St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1859-07-21
Net starred and spangled courts,
Whers low-browed baseness, watts perfume to
Snpsdn .as -

No! men-high-minded men,
With Powers Is far above dull brutes indued,
In forest brake or den,
As beasts excel cold rocks and bresn,nnbles ride.
: Men, who their duties know; ~
But know their rights, and knowing dare
maintain.
Prevent the long armed blew,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain:
These constitute State.
And sovereign Law-that States collected will
Ger thrones and globes elate-'
Sits Empress, crowning good, repressing i'll.
: Smit by her sacred frown,
The fend Discretion, ike ! vaporr silks
And cen the all dazzling crown,
Hides his faint rays and at her bidding s,,rinks.
Well Mr.. Chairman and fellow citizens.
zoe are here in Minnesota. We have left
the old circles-the old homesteads--the
old School House and Church, tic cid IA.
miliar faces and places, and are Eoy on
what two years ago was the very confines.
Of civilization. These green shades and
flowers and blooming faces are pleasing to
the eye, and gratefully consoling to the
heart, But yet therSlare by gone days
memories, away back in the Past. 20 which
doubtless most Of US, sometimes, amid all
the excitement and hurry Of this Pioneer
life will turn back.
There's magical Isle up the RIVER. of Tine,
Where the soteat of airs are playing,
There's cloudless sky aida tropical cline,
And song as sweet as a vesper chime,
And the Junes with the Roses arc staying.
And the name Of the Isle is the Long Ago,
And We bury our treasures there;
There are brows of beauty and bosor,s Of SNOW
There are heaps of dust, but We loved them 50
There are trinkets and tresses Of hair.
There arc fragments Of song that nobody sings,
And part of an infants prayer;
There's a lutte unswept, and q harp xi,hou.
strings,
There are broken VOWS, and pieces Of rings,
And the garments she used to wear.
There arehands that waved, when the fairy shors
By the Mirage is, lifted in air;
And we sometimes hear through tae turbulent
roar,
Sweet voices We heard in the days gone before
When the wind down the river Is fair.
| o, remembered for aye, be the blessed Isle.
All the day Of our life till night
When the evening comes with its beautiful sniic
And our eyes are closing to slumber while,
May that "Greenwood" Of souls be il, sight:
The Past truly has its treasures, its fond
fremembrances. And yet however bcauti-
fal-however classic, however much of his
toric or romantic or Poetic incidcn. NAV
have been gathered around cur old homes,
Yes, however much we may have loved,
and still Go love the dear old place, vet
we are here in our own Few and noble
State, and it holds the Highest place in our
heart Of hearts to day. We are in the
Union, the wings of the National Eagle,
over spread US; the glorious Stars and Stripes
fold themselves around us, the lessons OF
our Youth, are again fresh in our minds
and hearts, and the youthful glow Of our
Patriotism is again upon our faces, though
mountains rise and Rivers roll between us,
and our native homes. Well may We feel
the glow and ardor of our youthful Patriot
ism. What Country on the face of Gods
green Earth, more entitled to our adm;ra-
ton or more calculated to win our love
than this North Star State, this youngest
sister Of the greatest confederacy the world
has ever known1
This is a land where by the force of Ex-
ternals alone, the purest aspirations OF the
heart are called into being. Here the eye
is greeted by the loveliest visions os scenic
beauty; of far stretching and flower deckrl
Prairie; of noble forests, whose sentincls..
tall and grim, stand clothed in their bark
armour and keeping watch just as they have
watched and stood for centuries lony cone
BY; of silvery Lakes in wooded glen. on
foWery glades and emerald hill-.ops, even
whose crystal waves srzkle and. fash in =
sunshine softer and clearer and richer far
than that which casts its light and shade
on Italian plains OF Roman ,Pillars-it !,
= land where the ear issgreetcd with tho
soft murmur Of innumerablc rivulcts With
their thousand cascades, and above all may.
be heard the roaring fall Of thea Father Of
Waters. Where tho sens lis RECALLED will,
the rich perfume Of INN iinlnp esabIe flowers.
Where every breath is red Nth sweet.
st odors. Where the ra efs5s and MATHS
re sung BY 'choirs Of fsstfsfsl ;sarbls.s.
Where the day Is followed hyaa :.:..ht ct
aappiest dreams hers i; ssaa, 1.iso !,
tssaf 2 Glory, sad Earth s.Hea7sn!
ssS- AZ a fss,