The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-07-05
Columbia.

COMPOSED FOR THE NISETY-srxTH ANNIvER.
SARN oF AMERICAN INDEPESDENCE.
Columbia, haui We proudly look to thee,
Fair land OF progress-hOme OF liberty.
Grand is thy present-greater yet shall be
The glorious future Of thy destiny.
Thou solved the doubt concerning men and
kings
Proved good by practice kings were useless
things.
Hope blooms for all in thy prolific zone,
Whose humblest son may rise unto the throne.
In thee may genius, talent, science rise,
And strive, untrammeled, for the cherished
prize.
In thee intelligence may plume her wing,
Nor creep nor crawl TO any lesser thing;
In thee no cell Of pious 81. Bernard
Prisons the wisdom Of an Abelard:
No bgot's hate assumes 20 overthrow
The new-found truths ola Calico;
No Brecias Arnold for his safety flies
To frozen Alps, away from mortal eyes,
Wanders an exile, sleeps upon the snow,
Suffers, alas! unutterable woe,
Because he loves his fellows more than creed,
Prates less Of that and more OF noble deed,
Reveals the simple truth Of Natures plan:
Whate'er he is, no man is more than man.
Throughout old EurOpe's historic domain,
What countless wretches shiver, starve, despair,
Outside the marble doInes their labors rear,
Whose ranks increase till the nobility
Contrive a war and end their misery.
VIII e'er these serfs awaken in their might,
Assert their honor, dignity and right?
VIII coming ages only but re-sing
The same degrading song OF war and king?
Oh, Heaven! twas not thy intended plan
That man should thus oppress his fellow man
Angel Of Freedom, comet Oh, come again!-
Help humanity to erase the stain.
See Ignorance her sightless hosts array
Their sombre banners veil the light OF day;
One single orb their labor still defies-
10! reasons star iIluminates the skies,
Reveals the path, denotes the future plan,
OF Universal Liberty TO man.
Behold! upon proud Albion's sea-bound isles
The first faint, glimm'ring streak of morning
smilesl
A Dixie and Hubert hurl the gauntlet down,
And aim their shafts AT England's fading
crown.
Hist'ry will tell how, Spartan-like, they Stood
Two for the right against multitude.
Columbia, through the long Egyptian night
Ofthy immortal struggle for the right,
But for all the world and its posterity;
To leave Us our inheritance behind
Our gallant Warren fell for all mankind;
Prescott and Putnam fought for every cline,
For every race enslaved, for every time;
Their triumphs then to-day arc triumphs still,
And present progress dates from Bunker Hill. |
Ye sacred heroes, Ger Columbia's pride,
Who twined thy fates in her, and bled and died,
Ifye can read with a prophcticeye,
Say, is her freedom doomed, alas, TO dice
Shall her fair banner in the dust be cast,
And all her glory fade, like Rome's, at last?
Shall her brave sons e'er feel the CALLING chain?
Lived Bolivar and Washington in vain?
No! no! Behold the writing on the wall!
See Maxlmillian's royal body fall,
Pierced by the bullets orthe patriot squad,
True 10 their Country, Liberty and Godi
For Freedoms criminal pity breathes no sigh
Fen Mercy yields consent that he should die.
Here Mexico's first Maxlmillian sleeps
Alone his end poor mad Carlotta veeps.
Much cause for weeping while in life he gave,
Yet none AT all for weeping DER his grave;
His murd'rous reign revealed no feeling tone,
Began In death, and ended with his own.
Columbia. within thy broad domain
4 hundred nations reap thy golden grain;
A hundred nations CLEAN thy golden sands,
And ind home within thy many lands.
From pole 10 pole, from east unto the west,
To thee do millions turn and hail thee blest.
Thy gates are open wide-thy mighty heart
Welcomes them all, denying none part.
Still, still they come, from every foreign shore,
To claim share OF thy exhaustless store;
sim, still they come, from ancient homes op-
pressed,
To seek relief within thy mighty breast
To stand beneath thy starry flag and be
What Heaven designed they should be-FREE.
STEPHEN MAYBELL.