The Concordia eagle. [volume] (Vidalia, La.) 1873-1890, 1885-05-16
FROM THE MONUMENT.


This valley to its sloping hills;
Here CLEANS the modest house of white,
The statesman's longed'for, dizzy height
beyond, pledge of love to one
Who in two lands was Freedoms SON
The holder of an endless debt
Our Nations brother, Lafayette.
But yon long lines of costly homes
And bristling spires and swelling domes,
And far away the spreading farms
Where thrift displays substantial charms,
And hamlets creeping out OF sight,
And cities full of wealth and might,
All own the fatherhood of him
whose glory time can never dim.
would write across this whole broad earth,
With pen dipped in the golden sun,
The magic name of Washington
II we can keep the rules he gave
This land he more than fought TO save.
our future fame will glisten forth
Grand as the winter-lighted North!
Look Southl-where, in its coat of gray,
The broad Potomac creeps away,
And seeks the blue of distant skies;
But pauses where the great chief lies
Within its humble, hallowed tomb,
Amid Mount Vernons deathless bloom.
As glides this stream, great corse, past theo.
Ffrst to the bay, and then the sea,
So flowed thy life to rural rest
Ere thou vast Heavens eternal guest.
. strong, high mani whose patriot heart
Climbed from all common greed apart;
To whom mems selfish ways we're small,
As from this tower, serenely tall
Quilt that all years thy fame may knowl
Men look while creeping there 5ssV 5rs1a
How weak WINS power TO tiny clear gaze.
Builder OF pstions Joined In enc,
Kinder of splendors still to blaze,
Finder OF glories just begun!
Live on, great sleeper! as this stone,
highest from earth that man has known.
SO shall be ranked thy solid worth,
Highest of heroes on the earth!
Happy, secure and cherished name,
Love is the pillar of thy fame;
Thy praise comes from each patriots mouth,
Warm as the snnbeams of the south!
Look East! The Nations castle walls
Spread out in massive beauty now;
Their lofty dome and pictured halls
In homage to this summit bow.
Oh, well that from these palaced lands
The marble spire obeisance win;
But for the one for whom il stands
This chieftain.town had never beenI
1on plot. so full of brain and will,
Had staid bleak and lonely hill
If ut five thousand dizzy feet
This shaft the whtrfing clouds might meet,
Till we could gaze for miles, might be,
To the uncrowned but royal sea,
"rwere not too much of honor then
To grant our crownless king OF men.
You who the Nations laws indite,
Look TO this SUBMITS honest white,
where, throned on walls that must endure,
Pure fame entreats you to be pure;
Until our glory be increased
Like sunbeams from the dazzling EastI
Look West! There lie the hay fields
Where brothers fought through days OF
dread.
WHO'RE mothers brooded DER their dead,
Where soil the thrift of carnage yields;
Where cannon rOared and bullets sung,
TIL every hillock had tongue.
q Nation being and 10 be,
That silent blood speaks loud 70 theel
God grant, ii G er our guns again
Must tear the quivering fieshof men,
The lcaden hailstorm may be pressed
Against some foul invaders breast
Against some alien tribe aud zone
And not. as then, TO kill our own!
May all the fruitful strifes Ofpeace
The thrilling bonds of love increase;
May yonder orb, in his quick change
from mountain range TO mountain range,
From valley to rich valley o'er
From river shore 10 river shore.
From wave TO wave-may yonder sun
one Nation count, and only one;
Until he dips his fiery crest
Into the ocean of the Westl
Look up! The phantom clouds of gray
Grim ghosts Of storm-have passed away;
The yelling of the sky Is done.
And downward shines the welcome sun.
He kindles grand and peaceful fires
Upon the city's domes and spires:
He sends his strong magnetic glow
through yonder moving throngs below.
Thou art, o sky. serene and clear,
A symbol OF our country here!
What land in all this world of pain,
This earth. where millions toll in vain,
W here famine pestilence and strife
Play careless games with human life,
Where Superstition clouds the soul
And heartless brains sad hearts control
what country, framed in frost or flowers,
Can see so clear a eky as ours2
Peace throws hep mantle, broad and free,
Ger all who peaceable will be;
Plenty her sheltering flag doth wavo
Ger those who will but toll and save;
Enlightenment each day shall rise
For all who do not cloud their eyes;
While Liberty from every race
Has made this land a refuge place.
Let our deep thanks forever fly
Far as the reaches of the sky!
VA Carleton in Hdrper's Weekly