Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-08-20
non. FRED p. BROWNS POEM.
Read a. the Nottingham Centennial

Muse Of the northern cline,
Under the heavens blue dome,
Meath IIaystack's mountain shrine
Teach me thy hymn sublime,
Freedom and HCmc'
It's not the state, century old,
Strung.nursCd by mountains drcar,
That spreads to-day her starry fold
From land Of stark to Champaign cold,
To crown her hundrcdth year.
For Bennington hath mourned her dead
Round sad Walloomsac's shore,
And taught how, from the furnace red
God forged Il state, and men were bred,
In mighty days OF Nore.
'Tis not the nations broad domain,
Blazoncd from sea to sea
With battle flag and orriflammc,
And laundering pGans, TO proclaim
\ cCnturl's Jubilee!
For Lexington and Coupons green,
Round "lndependencc Hail."
BY all the nations have been seen
Who met 10 crown Columbia queen
At her Centennial,
The laundering river lifts it, foam,
Born Of the mountain rill;
so Empires mighu3r currents come
From out the township and the home,
Birthplace Of Freedom still!
Not state nor Nation, grand rcnown,
Long rung ON nobler lyres
| sing the modest country town
New Englands birthright and her crown,
Around her old Camp-hres.
o rock crowned hillsl o native town.
Home Of my boyhoods happest years
No royal verse, no jeweled crown
yield thee, with my loyal tears
\ simpler wreath Of unframed flowers,
Plucked from the Deerfieds brake fringCd line,
/ bring TO thy Centennial bowers,
And lay my heart upon the shrine.
For, as climb these sun-hssed hills
And drink thy breezes as of yOre,
My heart, my very being, thrills
To greet old Nottingham once more.
Not like some borough grand and Old
Laden with relics Of old wars,
Whose tesselated turTets hold
Her royal diadem and stars;
But modestly upon her throne
She sits-a century clad to-day,
While children's great grandchildren come,
And at her feet their offerings lay.
For us a bounteous board is spread,
Her heart and hand she opens wide;
Welcomes the living, and her dead
Remembers with queenly PRIDE.
And as familiar hands are clasped,
And heart greets heart In warm Embrace,
l catch from out the shadOwy past
A vision of that elder race
Greathearted men, with arm of Drawn,
And matrOns bold, who dangers trOd
Amid these wids, TO found a home
An altar rear in fear Of God.
Daughters and sons of Pilgrim sircs,
What sought We on this siorm'swept hill
Where Whiting built his first camp-tires
And Coleman first his lands did ull'
Before great Aliens fame, or stark,
Before was heard the stage-cOach horn,
In days cOlOnial-fOrests dark
When stout King George sat ON the throne
Ere yet the Indian wars did heal,
And women clasped their babes in prayer,
When men met deadly foeman's steel,
Or braved the kindlier panthers lair,
What hither led those patriarchs old?
Go ask the God of faith and prayer
Go ask of Him who freemen bold
Rewardeth aye for toll and care
But sOOn through clefts of forests wild,
Struggled in streaks the MONDAY SUM
Huge winrOws Of great trees were piled,
By woodlands axe first trophies won
Then lit the heavens with sheets of flame;
The deer and startled lynx did iiee;
With torch in hand the settlers came
To celebrate the clearing-bee,
And so they toiled till smoke uproso
From many peaceful cabins dome;
The wilderness" bossomed as the rose
God blessed the early settlers home.
What were their names? The historians told
Not carved ON bronze or leaf OF gold.
Yet, as Sadawga's waters clear
Reflect that old chief standing there,
So in the living heart and brain,
Each sleeping grandslre dwells AGAIN
You know them all-ther tlresides warm,
Lieutenant Carley's well-cleared FARM
And Captain Parker, famed in war;
BrattCn and Pike, and many more.
! CTwas not that Pike here would state
| Sire of the goodly "twenty eighty
| Not Romulus nor Remus born,
| Nurtured ON VOLTS milk stout and strong,
To hang on Hydrologic tree,
| From gOddesscs, our pedigree,
| And build township In day
| On seven hills-seventy have vel
| But plain sirnames, in Saxon bright,
Green, Chace Dix, Shumway and Mcknight,
| JnsOn and StTeeter came to stay;
The COemans, DO and Joshua,
| And, very soon, the HOsleys, Brown,
| Blanchards and Prestons brought renown.
| Slowly, but sure, the settlers came
| To swell the fame of Nottingham
! And now the farmers barns were filed
| From bursting sheayes and fields well tillcdi
| The husking and the apple bee
| Gladdened the infant colony,
| The waters turned the miller's mill
| The farmers oxen gTaZed the hill;
| The specked trout adorned his board
| His children grew like JOnah's gOurd
One thing was lacking-yet there stood
No temple built to worship God,
Men ransacked, them the mighty woods,
For tmbers strong, plate, beam and studs,
J And Tafters tough as iron wrought
| And carpenters their clisels brought,