United States! the ages plead –
Present and Past in under-song-
Go put your creed into your deed,
Nor speak with double tongue.

For sea and land don't understand,
Nor skies without a frown

See rights for which the one hand fights
By the other cloven down.

Be just at home; then write your scroll
Of honor o'er the sea,

And bid the broad Atlantic roll

A ferry of the free.

And henceforth there shall be no chain,

Save underneath the sea

The wires shall murmur through the main Sweet songs of Liberty.

The conscious stars accord above,

The waters wild below,

And under, through the cable wove,

Her fiery errands go.

For He that worketh high and wise,
Nor pauses in his plan,

Will take the sun out of the skies

Ere freedom out of man.

THE FOURTH OF JULY

JOHN PIERPONT

The Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted by twelve colonies on the evening of July 4, 1776; New York followed on the ninth of July, as soon as her delegates could act. Rejoicing was widespread. In New York City the soldiers celebrated the event by overthrowing a statue of George III and turning it into bullets.

DAY of glory! Welcome day!
Freedom's banners greet thy ray;
See! how cheerfully they play
With the morning breeze,

On the rocks where pilgrims kneeled,.
On the heights were squadrons wheeled,
When a tyrant's thunder pealed

O'er the trembling seas.

God of armies! did thy stars
On their courses smite his cars;
Blast his arm, and wrest his bars
From the heaving tide?

On our standard, lo! they burn,
And, when days like this return,
Sparkle o'er the soldier's urn
Who for freedom died.

God of peace! whose spirit fills
All the echoes of our hills,

All the murmur of our rills,
Now the storm is o'er,
Oh, let freemen be our sons,
And let future Washingtons
Rise, to lead their valiant ones
Till there's war no more!

TRUE PATRIOTISM

BENJAMIN HARRISON

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the twenty-third president of our country, and on March 4, 1889, delivered his inaugural address, the peroration of which is given here.

LET us exalt patriotism and moderate our party contentions. Let those who would die for the flag on the field of battle, give a better proof of their patriotism and a higher glory to their country by promoting fraternity and justice. A party success that is achieved by unfair methods or by practices that partake of revolution, is hurtful and evanescent, even from a party standpoint. We should hold our different opinions in mutual respect; and, having submitted them to the arbitrament of the ballot, should accept an adverse judgment with the same respect that we would have demanded of our opponents if the decision had been more in our favor.

No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love, or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor. God has placed upon our head a diadem, and has laid at our feet power and wealth beyond definition or calculation. But we must not forget that we take these gifts upon the condition that justice and mercy shall hold the reins of power, and that the upward avenues of hope shall be free for all the people.

I do not mistrust the future. Dangers have been in frequent ambush along our path, but we have uncovered and vanquished them all. Passion has swept some of our communities, but only to give us a new demonstration that the great body of our people are stable, patriotic, and law-abiding. No political party can long pursue advantage at the expense of public honor, or by rude and indecent methods, without protest and fatal disaffection in its own body. The peaceful agencies of commerce are more fully revealing the necessary unity of all our communities, and the increasing intercourse of our people is promoting mutual respect. We shall find unalloyed pleasure in the revelation which our census will make of the swift development of the great resources of some of the states. Each state will bring its generous contributions to the great aggregate of the nation's increase. And when the harvests from the fields, the cattle from the hills,

and the ores from the earth, shall have been weighed, counted, and valued, we will turn from all to crown with the highest honor the state that has most promoted education, virtue, justice, and patriotism among its people.

CUBA LIBRE1

JOAQUIN MILLER

The cry of distress from Cuba, oppressed by Spain for centuries, finally grew so insistent that America could endure it no longer. On April 11, 1898, President McKinley sent a message to Congress in which he said, "In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of endangered American interests . . . . the war in Cuba must stop." On April 19, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, Congress resolved that Cuba must be free and authorized the President to use his power to carry out the resolution. War was declared April 25. The United States had no intention to exercise sovereignty over Cuba; the war was undertaken solely for her rescue.

COMES a cry from Cuban water-
From the warm, dusk Antilles -
From the lost Atlanta's daughter,
Drowned in blood as drowned in seas;
Comes a cry of purpled anguish
See her struggles, hear her cries!
Shall she live, or shall she languish?
Shall she sink, or shall she rise?

1 Permission to use secured from the Harr Wagner Publishing Co., San Francisco, Cal., publishers of Joaquin Miller's complete works.