Classic Poem

How pure in zeal, how firm in faith,
Sternly the early patriots stood!
Ready to buy, come life or death,
Their freedom at the price of blood.

They scorned in craven fear to bend;
No tyrant power could make them quail;
" Our rights, as freemen, we defend;
Our cause is God's — it cannot fail. "

Slender in means, in numbers few,
But high in aim and grand in thought;
Nobly they spoke, brave men and true,
And nobler deeds of valor wrought.

A century's march, through peace and blood,
Has left their influence still impressed
On all the hills their footsteps trod,
On fields their presence never blessed.

Our fathers' God, we own Thy power;
Thy mighty fiat made us free.
Our help in that decisive hour,
Still may we put our trust in Thee.