Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-07-06
OUR COUNTRY.
BY JOHN GREENLkAF WHITTIER,
Read Mt Roseland Park. Woodstock, Conn, Jul
4, 1885,

Read Mt Roseland Park. Woodstock, Conn, July
4. isss.l
We give thy natal day to hope.
Country Of our love ana prayer
Thy way ts down nasfatal slope,
But up to freer sun and airl
Tried as by furnace. fires, and yet
By Gods grace only stronger made.
To meet new tasks before thee set
Thou shalt not lack the oh-time aid.
The fathers sleep; but men remain
As wise, as true and brave as they
Why count the loss and not the gain
The best Is that we have to-day.
Whate'er of folly, shame. or crime
,, Within thy mighty bounds transpires.
With speed dciying space and time
Comes TO US on the accusing wires
While of thy wealth of noble deeds,
Thy homes Of peace, thy votes unsold,
The love that pleads for human needs,
The wrong redressed but half IL told
Each poor wretch, in his prison cell
Or galows-noose, is interviewed;
We KNOW the single sinner well,
And not the nine and ninety good.
Yet, II on daily ecandas fed,
We seem at times TO doubt thy worth
We know thee sti when all Ia said,
The best and dearest spot on earth.
From the warm Mexic Gulf. or where
Belted with flowers. Los Angeles
Basks In the semi tropic air,
To where katahdin's cedar trees
Thy plenty's horn is yearly filled.
Alone, the rounding century finds
Thy liberal soil by free hands titled
refuge for the wronged and poor,
Thy generous heart has borne the blame
That, with them, through thy open door,
The old worlds evil outcasts came.
But, with thy just and equal rule,
And labor's needs and brea adth Of lands,
Free press and rostrum, church and school,
Thy sure, If slow. transforming hands
Shall mold even them to thy design.
Making blessing of the ban;
And Freedoms chemistry combine
The alien elements Of man.
The power that broke their prison bar
And set the dusky millions free,
And welded In the flame Of war
The Union fast 10 Liberty.
Shall II not deal with other ills,
Redress the red mans grievance, break
The Circean cup which shamcs and kills
And Labor full requittal makeS
Alone to such as 6uy bear
Thy civic honors bid them fall,
And call thy daughters forth to share
The rights and duties pledged to allY
No lack was In thy primal stock,
No weakling founders builded herr;
Thine were the men of Plymouth Rock,
The Huguenot and Cavalier,
And they whose firm endurance gained
The freedom Of the souls Of men,
Whose hands, unstained with blood, maintained
And thine shall be the power of all
To do the work which duty bids,
And make the peoples council hall
As lasting as the Pyramidsi
Well have thy later years made good
Thy brave said word q century back.
The pledge of human brotherhood,
The equal claim Of white and black.
That word still echoes round the world
And all who hear Il turn to thee,
And read upon thy flag unfurled
The prophecies Of destiny.
The grest world-Iesson all shall learn,
The nations In thy school shall sit,
Earth's farthest mountafn-tops shall burn
With watch-fres from thy own uplIt.
Great without seeking TO be great
BY ffaad or conquest, rich In gold.
But richer in the large estate
Of virtue which thy children hold.
With peace that comes Of purity.
And strength 10 simple Justice due.
SO runs our loyal dream Of thee;
God Of our fathers make II truei
o Land of lgndsi TO thee We give
Our prayers. our hopes, our service free;
For thee thy sons shall noby live,
And at thy need shall die for theei