer accents came
Useless and vain the aid of pomp or are'
To gain their voices, or secure their heart.
spartans were bold, Athenians were rehned'
Our nations master-trait is strength OF mind
And he whose loss his country now dePlores'
Night boast of wisdOms choicest, richest stores
He scann'd the faults of every nations laws:
He knew the every need of Freedoms cause
He Iy'd to witness what his youth had pannd
Was wisely counsePd, and was justly scann'd
u;s ,v;ssom our ancile, he was made