Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1861-11-14

men are going to murder WAR and Make wild
ows and orphans, and wretchcdness, Suffering
and Death!" ....... -
The hymn which most nearly ap
proaches the true standard is Richard
Storrs Willis, both in words and mu.
sic. Were we able to print the score
as we'll as the verses, we think our
readers would be disposed to accord
this hymn very rare degree of lyri
cal excellence. The former being i'm
possible, behold the latter
Anthem Of liberty,
Solemn and grand
Wake i'm thy loftincss,
Sweep through the land
Light in each breast anew
Patriot fires,
Pledge the old flag again
Flag of cur sircsi
Fling all thy folds abroad,
Banner of light!
Wave, wave forever,
Flag Of our might!
God for our banner,
Freedom and Right
Amen ! Amen!
Spirit of Unity,
Potent. divine,
Come i'm thy kindliness,
All hearts entwine!
Prove to our enemies
Ever rock,
And to each traitor scheme
Ruinous shock
Wake the old banner word
Shout it amain.
Union forever!
Once and again -
Union forever
God it maintain!
Amen! Amen!
Shades of our forefathers,
Pass through the land,
Clothed in full majesty.
Terrible, grand,
Faith, Hope and Charity"
Rule in each breast
Faith, in our Fatherland, ......
Hope, in our Lord,
Charity, still to all
Blindly who'vc err'd!
God save the Government
Long il defend
Father and Friend!
Thine be the glory,
World without end
Amen Amen!
This Hymn has the fault Of being
too subtle in its thought for the pub
ic mind. Its rythmical flow, too, gets
an abrupt check, by the word "Amen
Amen !" closing each chorus. In the
hird verse, such rhymes as errd and
Lord are very bad. Rhyming is little
more than the mechanical part oi
song ; like spelling. it is no credit to
10 it correctly, but a discrcdit to DO it
badly. The next best in the selection
ire e Pluribus Unum," by that vete-
'an poet, the Rev. John Pierpont, and
The Hymn of the Union," by A. j.
II. D[ugannel. This last would be
but for the second verse:
Oh, the flag Of our Union twas woven with light
From the bars Of the rainbow the stars of the night
In the vcsture of Freedom, il swept from on high,
And ts hucs are all blended with beams Of the sky.
Twas the blood Of martyrs that crimsoned lis bars
And the souls Of heroes shine out from its stars
This would be very fine,-if origi
nal. But Rodman Drake had already
written
When Freedom from her mountain hight
Unfurled her standard TO the air,
She tore the azure robe of night
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light.
And Byron, in his lines, on the Star
of the Legion of Honor, had writer
this apostrophe
Before thee rose and with thee grew,
A rainbow of the loveliest hue
OF three bright colors, each divine,
And fit for that celestial sign,
For Freedoms hand had blended them,
Like tints in an immortal gem.
One tint was of the sunbeam's dyes;
One, the blue depth of Seraph's eyes
One, the pure Spirits veil of white
Had robed in radiance Of its light:
The three SD mingled did bcscem
The texture OF heavenly dream.
1t is clear, then, that, years before
Mr.. Duganne was born, Drake and
Byron had anticipated the beautiful
and fanciful idea, and almost the Ian
guage of his second stanza, as above