The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1896-03-20
SCRANTON, MISSISSIPPI FRIDAY,
Written for the Democrat t-Star.
THE MISSION or THE OMITTED
STATES.

II has always been our mission,
To shelter the oppressed,
To every class and nation.
Have we given homes aud rest.
The early Pilgrim Fathers
Found Il refuge from their woes
In our dark green virgin forests,
From their faiths relentless foes,
To chant their cherished anthems.
They crossed an unknown sea,
And braved the dark-sklnned savage.
That their conscience might be free.
Next-a grant was early given
To the brave Lord Baltimore.
Who led his suffering brethren
To our quiet peaceful shore.
Then came the peerless Oglethorpe,
To our beautcOus Georgia plain.
This true. generous phlanthrope.
Who could not bear to witness pain.
lie secured for them a needed haven,
The poor and oppressed in want.
In n lOathsome, foreign prison.
Who from hunger became gaunt.
Then the quiet Quaker colony,
Led here by William Penn,
Rcnonnccd both king and country,
To live and die FREE MEN.
Again. in south Carolina,
The llugucnots from Frame.
Here sought safe protection
From the Fanatics deadly lance.
Thus the weak and discontentcd,
Ever sought our peaceful lands,
To elude tyranny and oppression,
Dealt them by cruel hands.
Then why should Europe wonder.
That the mandates of the free
Should sound in tones OF thunder,
Far. FAR across the sea-
Should proclaim our Monroe Doctrine"
To the nations OF the world;
And blaze out the way for Liberty
Where'er our flags unfurled?
For Liberty was early cradlcd.
On our quccnly Unions breast,
And Nature crowned her proudly.
The queen OF ali the West.
iiti HiouHthi'iS aTS tnc HTullucSts
The sun e'er smiled upon,
Her forests and her prairics.
Stretch far towards the setting sun,
Her vast and silvery rivers,
Bear their harvests rs they 60,
On their bosoms. to the ocean,
Spreading grandly AS they flow.
Her daughters are the faircst.
That grace our mother earth.
And combine Slth grace and beauty,
Intelligence. love and worth.
Liberty brcathes from her highest towers
Aud echoes in all her domes,
is the motto for all her children.
Is nurtured in all her homes.
Her sons-how shall paint thcn?-
Cast In II hero mold,
Bred beneath our starry banner,
Born her co!ors to uphold.
Kind to the weak and fallen,
True in the hour OF need,
To rescue the down tr0dden,
Quick to rally, ready to bleed.
They are foes to all oppression,
strangers tn every fear,
And in the hour OF danger,
They ever hover near.
Though but an infant nation,
Our gcnluscs lead the van,
Ofevery great invention.
Fer made made for the use OF man.
From the Morse magnetic telegraph,
Tn EdiSnn'p 1i,rI,tn,,t,,. L..
And his wonderful phonograph,
To Franklin's postal stamps.
We could mention many another
Our energies have wrought,
And proves that our great progrcss
Is born OF free. untrainlneled thought.
we'll now speak Of other matters,
Than American fertile brain.
And indulge n little chatter,
or warning to old Spain.
For we are n chivalrOus nation,
And can not passive stand,
To see II helpless people,
Murdered by hostile band.
Since 1t has always been our mission,
To protect the oppressed.
Wen throw our arms round Cuba,
And see our wrongs redrcsscd.
America stands united,
ALMOST from pole to pole,
From the calm Pacific borders.
To where the eastern waters roll,
So well say to foreign nations,
DARE NOT our rights n,olcst,
For we're an imperial Union,
And queen Of all the West.
Miss. 1905.