Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-09-28

III tuo pTibOu WdsuiuStOHs DlIlHuhy
Feb. q, was celebrated and the proceed
ings were published In "The Old Flag"
After speeches were delivered, poem was
read which was declared to be original
aside from the name OF the author whom
l believe to be the editor. The title OF
the poem IL "Washington'. send you a
copy just to show what manner OF men
composed the Union army.
The penmanship Is very fine. some very
artistic. The poem, consisting OF over 200
fines, only occupied two and one half
columns in the paper. | do not think 1t
has ever been published as l think have
the only copy OF the paper.
Whe bids me sing2 What theme my soul dllates 2
\ captive, whispering to Its captive mates.
Can gory's raptures thrill the fettered thralls,
Whose captured banners droop from treason
walls?
Can valors story nerve the shackled bands
Whose broken sword blades rust In rebel sands,
Or lifted vengefnl. threat with cruel strife
Our country's union and our freedoms ife2
In vain my harp the charms OF home would sing,
)
spring,
And all the hearts deep sorrow. softly stirred.
o'erwhelms our manhood a, that one dear word.
Home. where the vile site, numbering, day by
day,
The long, long hours that steal her hopes away
with low drawn Sigh and yoicelcss prayer to
walt
The step that comes not to her lonely gate.
yhpre fh
claim
Through mimic trumpets, lisp their fathers
name.
But, wondering. pause, to note with childish
fears
The eyes that watch them, dim with sudden
tears;
And. trembling. ask oil lips that must be dumb,
Why mother weeps, why father Will not come?
Dear home! sweet home. how many warm
heart beats,
How many lip the loved ones name repeats
Where Maine exults on stormy oceans brim.
And Hampshire HIS to heaven her mountain
hymn;
Where Massachusetts sits, like natron free,
And fair Rhode Island slumbers at her knee;
Where dwells Connecticut, midst emerald wales,
And where Manhattan spreads her snowy sails,
And rolls her iron chariot wheels and shakes
Her golden gamers DER the northern lakes.
God bless our homes, from East through bound
less West
The hallowed shrines of all the heart loves best
From blue Ohio to Colorado's marge,
And over Iowa's prairies. green and large,
And where the winding Illinois out1ows,
Or Indiana with silvery harvest CLOVIS.
And fair Arkansas skirts the Indian strand,
And where the red mans loyal wigwams stand,
There sleep our homes, where tender hearts,
like doves
Brood Ger the memory Of their absent loves.
Awake, my harp! thy song to heaven aspires-
nations memories climb thy sounding wires,
Awake, my harp and thrill with loftier sway,
a nations father bends from heaven this day
From heavens high hills where freedoms an
gel waits.
Closest to God within the eternal gates;
Where freedoms martyrs winged with crimson
scars
Clean through the azure fields of endless stars I
From heaven the hero comes-his awful mien,
Troubled, yet calm, and Borrowing, but serene.
With trembling glance his awful shade mark,
Break through the storm and cleaye the mid.
night dark.
Der ice-browed Andes leans his sworded hand,
His rushing football spurns Pacilc's strand;
His helmet CLEANS DER Alieghanian SHOWS,
His lifted shield DER hushed Atlantic CLOVIS;
His breast see, beneath celestial wings,
And there! and there, my bleeding country
clings;
Clings as a mother to her first born son,
Her hero child, her Godlike Washington
Land of the North. where loud Niagara's roll
oil h.,ax l.,,.,, 81.
Land of the North where wild Atlantic waves
Baptize to freedoms faith the souls of slaves;
From all thy plains, on all thy breezes borne,
How swells the exulting song this sacred morn I!
Whose manhood's shout, and childhood's lisp
ing sweet
The dearloyed name of Washington repeat;
By tranquil Hudson's sanlit wave they kneel,
Where Washington first turned the invaders
on Trenton's plains and Monmouth's field they
pray,
Where Washington retrieved the eventful day,
And rolled their hymns through schuylkilrs
wintry gorge
' here once arose his prayer from Valley Forge.
And thou imperial West whose sylvan tongue
Hymned unto God while Saturn yet was young,
From voceful symphonies of waving woods,
And solemn Gains of silent soitudes,
And low. scft melodies OF breezes bland,
And rolling harmonies o. rivers grand!
Thou nurse of empires at whose fostering heart
All nations drink, and all have equal part,
Enthroned on harvests, girt by gamers wide,
Thy wealth our wonder, and thy power our
pride.
Majestic West thy millions kneel this hour
To praise the Eternal for their freedoms dover.
By Mississip2i's shores their anthem flows,
And where NJ .ssouri laps her mountain SHOWS;
And where the Ohio nnrsea b c=y=..s=! g..iis,
Leaps to thine arms from Pennsylvania hills,
There shalt thou kncei. mightiest West, and
tell