Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-09

| w lJl IRE OF metal anu IOrC6 Oh StOno!
, She set the speed OF the river head
To turn the mills of her bread;
She drove her ploughShares deep
} Through the prairie'S thOuSand-centurteC
To the South, and West, and North,
She called Pathfinder forth,
Her faithful and sole companion,
, Where the flushed Sierra, snOWy-starred,
Her way TO the sunset barred,
And the n8meless rivers in thunder and foam
CnannelIed the terrible canyon!
, Nor paused, till her uttermost home
, Was built, in the smile of softer sky
And the glory of beauty still to be,
/, | Where the haunted waves of Asia die
/ On the strand of the worldwide sea!
Therace, In conquering,
Some fierce Titanic joy Of conquest knows:
Whether in veins of Serf or king,
Our ancient blood beats restless in repOSe.
Challenge of Nature unsubdued
Awaits not Mans defiant answer long;
+ For hardship even as wrong,
| PrOvokeS the developed, heroic mood.
, This for herself she did; but that which lies,
Asover the earth the skies,
| Blending all forms in one benignant glow
crowned conscience, tender care,
Justice that answers every bondman s prayer
Freedom, where Faith may lead Or Though
The power of minds that know,
Passion OF hearts that feel,
Purchased by blood and woe,
| Guarded by fire and steel
Hath she secured? What blazOn on hel
shield,
III the Century's light
SHINES to the world revealed,
Declaring nobler triumph, born OF Right?
| I.-3.
Foreseen in the vision of sages,
Foretold when martyrs bled,
She was born of The longing of ages,
| By the truth of the noble dead
And the faith OF the living fed
No blood in her Hghtest veins
Frets at remembered chains,
Nor shame of bondage has bowed her head.
In her form and features still
the unblenching Puritan will,
Cavalier honor, Huguenot grace,
The Quaker truth and sweetness,
And the strength of a dan ger-girded race
From the homes of all where her being began
Hhe took what she gave to man;
Justice, that knew no station,
| Belief as soul decreed,
Free air of aspiration,
Free force for independent deed!
She takes, but to give again,
| AS the sea returns the rivers in rain,
And gathers the chosen of her seed
From the hunted of every crown and creed.
Her Germany dwells by gentler Rhine;
Her Ireland sees the old sun burst shine;
Her France purSue5 some dream divine;
Her Norway keeps his mountain pine;
Her Italy waits by the western brine;
And brOad-based under all,
Is planted England's Oaken-hearted mood,
/ AS rich in fortitude
As e'er went Woodward from the island-wall
Fused in her candid light,
To Que strong race all races here unite:
| Tongues melt in hers, hereditary fOemen
Forget their swords and slogan, kith and clap
Twas glory, once, to be a Remau;
She makes it cory, now, TO be Man!
lis.
Bow down.
Doff thine ieOnian crown!
| One hour forget
The glory, and recall the debt;
| Make expiauon,
| OF humber mood,
For the pride of thine exultatton
| Ger peril conquered and strife Subdued!
But half the hight is Wrested
When victory yields her prize,
And half the marrow tested
When old Endurance dies.
In the sight of them that love thee,
Bow TO the Greater above thee!
He fsileth not to s1nite
The idle ownership of Right,
| Nor spares the sinewS fresh from trial,
| And virtue ,hooled in long denial,
| The tests that wait for thee
| In larger peTils Of prosperity.
| Here, at the Century's awful shrine,
Bow TO thy Fathers God-and thine!
| Behold she bendeth now,
Humbling the chaplet of her hundred years
There is a solem n sweetness on her prow'
And in her eyes are sacred tears.
Can she forget,
In present joy, the burden of her debt,
| When for a captive race
She grandly staked and won
The total power OF her promise begun,
And barred her bosom's grace
Can she forget
The million graves her young devotion set,
The hands that clasp above
From either side, in sad, returning love?
Can she forget,
Here, where the Ruler of to-day,
The Citizen of tomorrow,
And equal thousands to rejoice and pray
Beside these holy walls are met,
Her birth-cry mixed OF keenest DllsS ana sor a
Where, on Jusy's immortal morn
Held forth the PSODle saw her heeu
And shouted to the world: "4he King IS
But To-! the Heir is born?"
When IRE of Youth, and sober trust of Age,
In Farmer, Soldier, Priest and Sage,
Arose and cast upon her
Baptlsmal garmentS-never robes so falr
Clad princes in Old World air
Their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honori
III.
AriseI Recrown thy head
Radiant with blessings of the dead!
Bear from this hsIloWed place
The prayer that PARTIES thy lips,
The light OF courage that dehes eclipse,
The rose of Mans new morning on thy facet
Let no iconoclast
Invade thy rising Pantheon of the Past,
To make blank where Adams stood,
To touch the Fathers sheathed and glorious
blade,
Spoil crowns on jefferson and Franklin laid,
Or wash from Freedoms feet the stain of Lin
coins bloodI
Hearken, as from that haunted hall
Their voices call:
ave lived and died for thee;
We greatly dared that thou might'St be;
SO from thy children still
We claim denials which at last fulfill,
And freedom yielded to preserve thee free!
Beside clear-heaTted Right,
That smiles at Powers uplighted rod,
Plant Duties that requlte,
And Order that Eustains, upon thy sod,
And stand in stainless might
Above all self, and only less than God"
I'LL.
Here may thy solemn challenge end,
All proving Past, and each discOrdance ole
OF doubtful auguy,
Or in one choral with the Present blend,
And that half heard, sweet harmony
or something nobler than our sons may see!
Though poignant memories burn
OF days that were, and may aga'n return,
When thy fleet foot, o Huntre OF the Woods,
The slippery Drinks of danger knew.
And dim the eye light grew
That was 50 sure in thine old sol1tudeS-
Yet stays some richer sense
Won from the mixture of thine elements,
TO guide the vagrant scheme,
And winnow truth rom each conflicting
Yet in thy blood shall live
Some force unspent, some e. ence pflmltlVe'
TO seize the highest use OF Things
For Fate, to mould thee TO her plan,
Denied thee food of kings.
Withheld thee udder and the otcharu-Irults'
Fed thee with savage roofs, ,.ouuo,,
And forced thy harsher milk from barren
breasts OF man!
Ill.,.
sacred Woman-Form,
OF the first Peoples need and passion
wrought
No thin, pale ghost Of Thought,
But fair as morning, and rs heart s-blood |
warm
Wearing thy prlesly tiar on Judah's hills;
Clear-eyed beneath Athene's helm OF goluj
Or from Rome's central seat
Hearing the pulses OF the Continents beat
In thunder where her legiOns rolled;
Compact Of high heroic hearts and wills,
Whose. being circles all ,,,,
The self ess aims of men, and ali IulniisI