Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-06-28
The Sun Drowned Heroes Of Maine.

They are bowed ana unobtruslve ana |
doubt II you have thought.
Of the noble heroism In the deeds that
they have wrought:
For they bear no sword nor sabre and
they seek pe Victor's SPOIL
Ihey nave spent their years contending
-, with the Weeds on rocky soil.
Ihey have wrung reluctant dollars from
!, ne earth. sand All their gain
lias been spent 70 nurture manhood in
the good pa State ~ Maine,
They're the<h-tlst. tOil-staned daddies-
and manya fellow knows
How hard His humble dad has worked to
buy him books ana clothes.
Let Others pile their crowns and wreaths
for men behind the guns
choose - crown az best ! may the men
behind The sons.
| bring some homcly laurel BOYS, for
wrinkled sunburncd brow
For men whose hands are blistered by
the scythe-snath and the plow;
For men who Wrcstle Nature with a bare
and corded arm,
In an everlasting struggle with "A grudE \
ing Old Maine farm;
Who gladly put their lives ana hands be-
meath the bitter ruic
Which poverty imposes. that their boys
may go 10 school.
HoulI find them here in stern Old Maine
wherc'er YOU chance TO look.
Their humble boyhood vowed % TOLL I'M
blessed BY school or book.
| tell YOU. friends. no pathOs st.rs sd dccp
this heart Of mine.
AS when a tOIl-hcnt farmer makes his
cross when asked 10 sign
Scrawls his cross with cramped old fin
gers, yet is anxious to dilate,
on the brightness IF his children he has
paid to educate
And hen tell you. II YOU ask him. ~ the
When 'bound-ont' children trudEed y
school through miles Of dritted
snow:
When scattered weeks of schoolin' in the
Inf limo 4 ftlt
To patient little youngsters. lily fed and
numb with cold.
Glance abroad in Maine! You'n find them,
honest tillerS Of the soil.
Who have earned their scattered dollars
Just by plain ana bitter toll
All these years they've gone IN patches
that their boys and girls might wear
Clothes as good as other children 3; ana
their hopes and thought and care,
As they've struggled on their acres, have
been voiced IN this one cry.
Its 50 the boy wont have to work as
hard as marin and i.
It's So the boy can never say ne had 70
stay q fool.
Beeauso his folks were shiftless and he
wasn't kept in school.
The sacrifice by warning men in battle =
crash and blaze,
The deeds of heroes seeking fame, should
win due need Of praise;
Ana yet above them an ! set the humble
sacrifice
OF toiIing men who. cent by cent, amass
the hard won price.
That fits boy To meet the world; that
sends him fourth a Man.
No hating wrctched dullard. but a
champion in lifcs van,
Ana unto these bent. weary men with
carth-staiucd callnusvd palms
Who humbly tread the up-turncd soil on
all these rough Maine farms.
Who pile their hoard of dollars up, by
sturdy labor won.
Who pour those dollars out again Il
make worthy son.
All unto these who seek not crowns, !
bring the bay tonight.
] place ii on their sun-tanncd hrows. as
heroes Of A fight
That's grandcr than All bloody wars,-a
nobIer conquest than
Grim battle brings for these have
wrought to build the cultured man;
Their drcar campaign, their sacrifice,
their toll Is never done;
God grant that each may live again n
some devoted son,
And 50 | say. | bring my bay for Names
true heroes now,
The men whose hands are blistered by
the sCythc-snath and the plow:
Who gladly put their lives and hands be-
meath the bitter rule
Which poverty imposes that their sons
may stay in school.