[211]
From Bacon down to Washington
The generations passed,
Great events and moving causes
Were in serried order massed:
Berkeley well was first confronted,
Better George the King at last!
From the times of that stern ruler
To our own familiar days,
Long the pathway we have trodden—
Hard and devious were its ways—
Till at last there came the second
Mightier Revolution's blaze;
Till at last there broke the tempest
Like a cyclone on the sea,
When the lightnings blazed and dazzled
And the thunders were set free—
And riding on that whirlwind came
Majestic Robert Lee.
Who—again I ask the question—
Who may challenge in debate,
With any show of truthfulness,
Our former social state
Which brought forth more than heroes
In their lives supremely great?
Not Peter the wild Crusader
When bent upon his knee,
Not Arthur and his belted knights
In the poet's song could be
More earnest than those Southern men
Who followed Robert Lee.
They thought that they were right, and this
Was hammered into those
Who held that crest all drenched in blood
Where the ‘Bloody Angle’ rose.
As for all else? It passes by
As the idle wind that blows.
And unto God give thanks,
On mountains, and on hillsides,
And by sloping river banks—
Thank God that you were worthy
Of the grand Confederate ranks;
The generations passed,
Great events and moving causes
Were in serried order massed:
Berkeley well was first confronted,
Better George the King at last!
From the times of that stern ruler
To our own familiar days,
Long the pathway we have trodden—
Hard and devious were its ways—
Till at last there came the second
Mightier Revolution's blaze;
Till at last there broke the tempest
Like a cyclone on the sea,
When the lightnings blazed and dazzled
And the thunders were set free—
And riding on that whirlwind came
Majestic Robert Lee.
Who—again I ask the question—
Who may challenge in debate,
With any show of truthfulness,
Our former social state
Which brought forth more than heroes
In their lives supremely great?
Not Peter the wild Crusader
When bent upon his knee,
Not Arthur and his belted knights
In the poet's song could be
More earnest than those Southern men
Who followed Robert Lee.
They thought that they were right, and this
Was hammered into those
Who held that crest all drenched in blood
Where the ‘Bloody Angle’ rose.
As for all else? It passes by
As the idle wind that blows.
III.
Then stand up, oh my Countrymen!And unto God give thanks,
On mountains, and on hillsides,
And by sloping river banks—
Thank God that you were worthy
Of the grand Confederate ranks;
