Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-30
LIBERTY BILLS.

LIBERTY BILLS.
pEDTcATED TO THE CENTENNIAL LEGION.
BIZ L. Virginia French.
Land OF the Beautiful and Brave,-the Eagle
and the star
OF verdant vale and silver wave-we hear thy
We list iSs to tiny pine-cIad hills in all their
sounding pride,
The record OF hundred years-thy grand and
That Thrills to every treeman's soul and fires
his heart of flame.
And many a voice is thine, proud land, as forth
upon the blast -,
Are borne the fRT-o6 echoes Of tny stern anu
Fuu well thy sunny plains could tell how
died the dauntless brave, A.,
AS perishes some gallant barque from Oh Tie
Emil well thy nights could echo back the
broadly booming gun ~,
That Numbered from Its bIazen throat the
news OF freedom won.
The woods could tell of foray fierce and mid
night battlefront.
OF blo6d-ensanSuined warrior chief and
gtealthy footed scout;
Thy streams could muTmur tales OF WOODROW
That gave the ettler's roof-tree 10 the nate
enkindled fire;
Thy vases reveal how, murdered there upon
their verdant sod,
The children OF the pioneer were gathered
back TO Cod
tiful and rand,
For they bind a glorious brotheThood-a ma
ton hand to hand;
umpnant then,
A mighty purpose, kindled in the hearts of
mighty men!
wart State is one
And let the clasp that joins them be-the
grave of Washington.
AveI let our land preserve them well, these
voices of the Past;
To chiIdren's children send them down, IN
sullied to the last;
Preserve them pure and indebted, a heritage
divine ,., 4,
blood at Brandywlne:
Our s6rines of "Union" keep alight, our
beacon-fires sglow- -,
The fires our fathers k1ndIed-JusG One nun-
dred years ago!
Oh! the struggle of the nations! Oh! the
prayers that pierced the skies!
AS that pail of desolation fell DER sad and
When the vestal fires of Freedom faded on
And a despot's shadow deepened into dark
Men grew maddened meath the CALLING and
the gOaolng OF the chain,
As they felt it soaring slowly-eattng down
through heart and brain.
And the women? Ger their histories the
startled reader hears
Their hot hearts dripping DER the page in
showers of blood and tears!
Then arose a gallant legion, in its steadfast
Bold star upon midnight sky-bright bow
And as its banners fioated out, and rank on
rank arrayed,
And struck the sun on glittering eye and
broadly flashing blade;
From the stirred heart of the nation rolled the
protest stern and strong,
And like a bolt of doom 1t struck the giant
Amid the voices Of our Past rang out the
thund 'TOus swell,
That mighty fat of the free-the Independ-
ence Bell
And, to aid that gallant legion, in those
"daTkling days of yore"
When burst the Revolutions heart in rivu-
That night of nights, when patriots were
with its daughters ever faithful, with its
There rose another, desper voice, upon the
7 atoms night,
Twas the heart beats of her wOmen, strik-
ing steadfast for the right.
This to tyrRnt and usurper was her slgnalest
This the grandiy glorious Ginning of her In
dependence Bellies!
Noble women! native products OF a noble,
virgin soil,
Spontaneous springing ere the land had TIL
lage felt OF toll;
eyes and busy hands;
Content to write their royal deeds on none but
Yet hand to hand, and side by side, they
stood the steadlest stay;
OF men who rose in ire to front the fortunes
OF that day;
And while all sweetest sympathies within
their bosom glow,
Their white hands wave, like battle-flags, de-
fiance to the foe.
These were the bellies of Freedoms choice
amid that dreaded eclipse
Their grand tones still bear down to US like
Their great deeds dared for right-for love
are registered sublime
In holy records, Kept beyond the thftheI
shores of time:
Their deep devotion side by side with loved
ones stood and stroYe;
1t was something, oh, my brothers, to be level
with such love.
1t is something 10 be keepers Of that "Union'
altar-glOw,
And the land they dared and died for-just
one hundred years ago!
Seems islanded by pillows blue-the purple
seas of space;
But, take some old star-e azer's glass. look up.
ward and behold
The seeming void is crowded thick with or6s
of sparkling gold!
Well, thus around the DANES OF old, so beau
tiful and strong,
An unincumbered sea OF space would seem tc
roll along;
But, If you take the glass OF Love, and ylelo
you to its sway,
You'll see those spaces gemmed with stars-the
Women of To-day!
IT'S not the crown of bays that makes a Wo
mans forehead grand,
IT'S not the fiery flashing gem that nerves {
'Tis not the silken, sceptred state that con
QuerS life and time,
But Purpose, Effort, Action, make womant
life sublime!
Some, like the stars T. the milky way, tina
whiten as they roll,
Irradiate our life-path with their whitenes
And some there are who live and roll within
a soul eclipse,
Who yet reveal in works their woman's NUT
Apocalypse.
| There sounds a silvery trumpet-cau iron
every mountain high,
| The music of our murmuriDg stars ring
nObly up the sky;
Prophetic lights loom up along another cen
| tury'S years
Like Boreaiis crimsoning about the northern
| spheres;
Another LEGION" leads the way is wOrkIn
hand to hand,
And heart to heart, to give us back a stron
| united land,
And in this work is cbeered, we trust, b.
| richest music swells
| From woman's soul of lOve-Our sweetest In
| dependence Bells.
Strike off the gives of discord! Let neI
| Union heights be won
| With hearts Ike hearts OF eagles, beating up
| ward to the sun!
| No need to plead that Honor then shall kee
| our statutes" sure,
| No need to plead for plighted Faith, when al
| shall keep it pure
| When every stone in Freedoms fame, deep
| craven and sublime
| Tells womans patriotic truth to every earthl
| cline,
| And, like the Memphian marbles, holds he
| record to all time.
! God speed the hour! Twill come, perchanct
when we that work to-day
| To the great land OF love and light shall al
have passed away;
| But still may each, with angel eyes and visiol
heavenly clear,
Look down from love and union there to Low
and union here!
And through eternity behold the sacred alta
glow
We guarded on the earth thousand year
FOREST HOME, July, 1915.
LAMAR.
tratiOn and the Radical Party.