West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-03-23
The South Shall Claim Her OwnA Again.

| Eternal Gates of Liberty,
Lift up your stately heads!
Behold, with bridal pageantry,
l. And garlands from fair meads,
The South comes, with her sister train,
To claim her own again! t..
| Make room upon the. left and right!
What hour the clock of destiny
Has struck departing night.
Merged in the day of Jubilee,
Star-girt, and beautifully bright, ~
There COMES most fear1essly, amain,
The South to claim her own again! -"
| Pleasant and wonderfully fair,
Like one that knows her own domain,
Magnolia-fiowers in her hair, ~
And orange blossoms rare,
Let her notlknock in vain!
Lift up your equal heads to her, -"
OF all your courts contain co-heir, ieuf
For loi she claims her own again!
No mendieant is at your doors, qa.
Nor bids YOU raise your fronts of stone!
Whose fathers built upon these shores,
With rampire, buttress, bastion, ca
And godlike masonry of skill,
Fair Freedoms all-enduring towers.
Returns, and you will,
Within this holy fame,
Shall cherish all her own again!
OF rock made they your stately plight,
And carved your panelswith the sword
And hinged upon the peoples right, 2 =
To lift or close, but at their word; n~
So when she bids, in conscience bold,
Your everlasting leaves unfold,
Widely they stand,
At her command,
Whose glory shall not wane
The South who claims her own again!
Mother of policies, and States,
The offspring of thy womb hath been
High progeny!
This day the Nation consecrates
To him who watched these awful Gates,
For it and thee;
Wide-armed to let thee in,
! They ready stand, at its command,
To rend their bars in twain,
That thou nay'st claim thine own again.
What atmosphere is this surrounds
These granite heads within whose
bounds
The goddess Freedom dwells?
'Tis Love, which bears with equal force,
Upon each planet in its course,
Whose music swells,
Till all the choir join the refrain
The South shall claim her own again!
In glory differs star from star,
Yet each resplendeut, shines afar,
In its own place:
They wheel their chariot wheels OF fire,
They do not falter nor expire,
Nor fall frem space;
In universal orders reign,
The South shall claim her OWN again!
We know whereto our purpose guides,
The shipof State, so that she rides,
In safety on the main;
That those eternal landmarks, set
BY Southern pilots, towering yet, "a
Through sunshine, storm, or rain,
Upbear this legend as their debit
The South shall claim her own again!
Shall we ignore the hero race
That storIned the heights of Fame's
1 redoubt,
With tracks that time cannot etface,
Nor history falter to point ont?
The womb that bear, prolific still,
Shall reproduce the noble strain
OF statesmen, sageS, warriors, till
The South shall claim her own again!
Fair Freedom knows whence was her
source
From out her Western height;
She will not bear the least divorce N|
Between the right and might; =
She SAYS unto the North, forbear,
To East ana West, refrain,
She thunders through the lambent air
The South shall claim her own again!
Not arrogant our attitude,
Not fretful, nor perverse;
We know the marriage bond holds good
For better or for worse;
We recognize the founders will,
. Confirmed on battle-plain
But this we know, for good or i'll,
The South shall CLAIM her own again
Who gave the people right to rule
And made their voice supreme?
Who says there is no God $ fool,
Nor is His reign dream;
He laid i'm law these Palace-Gates,
Nor reared their heads in vain
He says unto the Sister States !.
The South shall claim her own again!
Great Architect! we bow the head, W i
And ask Thee for sign,
Such as, of old, Thy hand portrayed
Unto great Constantine; 4
When 10. upon the naked sky -aa \
We read engraved most plain,
Far-hashing from the vault on high
"Ihe South shall claim her OaoR dgainr'