The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-06-28
IN d. A N A
Politically Enthusiastically. Historically.
Socially.
Socially.

1.-THE first Graft of the following poem appeared
in the Indianapolis Journal OF Dec 2s.g lsis,
then conducted by John ID. Defrees- 1t bore the
caption, The Hooser State. BY Native
It is here recast and revised. with additions. by
its author, Isaac II. Julian.l
sing the fairest OF hat Sister Band
Whose sacred Union forms Native Land
That Band whose firm. united hands uphold
columbia's Banner to the heavens unrolled:
The skies were dark when it planted there.
But Freedoms champions did not then despair;
May he who would dare to pluck 1t down
Be blasted by a Sovereign Peoples frown!
Ere from beyond the Appalachian hills
The white man westward traced the winding
rils
Whose coaescing streams. expanding wide,
Conspire to swell broad Mississippis tide.
For ages had this fair. this green domain
Gemmed the primeval crown of Natures reign!
Then the dark woods. in solemn majesty.
A sea of verdure, waved toward the sky;
Her ocean lakes. magnihcently fair.
Mirrored the suns departing glory there;
Her prairies teened with Natures choicest
stores,
And her rich bounties Swallowed all her shores.
o'ercanopied with woods. her virgin soil
Knew not the hard, harassing hand of toll;
To Natures harmless denaZens alone
Were these wild haunts. these varied treasures
known.
o had power to save a scene so bright
From the dark shades Of Times receding flight.
How gladly would my raptured pen portray
In lines and hues defyng all decay,
The garb which decked my country's earlier dayl
So when the clods had settled on my breast
And heart and brain and hand had sunk to rest,
Successive ages might my theme admire,
Weep Ger my tomb and emulate my Tyre;
And pride of home and native land might be
Mingled with fond, familiar thoughts Of me!
o ye wild graces of this lovely cline.
vouchsafe your influence to my artiess rhyme!
Ye fair delights. to other lands unknown,
With native charms, unrivaled as your own.
Pervade my song. inspire my votve lay
With truthful visions Of former day.
They come-those lovely visions impart
Renewing thrills OF rapture to my heart:
Again my country's earliest stage appears
Through the long Vista of departed years
Behold the Land of Forest and OF Plain
in the wide solitude of Natures reign!
The grand Ohio laves her southern side.
Pouring through scenes sublime his silver tide:
Gigantic forests tower on every height
| And half shut out the summer mondays light;
The wild vine spreads luxuriantiy around.
And the rank heritage cumbers all the ground.
Unbroken silence broods upon the scene.
AS morn and eve succeed In pomp serene,
Save the low ripping OF the CLASSY stream
The doves soft note-the hawks wild, savage
scream
| The trooping cranes loud. melancholy cry
And all lone Natures wondrous symphony.
No hunters campfire lights the forests gloom,
| No waving fields breathe their rich perfume:
Dark. vast profound. the mighty landscape lies
| Meath the o'erarching OF the sapphire skies.
| Turn to the north; behold the prospect spread
Diversity beauteous; Natures howery mead
| Expands in fluctuations to the eye
| Like ocean, emblem Of Infinity.
| And there is Ocean-or his eldest born
Broad inland sea, bright cleaning to the morn
| There Michigan exalts his stormy crest
| When the wild winds career upon his breast;
Or when the maddening surges cease to roar,
| With gentle ripping laves the sandy shore.
/ Through the long lapse OF summers sunny day
Enchanted Silence saw his waters play
/ Till the fierce, driving blasts of winter came
| And bound the pillows in an icy frame.
| The wild goose here her dappled plumage laves
| And sports superior mid the dashng waves.
| Or scars beyond the weak, bewildered gaze,
| Circling In Freedoms pride the airy maze:
| And venturous. tempting the dim. distant sky,
II
AS lonely. "a sublime Oceans reign.
| Spread the firm pillows Of the grassy plain
! How the circling distance; how profound
The solitude which wraps the scene around!
| In wild. fantastic forms the clouds. unrolled,
| Reflect the hres of amber and gold
In beauty more profuse. In lines more plain
| Than glimmered artists brain,
In vain the searching, wearied eye may glance
/ Eos p,,,iS ha
| Save where the stunted. struggling trees betray
| The winding streamlets still and secret way.
| Or some old rocks rough. dark. eccentric height
| Or circling ravens solitary flight.
Southwark turn. and Wabash greets my lay
Theme which my unskiled hand may not portray
Through forest and through plain he takes his
1 course.
Revealing varied charms from mouth to source:
| Exacts each latent tribute till he drains
The expanse of Indiana's broad domains
| Till dark and mighty, swift and full and free
| He pours his floods to seek the distant sea-
| o River Of our State Thy name shall be
| A taIisnan of glory me.
| Recalling happy visions or the day
When first saw thy turbid waters play
/ Twas placid. fair September eve
| Ere summer hours had ta'en their final leave.
| That with delight e'er had known before
| L crossed thy mood and 5ourneyed up thy shore
The magic splendor Of departing day
| Streamed in full glory thy watery way:
The tall prmeyal woods, in leafy PRIDE
| In graceful ranks adorned thy winding side
And in a golden mist of splendor drest
With tenfold added charms were mirrored an
| thy breast.
| 1t minded me OF regions far away
OF moonlight on some fair Sicilian bay,
| Ionian isles. or Fancy's fairy climes-
The valued lore which lured my childish rhvnnes
turned. and turned, to gaze upon the scene
| In that sweet autumn evening So serene
| And felt claim upon my pen was laid
| The tribute due so long has now been poorIv
| paid.
Yet would sketch an empire on thy shore
| Whose pride and glory forever Ger;
| Redeem from grim Forgetfulness a page
| In the brief annals of another age
| Another race-once owners of the soil
| Whose fair domain is now the conqueror's snail
| Yes. on thy shore. o Wabash, once they roved
| And all the joys of savage freedom proved:
Fished in thy waters. hunted meath thy shades
Il
cor, rather. villages. Of which there wer. 1--WE
| CONTINUOUSLY located the French fort
Clu2fpn0u IN he Wabash