The record-union., 1899-06-01
Dewey Day

May l, 1899, by the author, Hiram Hoyt
Richmond:
God said: Let there be light" And
there was light.
Upon the radiant archways Of the skies,
A part of heavens unsung symphonies.
He wrote His purpose in prevailing white.
There came 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 Liberty"
And printed it upon His chosen flag.
Four times within the century unfurled
It bore the fiery test OF stubborn strife,
Yet bore with added gfOries to its life
Until its potency outranked the world.
Yet always circumscribed it held its place.
And only in defense it's people leo
1t left the dead to bury their own
dead;
In righting others wrongs it made no
trace.
Until at last black-eyed Sister calls
piercing cry upon our very gates.
And still the gauge of battle seeming
And still the banner hangs upon our
walls.
Until at last our eyes are burnt with
pain
To scenes of rapf-le. suffering and death
Is added treachery, till our every breath
Our ship of war in seeming friendly port,
The stout ship Maine, with all its gal
Is blown to death by Spain's black
vengeful Mars,
With no appeal but to higher court.
Then to higher court we took appeal
Our comrades of the Maine with cold,
white hands
That We could answer only with-our Steel
But simply struck for all the human
To wash a plague spot from Columbia s
face,
And in close ether plant another star.
Then May Day came, with all its
rhythmic story
OF song and festival and wealth of
Yet war was on. and from the blue the
Broke on the ear with sharp notes of Old
Glory.
From the Antipodes the notes were
Where Dewey set the pace for all the
world
The Spanish fleet to swift destruction
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 its 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-
Make room, great Perry, with the Erie
fleet!
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 scars are glories DER embattled
crime
With what a 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 giants pace
Wins priceless garlands in fateful hour.
And islands fretting under feudal sway,
Are stars upon her banner in a 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 Nav