49. the army to the people.
men of the North! ye are true, ye are strong!Give us a watchword to cheer us along;
Write on our banners, in letters of fire,
Words that shall hearten, ennoble, inspire--
Words that shall strike to the heart of the foe
Terror and trembling wherever we go;
Give us this watchword to hear through the fight:
“Freedom and Fatherland, God and the Right!”
“Freedom,” for all that are weak and oppressed--
“Fatherland, God and the Right!” For the rest,
Leave that to us! With a watchword so true,
What shall be lacking that brave hearts can do?
Soon, from the Gulf to the Border, o'er moat,
O'er battlement, fortress, that banner shall float,
Blazoned all over with letters of light:
”Freedom and Fatherland, God and the Right!
Men of the North! ye are firm, ye are leal--
Firmer than granite, and truer than steel!
Loving and loyal, this only remains:
Strike from the bondsman his fetters and chains!
Then, then shall our legions go forth to the fray,
Invinciblec clad in their battle-array;
And conquering angels shall lead on the fight
For Freedom and Fatherland, God and the Right!
Fitchburgh, Mass.
