Classic Poem

GAME SLAVERY ALSO

When the Mayflower steering westward heard the Stormwind's wild ha! ha!
Westward sailed another vessel from the coast of Africa,
Bearing as its living cargo Negroes for Virginia.

Torn from kraals neath slender palm-trees, where the jungled Tropics burn,
Naked, terror-speechless, they were fated never to return,
Whether sold as slaves or flung half-dying to the sharks astern.

Men and women, shackled, herded, in the filthy noisome hold,
Undergoing fiendish torments (one more crime, oh cursed Gold!),
They too bore the virgin country seeds whose fruitage should unfold.

With the great white rose of Freedom came this black and poisonous weed,
Destined death to spread, and ruin, through man's too insatiate greed;
Yet at first it seemed a blessing made to answer human need.

Then there rose no Jeremiah to foretell the cataclysm
That should burst in coming ages with a brother-parting schism,
To engulf a prosperous country in War's hell-disrupt abysm.

So those ignorant thick-lipped Negroes landed on Virginia soil,
Held in bondage, cowed and sullen, superstitious, doomed to toil,
Helped to weave the mingled fabric, helped compound the cursed coil.

Ev'n the Pilgrim Fathers, reading Scripture blindly, saw no ill
Taking pattern from the Hebrews, purchased Blacks their lands to till —
" Marchant Richard " of Old Newbury left his children slaves by will!

CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

J EW too came as ever, fleeing from the burden of the curse,
Still obedient to the mandate that compelled them to disperse,
As if room for them were nowhere in the mundane universe.

At New Amsterdam among the Dutchmen they were earliest seen,
With their oriental gestures and the broidered gaberdine,
With thick curling beard, keen eyes, hook nose, and face sun-tanned and lean.

Little didst thou dream, Manahatta, that before three centuries sped
Three times Palestine's population should along thy crest be spread,
Or, compared to their possessions, Solomon's wealth were paste and lead!

Newport, in thy cemetery Israel's weary tribesmen sleep
That here found, like Noah's dove, shelter after wandering o'er the deep;
Quakers felt no jealousy of them; Quaker eyes were wont to weep!

ALIEN COLONIES SMITTEN

S PANIARDS , Hollanders and Frenchmen — they too swept across the seas,
But the jealous Saxon smote them, crushed their prosperous colonies.
This great country should be his and God's — he swore it on his knees!

For a time his force succeeded; Knickerbocker had to yield.
Up the palisaded Hudson grave Patroon lost house and field,
Lost the scepter of dominion which his hand had learned to wield.

Saxon soldiers stormed thy walls, coquina-built Saint Augustine,
Massacred the swarthy Spaniards swaggering with haughty mien;
On our coast Castilian peacocks never should their feathers preen!

Feuds age-ripened must be settled on the heights of Montreal
And the green imperial River must not be allowed to call
Any Louis King and Master; Canada should be no Gaul!

French nets should not rob the waters surging round Newfoundland reefs;
Hence what bloodshed, what destruction, what unmitigated griefs,
What descents on farm or village by fierce Abenaki chiefs!

Names are hieroglyphs of History; the interpreter can spell
By their meaning or occurrence what occult event befell,
Leaving here and there the symbol for Kalliope to tell.

Here a Dutch hill, here a Spanish, here a French saint's pious claim,
Here a mountain-circled water with a liquid Indian name.
How we prize these appellations lambent with an aural flame!

WELCOME THE KELT

When by war and revolution thirteen States became one realm,
And the danger ceased of Conquest swooping down to overwhelm,
When the Nation past the breakers rode obedient to its helm.

When on deck and in the rigging there was mighty work to do,
Men were welcomed from all nations to be partners with the crew;
At the masthead like a comet Freedom's starry banner flew.

Leaving famine-tortured Erin came the witty careless Kelt
With his gay and sunny nature, with his songs the heart to melt,
With the love of battle in him to strike hard when blows are dealt.

Quick to rise from low condition, politician readymade,
At his best a boon companion, wielding gavel, club or spade,
What should we in war or council have become without his aid?

Kearney punishing Apaches, Cass with stars superbly won,
Sheridan whose name in glory shines with brightness like a sun,
And a score of Irish patriots famous for their great deeds done;

Strong, self-sacrificing Churchmen, through whom charity increast:
Gibbons, Baltimore's cardinal-statesman; Williams, Boston's saintly priest;
Ireland scholar and apostle, well-beloved from West to East.

Boyle O'Reilly, gallant exile, passionate lover of his race,
Freedom's champion, fiery poet, finding joy in Nature's face;
Joyce who sang the song of Deirdre, dwelling here too short a space!

Erin, these and countless others worthy Fame's high-panelled Hall
Looked upon thee as their homeland, proud thy history to recall,
Though so vanquished, so maltreated, yet so brave as chief or thrall!

GERMANY GIVES US HEROES

When through Europe Revolution like regenerating fire
Shook the peoples from age-slumber, kindled in them new desire;
When the serfs, once dull as oxen, dared to manhood to aspire;

When the mighty bell of Freedom boomed from Time's majestic clock,
And the jeweled thrones of tyrants based, they dreamed, as on a rock
On the bent backs of their subjects, shook as if by earthquake shock,

Then the kings with desperation sought their forces to combine
To crush down the rising spirit, to recork the spilling wine.
Hence the brutal executions, hence the crimes of Forty-nine!

Men of genius, men of virtue, born to exercise command,
Forced to choose 'twixt death and exile, fled their dear-loved Fatherland,
Some escaped from loathsome dungeons, hither came, a welcome band;

Some took part in our great struggle, bravely fought and bled and died;
German soldiers won their laurels neath the banner of our pride;
Men like Sigel, gallant, noble, with our glory were allied.

German sentiment and science, music, poetry and art,
Genial fellowship and feeling, clever mind and tender heart,
With these heroes from her bosom weakened Europe saw depart.

Loss to thee was our gain, Prussia, when Carl Schurz, that prince of men,
Gallant general, keen-eyed statesman, eloquent wielder of the pen,
Came to battle, blazed in Congress, lived a foremost citizen!

THE FLOOD-GATES WIDE-OPEN

T HESE were only the beginnings: since the flood-gates opened wide
Came the emigrants of Fortune in an ever-swelling tide,
Spreading over hill and prairie, pushing, settling far and wide.

Fair-haired, friendly Scandinavians, seeking homes in Michigan,
Serious-minded and industrious, massed together like a clan,
Raised the grape and pear and apple on a new and ampler plan.

Short, dark-eyed and swart Sicilians, organ-men from Napoli,
Hardy laborers on the railways, with ambitious industry,
Quick to smile, vendetta-nursing, came in swarms across the sea.

Moody Greeks, like old Silenus laden down with luscious fruits,
Captured basements, chartered wagons, drove the Italians from their routes.
To this modern siege of Troy arrived unfailing fresh recruits.

Hordes of Huns, the kin of Etzel, brisk Bohemians and Poles,
With long tongue-entangling surnames changed to numbers on the rolls,
Delved in Appalachian coal-mines, ill-paid but enfranchised " Souls. "

Suomi men, skilled granite-hewers, sought the rock-ribbed isles of Maine,
Sleek Armenians, Turks and Arabs sold embroideries for gain.
Every year came alien myriads: are they blessing? are they bane?

Even the poppy-slumbrous Orient shook his limbs and woke once more;
Long-cued, quiet Chinese coolies like a flood began to pour,
Unassimilable heathen, over the Pacific shore.

Labor's jealous eyes were angered; men, themselves of alien brood,
Who unmoved had seen Protection tax their clothes, their homes, their food,
Clamored madly: " Shut the portals! these cheap rival hosts exclude! "

Boasted land of Freedom! Boasted refuge of the world's opprest,
Must thou shut the hand of welcome to the East or to the West?
Or is thy grand claim a failure when confronted with the test?

Who may tell? The path of Progress, winding like a mountain trail,
Dips to valleys, crosses gulches, in the tangle seems to fail,
Yet it climbs however slowly and the climber must not quail.