April 19, 1775-1861

Once again, (our dear old Massachusetts!)
Once again the drops that made their way,
Red, ah not in vain! on that old greensward —
It is six and eighty years this very day.

Six and eighty years — aye, it seemed but a memory —
Little left of all that glory — so we thought —
Only the old firelocks hung on farm-house chimneys,
And rude blades the village blacksmith wrought.

Only here and there a white head that remembers
How the Frocks of Homespun stood against King George —
How the hard hands stretched them o'er the scanty embers
When the sleet and snow came down at Valley Forge.

Once more, dear Brother-State! thy pure, brave blood baptizes
Our last and noblest struggle for freedom and for right —
It fell on the cruel stones! — but an awful Nation rises
In the glory of its conscience, and the splendor of its might.
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