The Nome nugget., 1900-01-01
ALASKA TO UNCLE SAM.

Through ten thousand sleepless
 nights
 I've been praying for your coming - For the dawn of civil rights. When you took me, young and trust.
 ing,
 From the growing Russian bear, Loud you swore before the nations l should have the Eagles carel (Never yet has wing of eagle
 Cast a shadow on my peaks, But I've watched the flight of pug
 zards
 And I've felt their busy beaks). Your imported crossroads statesmen (What a mOtely, sordid trainD Come with laws conceived in closets - Made for loot and private gain, These the best that you can furnish Then God help the heather folk You have rescued from the burden Of the rotting Spanish yoke, I'm a full-grown, proud-soule,l woman, And I'm getting very sick Wearing all the cast-off garments Of your body polite. If you'll give me your permission, l will make some wholesome laws That will suit my hard conditions And promote our country cause. By the latest mail you seat me
 (Nearly all your mails are late,l Comes the news that you've been 1s vol s.ors shsn. of .s.s--s ,- Dfeamiff kh a sunburnt siren By the sultry southern seas, Where the songs of your enchantre ss Swoon upon the scented breeze. You are blind with lust of conquest And desire for foreign trade, Or you'd see the half-drawn dagger, With it's brightly-burnished blade, Sticking in the lOOsened girdie Of the black brute by your side of you treat her as I'm treated She will stick it through your hide) Curb your taste for sun-killed coun-
 tries,
 Where the natives loaf and shirk! Come to richer northern regions, Where the people think and work. If you want part of Asia
 When the Chinamen are killed, nun IdlIIOdu up tO btTlUS- q will show you where to build). Come next spring and count my
 treasures,
 And don't stop at Glacier Bay, Like the many high commissions You have started up this way. You will see my wooded mountains With their citadels of snow Glpa m n in tho nIrrn1n ct Through the pearlhued alpen glow Standing on my fiOwer-strewn hill
 sides,
 Where my mighty rivers meet Gazing OCT my verdant valleys Spreading seaward from you: feet, You will see the sunlit splendOrs Of my moOnless midnight skies, Gilded with the light supernal Shining straight from Paradise. If you stay till Hoary Winter
 Has entOmbed the silent land You will read celestial sermons, Written by the Masters hand On the azure walls of heaven, Where AurOra's tinted light Weirdly fits like summer lightning All the ghOstly Arctic night. When you come I'll show you wonders That will cause you great surprise And if gold is what you're seeking, You will open wide your eyes. (Drive away your Wall street schem
 CTS.
 With their coupons and their Then while you extend your commerce I'll expand your gold reserve). You will find a magic city
 On the shore of Boring Strait Which shall be for you a station To unload your Arctic freight, Where the gold of Humboldts vision Has for countless ages lain, Waiting for the hand of labor And the SaxOn's tireless brain. You shall have a cool vacation, Hunting for the great white bear, And you'll soon forget Manila
 And the trouble you've had there: For. as on the morn of nations
 Every highway lead to Rome, You and all your restless rivals Will be sailing straight to Nome. You will wake a sleeping empire, Stretching sOuthward from the Pole To the headlands where the waters Of your western ocean roll. Then will rise a mighty people From the travail of the years. Whom with pride will call your chil
 dren
 Offspring of my pioneers!
 SAM c. DUNHAM. Fort Yukon. Sept. 6. 1899.