Chapter 114 of 129
LESSON CV.
Sanders' Union Fourth Reader Embracing a Full Exposition of the Principles of Rhetorical Reading; with Numerous Exercises for Practice, Both in Prose and Poetry, Various in Style, and Carefully Adapted to the Purposes of Teaching in Schools of Every Grade · Charles W. (Charles Walton) Sanders
HAR' BIN GER, forerunner; precursor.
UN PIL' LAR ED, unsupported by pillars.
UN YIELDING, stubborn.
DE CREES', edicts; laws.
HAL' LOW ED, sacred; consecrated.
MOLD' ER ING, decaying.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO,
GRENVILLE MULLEN.
1. Wake your harp's music!—louder,—higher,
And pour your strains along;
And smite again each quivering wire,
In all the pride of song!
(f.) Shout like those godlike men of old,
Who, daring storm and foe,
On this blessed soil their anthem rolled,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
2. From native shores by tempests driven,
They sought a purer sky;
And found, beneath a milder heaven,
The home of Liberty! An altar rose,—and prayers,—a ray
Broke on their night of woe,—
The harbinger of Freedom's day,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
3. They clung around that symbol too,
Their refuge and their all;
And swore, while skies and waves were blue,
That altar should not fall!
They stood upon the red man's sod,
'Neath heaven's unpillared bow,
With home,—a country, and a God,—
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
4. Oh! 'twas a hard, unyielding fate
That drove them to the seas;
And Persecution strove with Hate,
To darken her decrees:
But safe, above each coral grave,
Each booming ship did go,—
A God was on the western wave,—
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
5. They knelt them on the desert sand,
By waters cold and rude,
Alone upon the dreary strand
Of oceaned solitude!
They looked upon the high, blue air,
And felt their spirits glow,
Resolved to live or perish there,—
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
6. The warrior's red right arm was bared,
His eyes flashed deep and wild:
Was there a foreign footstep dared
To seek his home and child'?
The dark chiefs yelled alarm, and swore
The white man's blood should flow,
And his hewn bones should bleach their shore,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
7. But lo! the warrior's eye grew dim,—
His arm was left alone;
The still, black wilds which sheltered him,
No longer were his own!
Time fled,—and on the hallowed ground
His highest pine lies low,—
And cities swell where forests frowned,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
8. Oh! stay not to recount the tale,—
'Twas bloody, and 'tis past;
The firmest cheek might well grow pale,
To hear it to the last.
The God of Heaven who prospers us,
Could bid a nation grow,
And shield us from the red man's curse,—
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
9. Come, then,—great shades of glorious men,
From your still glorious grave!
Look on your own proud land again,
O bravest of the brave!
We call you from each mouldering tomb,
And each blue wave below,
To bless the world ye snatched from doom,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
10. Then to your harps!—yet louder,—higher
And pour your strains along;
And smite again each quivering wire,
In all the pride of song!
(f.)Shout for those godlike men of old,
Who, daring storm and foe,
On this blessed soil their anthem rolled,
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO!
QUESTIONS.—1. Who are meant by godlike men of old? 2. Why did they flee to this country? 3. Who warred against them?