The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-10-03
OBLIGATORY ODE.

Written by Frank l.. Stanton, OF the
Atlanta Constitution, for the opening OF
the Cotton States and international Expo
sitiOn at Atlanta, September Is. 1893, and
read by Mr. Albert Howell, Jr., OF the
Atlanta bar.
Behold to-day the meeting of the lands
In pride and splendor. From far foreign
strands
Great States with State clap5 hands
Here. on this Southern soil, supre me
and free,
Meet now no hostile bands;
But all flags wave where one Of Liberty
Shakes stars down like the sands,
And from sky-cleaYIng towers
Time strikes the thrilling hours
OF golden promise for the year,, to be:
Behold to-day the towers, these temples!
Yet,
More than the starriest dome or minarct
Near skies of azure met,
That which shall live while ages roll
along
Too glorious to forget
States once at war, in union high and
strong.
Whose sun Shall never set
And be this picture wrought
Upon the ages thought;
How Of mans sorrow God ma kcs
heavens song
Here. though city opens wide her gates,
This Is no day of cities. but of States
Supreme and crowned with progress, Here
all Time
Gathers its glOrics in the Georgian cline,
And sea to sea replies,
And from the farthe,t skies
The answering bells in one glad chOru
chime
mo North. no South-but a vast world
sublime
Here where the cannon Numbered, To- the
white
And royal rose Of Peace, in living light,
See how above the black breath Of the
Flashes the splendor of serencr suns!
Behold the fields, once desOlate, renewed
With loftier life, The lordly land imbucd
With statelier spirit! Cities (whcre the
clOd5
Were tramplcd red by the avcnging gods)
With skyward- pointing steeples' Every
leaf
Is tinctured now with gIory-not with
grief!
And the new South, brave risen from the
past,
Wears on her brow the diadem at last
She speaks for Peace and Progress: She
would say
TO all the world: "Behold the morning 5
The black night rolled away!
Behold where freedom with her scepter
stands
Behold her and Obey
And with her richest Jewels i'll her hands
She welcomes worlds to day
And not one breathing clod
But sends prayer To God
TO bind the Nations close with kindred
bands
She calls from the fields where glad the
From the hills thick-vcined with trea>u re
-OV'r the deep
Where all the brave ships keep
Their foamy way i'll commerce with the
world
Where with the Sea-winds sweep:
LET not the sails far from my shores he
furled-
Let not the captains sleep
Till over the pillows white
Shall flash the welcome light
or my glad shores in splendid peace i'm
pearled."
Unto the North she cries: Thy Si>trr-l,'
Unto the east: Above us bends one sky
Unto the West: In Union we live or die
And for that closer union still she pleads
Ready with heart and hand and noblcst
deeds,
In peace-in strife
Nor dcath-for life
Loyal to follow where Loves banner
leads
VIII.
Sing it, We seas, whose pillows kiss the sky,
Sing it, ye mountains from your SUBMITS
high,
Sing It, We dells and far, melodouS values
Ring it, ye bells that echo on the gales.
Sing of loftier and larger life,
Sing of a world united after strife,
Sing of the light that dawns upon the
blind
And be this day, this hour
Pregnant with that high Power
Which closer brings the union of mankind,