The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-08-18

More than'the martial strength of earth.
they fix our reverence for the past
And serve to hold affections fast.
However feeble they may seem,
lhey hold us with might supreme,
Give common use its honest fee
And deeds their immortality.
But half century we need
To change or modify a creed,
A social usage or a want,
The little greenhouses we vaunt,
Our cherished habits and our loves,
For ere'ything WLh all things n'oces.
And so ii comes about that they
Who date this half a century
From cradle rhymes, have lived to see
Themselves the idols Of our day.
Their labor gives the present age,
To US Il mighty heritage.
And now their mighty work is done
They rest and calmly look upon
The finished splendor of their skill,
The triumph of their faith and will.
They, looking backward, plainly see
Each duty a. destiny,
And every work Il prophecy.
Their time, their labors and their place
Made possible the present grace.
Eor this we honor them to day,
For this we thank them revcrcntly.
The master was Yankee, cutc,
who taught young ideas how TO shoot,
And played Old Hundred on the flute.
The preachers in those stirring days
Were wonderful in works and praise.
Their prayers were deeds of active sort
That helped the laymen hold the fort"
They prcached-but kept their powder dry.
They seldom prayed without their gun.
They knew an Indians time TO die
Was any hour 'twxt sun and sun.
But where an Indians spirit went
They never questioned worth a cent.
True righteousness will have its way,
And takes the fashion of its day.
The fashion of its present mood
Is charity, and that Is good.
The poorest earth, well mixed with Heaven
of charity, may rise to heaven.
But when all charity is sin
IT'S hard TO tell where rights begin.
Old settlers all remember well
The Indians wild, internal yell
That, like the banner cry of hell
Broke through the stiffness of the night
TO blanch their checks with sudden fright,
Fen now their ears will echo back
The startling rifles deadly crack,
The shricks of many u victim slain
Whose cries for mercy were in vain.
In dread they ate their daily meals,
In watchfu dread they plowed their fields
Their nights were restless, crossed with fear
OF deadly foes in ambush near
Their days grew weary with the press
Oi unabating watchiulness.
And therefore is 1t that say
Tue righteousness VIII nave llh way
And take the fashion of its day.
When charity begins at home,
And dare not from its Jingle roam,
The rifle Ia the rule of right,
Sharpshooting IL a prayer for light.
In fact, we, of the present day,
Are learning somewhat rapidly
The mood and tense of charity;
Are losing our angelic lcavcn,
And think that charity could make it even
BY densey populating heaven
With lawless saints, too largely loose,
For whom the earth can find no use.
With pride we retrospect the past;
With hope the future years forecast.
The first is certain history;
The last is doubtful prophesy.
Fen fancy, while she folds her wing,
Keeps silence where she fears to sing,
Peers forward with pcrplexing stare
TO catch the color Of the air.
The Eastern sky is all maze
And vcXcd with many colored rays.
Its gold--a pale malignant light;
Its rose-is changed to ghastly white.
blood-red Cross, far reaching, flies
Along the Oriental skies,
disappearing heaven with hooking prayer
Gods lightning strikes II In the air!
In fragments drops the lying Cross,
A gildcd sham, Il thing of dross.
The Crescent now droODs, drcarily.
A dead thing on Black, dead sea
The Gross and Crescent both in doubt,
Perhaps in blood will both 30 out
And leave the waning eastern light
TO close in medieval night,
But turn we to the shining WEST
Where now the =" star of empire rests
How like miracle OF light
She leaped from ont the gloomy night
OF dull tradition-wondrously
TRANSPORTED on q luminous sky.
The horrors of barbara life,
THAT normal state of blood and strife,
Was here but yesterday, 1t seems
lis vanished like hidcOus dream.
Though love and culture felt their way
But fceby in the mornings ray,
The promise opening in the sky
Grew larger to the accustomed eye
Until the gates that locked the sun
Wide open swung-full light redeemed
And DAY in al its glory bcamcd.
Now We, their children, waiting stand,
With willing hearts and ready hands
TO take the burden of the age
Aud bless them for the heritage
We vow to bear the burden on
Until our lives and work are done,
Move upward to the highest height
And forward to the broadcast light,
Work az our fathers bravcly wrought,
Teach as our fathers bravcly taught.
The pioneers we're strong of hand,
Tall giants set ~ guard the land.
Stout arms were needed for the trust,
To wrench, 10 parry and TO thrust
To conquer in he brutal strife
Which madt the curse of savage life.
They gave tn ir early youth, their prime,
Their manhood to its latest time.
They lived SECLUDED, lonely lives,
With bpt rhcir children and their wives.
They hsd their churches and their schools,
Their maxims and their moral rules
The'church was half an arsenal.
Tbr block house was a church as well.
The schOol-house was buckeye fort,
And every window was port.
ter the singing Of Going Back to Dixie
he quartcttc, Mr., Momycr made a few II
ks expressing his qualification at the man
lges for the bcttcrhc had noticed in the coul
nee his first sight Of it in 1888 when he wei
ugh it and Ottawa via the then just openc
are and Rock Island X. r. If in the futui
cps on improving as ii has during the pas
,ars it will be one of the grandcst old coui
i'm fine world