Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1876-09-15
CENTENNIAL ODE.
BY HENRY c. nALLownLL.

An Hundred Years And Nature never old,
Still, day by day, orders her myriad works.
The sun rose on in flaming spendor form
Air and earth and water, calling forth the
lnnumemble mysteries Of life;
The moon gilds grassy slope and wild ravine
And restless sea; All the stars of Heaven
Rise and set and rise again; River, flow,
Bringing the drift and pebbles from the far
Snow-manued Mountains; Oceans bosom
swells
And sinks; The seasons change; And all
moves on
AS in years gone by.
A Century,
10 the long ages of Creations course
Is but the fash Of passing bird the swing
or pendulum, the ripple of wave,
Ten thousand thousand years has Natures
force
Transformed the elements, and carrying on
vast diversified ordained plan,
Prepared this home for occupation;
Has embellhed it with beauties countless
As the glitterihg sands on Africs desert
Aud still through ages numberless to come
VIII silent, slow, unerring energy
Work out new loneliness for coming man.
Wild hurricanes will sweep DER earth her
face
Will seem all Scared and torn and bleeding /;
To the imperfect vision the Chaos reigns;
Yet all is part Of one grand scheme for good,
AS earth puts on her tarcst robe of green,
Bedecked with jewels, after summer storm.
Rnt where are those who on the day which we.
with patriot instinct celebrate, fulfilled
Their varied duties The venerable
Slres nave long since rested from their labors ;
The stalwart men and noble mothers gave
IheIr llie-work to their kind, and sank to sleep;
n ha hn hnrn boo, tzs,..,.
Or rompng girl with merry sparkling eve.
And by degrees assumed the cares of life,
And tolied, and moaued, aud smiled then i;
too slept
All who looked abroad that day on Nature,
Now rest beneath the swelling grassy waves
Of the last home.
But yet to US they livei
Man passes to his rest and seems to die
ANA be forgotten, but his deeds remain
The learned tell US that there is no waste
% force in Natures wise economy
That every motion is but vital power
Coeyal with the origin of things.
80 every act of kindness every word
VI love, each gentle ministering to
The wants and pains and sorrows of our kind.
Lives in genter race nober line.
virtuons and chiviric falher
mother true TO noble womanhood
Leaves ia successive ages far remote
Traces OF goodness and undyng worth
No life so humble but it makes its mark
FOR good or III, but helps to shape in slight
Degree, the form and manners OF The age,
AS grain By grain the tiny insect rears
The coral continents in tropic seas.
What ist the lesson then for us 10 learn,
In looking through the long array Of years
That stretch in hazy distance down the Past ?
Is not to grid the armor of true
Manhood, energy and faith upon us,
Not satisfied TO idly drift along
Tho stream Of life, bur taking up our work
Acknowledge each his debt TO country, race ?
NoslY we commemorate the virtues
OF ancestral worth, by honest actions,
| BY elevated thoughts, by purer lives,
BY gentle courtesy, by liberal DECIDE,
BY earnest trust in virtue, valor truth.
Aliho' at times the outlook DER the world
is darkened by The prevalence Of wrong;
Allho' the anxious heart grows faint and sick
| While waiting the approach Of brighter day
Altho' the lover Of bis race well nigh
Dcspairs of mans regeneration; vet
AS certain as the light Of coming dawn
Is progress to higher, better life
He who has watched from lofty mountain peak
The eddying OF The mist that sbrouds the vale
Knows that its tossings mark Plastic power
That soon shall mould to drifting, heecy clouds,
The exllalalions from the marshy shore
So shall the light Of coming ages show
Beneath the faults and errors u to-day,
gloriohs heritage Of Truth and Good
The past returns no more With Hope and
Trust
We face the future striving for the best,
And 50 we offer to the coming years,
The era that begins to-day, our Hymn.
Hail Oh new and happy time
Welcome 10 this world of ours
Welcome 20 the Winters rme
Welcome to the Summer fowers
Tho no mortal eye may scan
All the threads of JOY and sorrow
That diversity Thy plan
AS thou grcetest each tomorrow;
Tho the eyes that sparkle now,
Ere thy close may shut forever,
Tho the fair the manly brow,
Gain the wreath that fldeth never;
Calmly in this thought wen rest
While we humtly give three greeting
All is ordered for the best
Thus the wool Of life completing.
AS the ages roll away,
Other forms in turn will meet thee,
Fairer scenes, brighter day.
Nobler races sill will greet thee
ssrT.