Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-07-08
AL TIE CENTURY GATES.

The pillars, and the wind is cold.
The gates swing wide
Swift runs the tide
Till time and place no more abide.
Up anchor, then
Westward AGAIN
A new age dawns; where are its men?
Whirling wheels in every valley, noisy mills
by every stream,
Everywhere the buzz of motor, the strident
hiss of stream.
Men by millions in the workshops, knowing
naught of fairer scenes
care they slowly, surely, growing to be like
their dead machines:
In the city, shops and markets. walls OF
granite tier on tier
Boards of trade and stock exchanges, golden
schemes in full career
Fortunes of unnumbered millions in a mo-
ment lost and made
VIII men cast away their birthright, nave
they sunk their souls in trade;
Men of science and of learning, can they find
no higher cause;
Not thought above an angle, ora dry cesural
pause,
Was the name of Statesman buried with the
men that are no more;
Must the pigmy politician follow where they
went before:
Have the cultured social classes found their
nOblest all in all
In the scramble for precedence at the dinner
and the ball;
Thus men spake about the nation as the
century grew Old;
Critics shreked, degeneration shattered
is the hero's mould!'
Then there came grand upheaval, mighty
truths rose on the view,
As, in some dim age primeval, mountain
ranges sudden grew.
once again, for Cuba pleading, Freedom TO
the nation spoke
once again, her duty needing, to the call the
nation woke.
All the world in wonder noted, when the
country's need was heard.
Fifty million dollars voted, without one dis
cordant word.
Then the President rose, grander than the
thought of timd men,
Calmly stood As chief cOmmanderi master
both of sword and pen;
Called for men, Il hundred thousand, ana the
call was not in vain,
Men of North and south together, Men of
oregon and Maine.
As the prophet in the valley, when the winds
of heaven blew,
Saw the dry bones sudden rally, clothed with
flesh of living hue,
So, while tlmid doubters trembled lest the
nations power should fall,
10, by thousands, men assembled, with one
flag above them all!
Men were needed, men responded, let us
In the cycle of the ages, this shall be the age
of men
When our startled thoughts were turning to
the Asiatic fleet,
And our eager hearts were burning for the
enemys defeat,
While the rumors flew we waited till the
silent cable spoke,
And we knew we had a sDewey, victor mid
the battle smoke
When the Oregon swept southwark, rounded
/ through the surgng strait,
Turned her iron prov to NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
trembled for her fate;
Till there came a message, swelling like our
mountain breezes-hark.
"If the ieet of Spain should meet Us, we are
ready for them. Clark"
And the people, in commotion, Questioned
"Who may these commanders be:
Where, beside what mighty ocean, grew these
giants of the sea-"
Then there came modest whisper from the
valleys and the rills,
Echoed. just a little crisper, by the ever
verdant hills
"These, the mighty sailors, fearless where
the lurking foe may wait,
Heard the sound of many waters from the
Old Green Mountain State"
"What" the people said in wonder, "these
and still another name,
From the state of Ethan Allen springing sud
den into fame:
Ere the door of hope was locked, or free
doms cause had sunk in night,
Slowly rose the quiet Proctor, and he calmly
set us right.
Let us then make up our schedule of the
mighty men we want,
Whether soldiers, sailors, statesmen-ant
then notify Vermont"
But no field of all the nation grows the one
heroic crop,
Name by name the long roll lengthens, whC
can tell when II may stop:
Alabama halls the country with clear
exultant voice
"Evermore the crown OF honor snail be KNOW
as IIobsOn's choice"
And remember, as the daring deed 10 hlstor.
shall pass,
Learning went with valor here, for gallan
Hobson led his class.
When in future conflict fierce the prize o
victory is won,
Then the man of comic sections must be ther
to aim the gun.
Star by star the flag is glowing with heN
and holier light;
State by state the land is growing into on
united Right
Prophet of degeneration on our days his
toric page
God shall write, degeneration. This Is IN
heroic age"
The Star OF Empire toward the West stead
course has kept,
Until at length its guiding ray around tn
world has swept;
1t shines today with light undimmed aooy
the furthest shore,
And shall it sink in midnight gloom to ligh
our way no more:
Nay, let it dip in clearer light, baptized wit
lustre new;
, Behold ii CLEANS above the gates, a Star {
wOndrous hue.
The Star of Empire of Old a star OF conque.
then,
Today il clearer, whittier shines, the star {
liberty for men.
Straight on, with course answering still,
sweeps within the gates,
Where, silence still preserving all the mysti
, era waits.
; The star with light elysian, shall its missio
high reveal
1t is the prophets vision OF the wheel With
wheel;
E An opicycle fairer than the golden age of oil,
! An age of hope, the bearer of a heritage III
! told
I The seed of truth eternal, which the past hi