Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-07-04
The E.!A'RMER's
JEaRDISs } sssRI|Ess1fcx2r
FOURTH 0F0UEY.
81 81 ~ s. q 81 81 u *

the flag whose stars with glory shine,
And saw the sunlight kiss II on the plains
OF Brandywine.
Methinks adown the aisles of time the
~" drums are echoing still
That beat the long roll, sharp and clear,
that day at Bunker Hill;
Z seem to hear the bugle notes that sounded
In the glen
when. swooping down upon the foe. came
Marion and his men.
It stirs my blood as recall the yeomen of
the farms
Who led their horses from the fields when
Freedom called to arms;
She found them ready for the fray, ah! you
remember how
The news that spread from Lexington
found Putnam at the plow.
The farmers of New England gathered
fast from near and far
When Stark marched up to Bennington to
dim inYasion's star:
They formed Spartan phalanx which no
British steel could break,
And play'd the deadly game of war with
Liberty the stake
with hearty. zeal their foes to meet they
focked with might and main.
From east and west, from north and south
to Saratoga's plain:
They followed Arnold in the charge which
won that field of fame
And crimsoned with their own life blood
the flag we love to name.
They beat their plowshares into swords.
their plow steeds they bostrode,
Behind the plume of Harry Lee right gal
lant1y they rode;
One night across the Delaware amid the
sleet and snow
Those farmers followed Washington and
smote the Hessian foe.
rrbav faltered not in battle. upon York
towns glorious field
They saw the red coats ground their arms
and grim oppression yield;
And In the sun that autumn day the fear.
less little band
Saw Washington with vict'ry crowned-the
savior of the land.
Upon that document whose fame we cele-
brate to-day
The farmer hero wrote his name, 1t stand
eth there for aye.
He left the harvest and the plow, against
oppression he,
To say to George in thunder tones: This
country shall be free!"
Aye, In that fight for freedom, like wall
those farmers stood,
GFrom Lexingtons immortal plain to Prince
toms snowy wood
They fought for right on hill and plain,
deep in the break and gorge,
They bore without a murmur all the woes
OF valley torge.
The legacy they left to US, their sons, is
vast and free
The land which lies in majesty from sound
ing sea to sea,
A flag whose beauty wins the world upon
theland and foam,
Beneath whose stars the poor Oppressed d
will ever find home.
All hail the mem'ry of the men who gath
cred long ago
At Freedoms clarion call to arms to smite
the foreign foe
Their sons. like them, have left the plow,
their freedom to maintain,
They nobiy fought at New Orleans. they
died at Lundys Lane.
To-day I fling Old Glory proudly to the
summer breeze,
know 1t thrills million hearts beyond
the stormy seas;
It waves above the hovel poor and o. er the
mansion. too.
With blazoned stripes of white and red and
stars in field of blue.
Long may 1t float above the land which
calls that flag its own,
Around II chosen heroes stand, beneath 1t
is no throne;
Our farmer sires who saw it wave in war
have passed away,
But VIC recall their deeds of worth with
pride this natal day.
The children over in the grove with mimic
sword and gun
Are playing war beneath the trees-Bur-
goyne and Washington!
cross the fields to watch them, while
heroic mem'ries swarm,
And thus 1 pass another dear old Fourth
upon the farm.
IT. C. Harbaugh. in Ohio Farmer.