is a man of splendid appearance, and has a resonant, pleasant voice.
His poem is a gem, and was recited with fine effect.
It is as follows:
I.
Since that spring morning when the first dread gun
Boomed o'er the harbor of the seaport town,
Fired by
Virginia's lion-hearted son
Who would not live to see his flag go down,
Long years have passed away,—
Youth's gold hath turned to gray;
The old men fade and die; the young age day by day.
II.
But ere pale Death shall stand with equal feet
Hard by each door—the door of old or young,—
That glory can be wrested from defeat,
Let an ‘
Io Triumphe!’ here be sung,
Yielding the meed of praise,—
Of laurels and green bays—
To young and old alike who fought in those lost days.
III.
Brighter than any born of time or fate—
More beautiful than e'er beheld of men—
Fronting the nations stood the fair young State;
And ‘Rebel’ was the splendid badge again
Worn by the sons of those
Whom Freedom's feudal foes
Had learned to bow before when
Washington arose.
IV.
They gathered around her beautiful bright form
With glittering bayonets fixed to ready guns,
Stirred by that passion Liberty keeps warm
In every pulse of all her patriot sons,
Offering upon her shrine
The sacrifice divine
Of Love; and each man swore ‘Her holy cause is mine!’
