The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-08-24

And yet,-O Earth, thank God the soul of song
Is as immortal as the eternal starsl
o, trembling heartl take courage and be strong
Hark to voice from yonder crystal bars =
"Did the roses blow last June?
Do the stars still rise and set?
And over the crests of the mountains
Are the light clouds floating YETI
Do the rivers run to the sea
With deep resistless flow?
Do the little birds sing north and south
AS the seasons come and goy
care the hills MS fiair as OF oldp
Are the skies as blue and fary
Lave yon lost the pomp of the sunset,
Or the light of the evening star?
Has the glory gone from the morning?
Do the wild winds wall no more
Is there no thunder of pillows
Beating the storm-lashed shore
as Love forgotten story?
Is Passion TESTERS theme?
Has Nalor thrown down its armor?
Is Honor an idle dream2
Is there NO pure trust in woman?
No conquering faith in God?
Are there no feet strong to follow
In the paths the martyrs trod?
"Did you find no hero graves
When your violets bloomed last May
Prouder than those of Marathon,
Or "old Plateas day.?
When your red and white aud blue
On the free winds huttered out,
Where there no strong hearts and voices
To receive II with a shout?
Obi let the earth grow old
And the morning stars grow cold
And, II you will. declare mans story told
Yet, pure as faith is pure,
And sure as death is sure,
AS long as love shall live, shall song endure =
When one by one the stately, silent Years
Glide like pale ghosts beyond our yearning sight,
vaiply we stretch our arms to stay their hight,
So soon, so swim, they pass to endless night
We hardly learn to name them,
To praise them, or to blame them,
To know their shadowy faces
Ere we see their empty places
Only Only once ne glad Spring greets them
Only once the Autumn glory
Tells for them its mystic story
Only once the Winter hoary
Weaves for them its robes of light
Years leave their work half done like men
alas
With sheaves ungathered to their graves
they pass
And are forgotten. What they strive to do
Lives for awhile in memory ofa few;
Then over all Oblvion's waters flow
The Years are buried in the Long Ago.
But wnen a century dies, what room is there
Rather in solemn exaltation let us come,
With roll of drum,
(Sot mufied as in woe)
With blare of bugles, and the liquid flow
VI silver clarions, and the long appeal
Of the clear trumpeis ringing peal on peal,
With clash of bells, and hosts in proud array
To pay meet homage to its burial day
For its proud work is done. Its name is writ
Where all the ages that come after it
shall read the eternal letters, blazoned high
On the bluesdome of the impartial sky
What ruthless fate can darken its renown,
Or dim the lustre of its starry crown?
On mountain-peaks of Time each Century stands
alone;
And each. for glory or for shame, hath reaped
what II hath sown!
But this-the one that gave thee birth
A hundred years ago, . beauteous mother
This mighty century had mghtier brother
Who from the watching earth
Passed but last year! Twin-born indeed were
For what are twelve months to the womb OF
Pregnant with agesY-Hand in hand they
With clear young eyes uplifted to the stars,
With great, strong souls that never stopped
for bars,
Through storm and darkness up to glorious
day
Each knew the others need; each in his breast
The subtle tie OF closest kin confessed;
Counted the others honor as his own;
Nor feared to sit upon separate throne;
Nor loved each other less when-wondrous
fatei-
One gave Nation life. and one State
OH rude the cradle in which each was rocked,
The infant Nation. and the infant statel
Rough nurses were the Centuries that Knocked
At mother kisses, and for mothers arms
Gave their young nursings sudden harsh
alarms,
Quick blows and stern rebu1s. They bsde
them wait
Often in cold and hunger while the feast
Was spread for others. aud, though last moi
least,
Gave them sharp swords for playthings, and
the din
ofactual battle for the mimic strife
That childhood glOries in
Yet not the less they loved them. Spartans
they,
Who could not rear week. afeminate brood.
Better the forests awfll solitude,
Better the desert spaces, where the day
Wanders from dawn 10 dusk and finds no life
But over all the tireless years swept on,
Till side by side the Centuries grew old,
Ana the young Nation, great and strong
Forgot its early struggles. in triumphs later
won
II stretched Its arms from East to West;
II gathered to its mighty breast
From every cline, ffom every soil,
The hunted sons OF want and toll;
II gave TO each a dwelling place;
IL blent them in one common race;
And over all, from sea 10 sea,
Wide few the banner of the free
II did not fear the wrath OF kings,
Nor the dread grip Of deadlier things
Gaunt Famine with its CHASTITY horde,
Dishonor sheathing its foul sword.
Nor faithless friend, nor treacherous blow
struck In the dark by stealthy foe;
Tor over all Its wide domain,
From shore 10 shore, irom main 20 main.
FROM vale 10 mountain top, II saw
The reign OF plenty, peace and law
Thus fared the Nation. prosperous, great and
Prophet and herald Of the good to be;
And on It's humber way, In calm content,
The lesser State, the while, serenely went.
safe IN her mountain businesses she dwet,
Her LIES nrst cares forgot, Its woes unfelt,
And thought her bitterest tears had all been
For peace was in her borders, aud God regned
overhead.