The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-06-01
Dewey Day.


May 1, 1899, by the author, Hiram Hoyt
Richmond:
God said: Let there be light" And
there was light.
A part of heavens unsung symphonies.
He wrote His purpose in prevailing white.
There came a time when God was tired of
kings.
Of casteilated forts and feudal heraldry,
OF tinSel pride and courtiered ribaldry,
And had no use for accidental things.
In fuller time an usherance of birth
Columbia, rising from an unknown sea,
A bare, white tablet for what was to be,
A balance sheet-the better half of earth.
And on this tablet God has writ His name
In letters like the Simitic scroll,
In letters that assert His full control,
In letters that each thinning was aflame.
That His great purpose never more should
From cloud and tempest and tumultu-
GUS sea
He gave the after mandate-"Liberty!
And printed it upon His chosen flag.
Four times within the century, unfurled
1t bore the fiery test OF stubborn strife
Yet bore with added gfories to its life
Until its potency outranked the world.
And only in defense its people led
1t left the dead to bury their own
dead;
In righting others wrongs it made no
trace.
Until at last a black-eyed Sister calls
A piercing cry upon our very gates.
And still the gauge of battle seeming
waits,
And still the banner hangs upon our
walls.
Until at last our eyes are burnt with
To scenes of rapf.le. suffering and death
Is added treachery, till our every breath
Is tainted with the beastfulness Of Spain.
Our ship of war in seeming friendly port,
The stout ship Maine, with all its gal
Is blown to death by SPANS black
vengeful Mars,
With no appeal but to a higher court.
Then to a higher court we took appeal.
Our comrades of the Maine with cold,
4 white hands
Spoke to our souls and uttered their
commands
That We could answer only Witff-Our steel
Not to enlarge our borders did we war,
But simply struck for all the human
race
To wash plague spot from Columbia
face,
And in close ether plant another star.
Then May Day came, with all its
OF song and festival and wealth of
bloom
Yet war was on. and from the blue the
Broke on the ear with sharp notes of Old
Glory.
caught;
Where Dewey set the pace for all the
world
The Spanish fleet to swift destruction
hurled,
Told in rough cadence of the battle
fought
Three hundred years of Infamous control
Was crushed in three hours battle by
our fleet
Arrangement of the centuries complete
And earth was reaching it's supremest
goal.
Thus Dewey captured May Day from the
And round it wreathed Old Glory, there
to stay
Till heaven shall usher in the Judgment
And the millennial touch shall dry all
tears.
Make room, great Nelson of the Trafal-
gar!
Make, room, great Perry. with the Erie
Make room, brave Farragut! prepare to
meet
In upper zenith your companion star!
Great century, whose breath is hoarse
with age:
Whose easy primacy outshines all time;
Whose SEARS are glories DER embattled
crime
With what sunburst shall we close your
page!
The great republic. conscious of her
power
Throws down her gauntlet for the hui
man race,
And over ocean, with a giants pace,
Wins priceless garlands In fateful hour.
And islands fretting under feudal sway,
Are stars upon her banner in day.
And high in zenith. from the clouds Of
war,
Shines in refulgent beauty Dewey's star,
Swung to its orbit ON the first Of May.