The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-05-25
PATRIOTIC REcIrArsoNs.
An American Exile.

An American Exile.
In Norfolk bay. long years ago. where
waved
The nations flag from mizzen gaff
or frigate, sloop and other war Ike
A group of naval officers, assembled
On the flagship's quarter deck, dis
cussed
With earnestness the act by which the
state
OF South Carolina annulled
The tariff laws of congress.
The presidents prompt act,
Dispatching Scott to Charleston, order
The execution Of the laws by force,
Had thrilled the nerves OF those who
bore
Their country's arms.
The naval service poasted many men
Who traced through veins as chiv-
alrous as their series
The blood of Sumter, Pickens, Hayne,
And other revolutionary patriots;
And, conscious of a lineage illustrtous
From those who gave the grand repuo-
lie birth,
Their minds were often filled with pol
itics
OF state; and thus the acts of courts
And legislatures oft became their
theme
In time of peace as much as warlike
deeds
OF Neptune.
One of these in this debate, .s, -.
A handsome, sun bronzed officer or
most
Commanding mien, became conspicu-
Gus
In warm approval of his states rash
act n.
And censure strong of president
And congress. While his flashing eye
The fierce emotions of his soul. his
voice
Rang fearful maledictions: Curse the
country
Whose flag from yonder mizzen floats;
Be cursed, who in the name OF govern
ment
Ignore the rights my native state has
held supreme" ~
Then drawing forth his rapier
AS il in frenzied rage: MY swords
my own,
My heart is loyal to my native state;
And here ! swear, this blade shall neer
But in defense of rights this tyrant
thing
Called government, usurps. and those
its threats
Would terrify. Its flag be trailed In
dust; ...-
The fate Of Carthage be its cursed
doom;
The memory of its present acts. with
those
Who gave them shape, go down in
blood and shame"
Such direful imprecations shocked the
ears
OF those who heard; and ere the
speechless group
Rx.AV 6Afe a
young
Lieutenant felled the speaker sense
less to
The deck; then. quick before the Of
ficer
Commanding. preferred the charge Of
treason.
Court martial trials are speedy in re-
suits;
The sentence, novel in its terms. was
heard
With unfeigned haughtiness and scorn
s-, by him
THE prisoner, hence, for life, shall
be consigned
To vessels cruising in a foreign sea;
No tongue to him shall speak his
country's name,
Nor tax to him of aught save daily
wants;
And ever to his sight that country's
Shall be the token that its powers
live
To carry out this sentence"
In far off seas. away from kindred
And native home, the years passed
slowly on;
But pride and stubborn will did not
desert
This strange misguided man; his fate
he seemed
To cherish for the cause he still be-
lieved .r
Would triumph in the end.
Yet to and fro his narrow bounds he
paced,
Alone amid frigate's crew, of whom
Not one could speak to him friendly
word,
Nor tell him Of that wondrous growth
and fame
The land he cursed attained among
The nations of the earth. No cheering
word
His yearning heart in time could e'er
expect
From stricken mother. weeping wife,
and babes
BY him made worse than orphans, who
might blush.
To call him father. Still, above,
In sportive ' play, the flag he madly
BY star was added to its field Of blue,
In gorgeous folds waved kindly DER his
head, ...'.
AS If forgiving his ingratitude.
and now, as other years rolled sadly
by,
And he was passed from ship to ship,
as each
In turn went home, the lines Of grief
and frosts
OF age bore silent evidences of slow
scay.
| In time his face was marked with PEN
| sive cast,
A harbiager of sad, repentant thought
| A sailor, unperceived, took note Of
him,
And oft observed him watch the way
| ing flag
With strange emotion. And once his
lips
Were seen to move: Thou ever
present curse,
Reminding me Of what I am, of what
| I've lost. Thou Nemesis Of natures
wrongs!