Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1933-06-01
Old konsides Speaks
BY JACKSON B. CoRBEr, JR

BY JACKSON b. CORBET. JR.
Copyright, 1888, by jackson B. Corbet, Jr
reprinted The Marine Digest by special perission)
Close ranks Americans, and hearkcn to mel
These my masts and yards and sails;
They bore me swiftly into the battles tumult.
These are my tough old wooden sides and ribs
battered In vain by the foeman's angry cannon
These are decks that once ran red with heroblood
And these are my guns whose flaming voice
Pealed the war anthem of the Republic country
Our country may she always be right
But always our country
Close ranks, you and women, and hear mel
Amercanism is not in wood. canvas, nor ron
Nor is 1t in any other thing material.
Americanism is a spirit.
You tread my ancient decks in reverence
You honor me and call me immortal,
The while you gaze on tmbers, sails and guns,
But Old Ironsides am immortal
Not because Of anything the eye can see
Nor yet because Of anything the hand can feel
OF the deathless spirit of America.
am the symbol Of the spirit,
I am the symbol of everything
Begotten of the spirit of America
I am Lexington and Bunker HILL
am brave Prescott on the deadly parapet.
I Washington defying the black Delaware night,
In the frai boat amid the rivers grinding ice.
am the stern, patient Washington of Valley Forge
Consecrating Freedom to hoier rebirth
From the anguished womb the bitter fearful winter
Reminding her torch at the scanty campfires
I am the private soldier of Valley Forge
The soldier hungry, shoeess in the freezing SHOWS
But the soldier unbeaten-and unbeatable
am Nathan Hale with but one life to give.
And am the one life he gave for his country
am John Paul Jones, the tiger of the seas,
On the quarterback of the sinking Home Richard
Sinking but fighting fiercey on, and conquerng.
am Washington, the soldiers and the sailors,
am the sea-battles am Valley Forge and yorktown.
YEA am the Revolution and the Victory!
am Jefferson writing the Declaration,
/ am the Convention framing the Constitution
am the Declaration and the Constitution,
I am the government of law, not Of men,
am dauntless Perry on Lake Erie waters
l am valiant Hull, cambridge and Decatur,
am fierce Old Hickory at New Orleans,
And noble Scott scaling the heights of Chaputepec
And Old Rough and Ready in the smoke Of Buena Vista
am Lincoln in the black midnight Of our nation,
am Lincoln with malice toward none
am Lincoln bowed with grief, but resoute
And am the marching hosts Of men VINO sang,
Men and women hear me! am both North and South,
I am the heroic Blue and the heroic Gray
am Farragu perched like old eagle
Danlnng the torpedoes and going full speed ahead
am Meade, the anvil of bloody Gettysburg,
SCATTERING the hammer that fiercely beat upon him.
am Lee, the knightly chieftain Of the Lost Cause
And fiery Pickett heading Lees supreme assault
And am Grant battling onward in the Wilderness,
Stout Grant who did not know how to retreat,
Iron Grant who counted his dead
And am the noble chivalry of Appomattox
The noble chivalry of gallant Grant and gallant Lee
Shilling the drums to bind up the nations wounds.
Yea, am the North and the South again one!
1 am the emigrant trains pushing westward,
Westward over the Santa Fe and Oregon trails,
Across the great plains and over the Rockies,
Pushing westward in the covered wagon.
am the plains the trails and the Rockies,
And am the covered wagon, its agony its sacrifice
am Theodore Roosevelt storming Ell Caney HILL
am the Rough Riders galloping mady with him.
am Dewey in Manila Bay that morning in May,
am Dewey saying you may fire when ready Gridey"
And am Gridley and Gridleys gun crews
laundering the birth of the Republic world power
am Wilson unsheathing the sword of Washington
am Wilson's clarion call To arms! To arms
And am the multitudes answering the call,
The muttudes Of young men offering up their youth
On the red altar of
I am the sailors the marines and the soldiers,
am the lads slain by the machine-gun nests,
am the lads destroying the machine gun nests,
am Quentin Roosevelt soaring into the ether,
Bravely winging his way to death in aerial combat.
Yea, am the valor of the youth Of America!
Rejoice Republic, rejoice in their devotion,
Rejoice in the valor of thy Of today!
I am Moffet, the intrepid admiral of the skies,
On the doomed Akron in the storms wild inferno
am Moffet officers and men, all standing by,
Quietly standing by for the crash death in the waters
In the shrieking night pierced by the lightning bolt
I am the cool courage of Moffet officers, men,
And am the tears of the Republic.
l. Old Ironsdes, am all of this and more,
am all of this and more because am the symbol
OF the deathless spirit of America.