The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-04-08
1lloetrv.
THE NNItTYleS
OF THE MAINE
BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.

OF THE MAINE
BY ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Like some great mother bird who brools Ter ycuns
at close of day,
bay.
Beneath her smiled placid sea; the calm star
watched above.
1t was the hour for tender thoughts and memories
oflove.
1t the hour. it the Ian for Cubas Ian suor
air
Speaks to the heart Of sentm ent thoa "a war ;
loud trumpets blare.
An, in their nerths bronzed sa lo.s mnSed some
dear absent flce,
Or dreamed they clasped their own again in happy
loves embrace.
And then they woke! Coll ho,c they woke from
dreams sweet as these
We only guess: the awful truth is known but to the
sea-,
The dark, decetful silent seas that aided in the
OF some foul devil min ied thing without name OIL
cline.
sound, to tell
plot so fell.
ing1p
struck the ship.
She .prang altft, that great white Graf, sore
wounded in the breas';
Her crew were flung into the sea, like fedglings
from a nest.
And then dead ship settled back and swiftly sank
from sight.
God help us, help help us shriektd wild voice'
through the night.
And groans of anguish rent the air. and cries OF
startled men
Who woke from sleep to awful life and passed to
sleep again.
Six fathoms deep their grave is made: full thirteen
score were they.
Ard Justice yet shall find her voice. though she ii
dumb to-day.
We want no strife: peace, peace, we pray; by AL
we prize or love
snow-white dove.
War is not wisdom, war belongs to savage times
and hordcs.
of swords
OF old the human beast who hest couli slay WAS
made king.
The butcher now wins no appllue; the miud, the
minds the thing.
The thinker, not the fighter, is the hero OF to-day.
We II men great who arb:irata, and keep wars
hounds at bay.
Yet, be there gult-then, guilty dream not the
awful crime
Can go unpuni>hed, unlveng.d. in any land OF
time
Or demon, nation, m mister, man, what e'er, wa
e'er you be,
Thai hideous secret which " Is shared but with the
silent sea,
That shameful secret, serpent-lke in some ,an
bosom cuIled,
Shalt yet be hunted forth an II NJ bef,re out
The sea- the treacaerou- sea, sbal give the secret
upere long,
And Time and Justice. that grest par, must right
at last the wrong.
A,! we are pat.en'; We are calm; and We know how
to wait
Peace is our wa'ciword but our 1--we o" honor too,
is great.
Columbia holds her hounds well in le,s', but,
should we know
Our flag was thr -atened. we woul c:,: 'Coam1ia,
lrthem go'''
Thank God. we are one conutry now; there is no
north, no south;
Our patriots think as with one brain. an speak as
with one mouth.
Ant in devotion TO their LAM they feel as With o:e
lcart
Loves flame has burned the barriers that kept their
Ives apart.
Love weeps above til watery grave of lrtyrs of
the Maine,
And asks sw ct aims of M mory in this great hour
fpain.
Three h"n ired men went Il TO death w:tho 1t :,
chance to pray.
L U.'shriven souls. unsl,rou ell firm tomSed in an
alien bay.
ler name!
Were ready to lay down the lives at far CJlnm
bias cali.
Dear dead, Columbia honOrs you: she knows your
hearts were brave
Her love shall raise your monum mt AMI c,,s ate
your grave
: Home Jo'unal.