Alive and sternly glad!

Her doubts were with the snow; Her courage, long forbade,

Ran full to overflow;

And every hope she had
Began to bud and grow.

She rose betimes that morn,
For there was work to do;
A planting, not of corn,
Of what she hardly knew-
Blessings for men unborn;
And well she did it too!

With open hand she stood,
And sowed for all the years,
'And watered it with blood,
And watered it with tears-
The seed of quickening food
For both the hemispheres.

This was the planting done
That April morn of fame;
Honor to every one

To that seed-field that came!

Honor to Lexington,

Our first immortal name!

INDEPENDENCE BELL-JULY 4, 1776

ANONYMOUS

When the Declaration of Independence was adopted by Congress, the event was announced by ringing the old State House bell, which bore the inscription, "Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land, to All the Inhabitants Thereof!" The old bellman stationed his little grandson at the door of the hall, to await the instructions of the doorkeeper. At the signal, the young patriot rushed out, and clapping his hands, shouted, "Ring, ring, ring!"

THERE was tumult in the city,

In the quaint old Quaker town, And the streets were rife with people Pacing restless up and down; People gathering at the corners,

Where they whispered each to each, And the sweat stood on their temples With the earnestness of speech.

As the bleak Atlantic currents

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made the harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.

"Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?"

"Who is speaking?" "What's the news?"

"What of Adams?" "What of Sherman ?" "Oh, God grant they won't refuse!" "Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!" "I am stifling!" "Stifle, then!

When a nation's life's at hazard,

We've no time to think of men!"

So they surged against the State House,
While all solemnly inside,
Sat the "Continental Congress,"

Truth and reason for their guide;
O'er a simple scroll debating,

Which, though simple it might be, Yet should shake the cliffs of England With the thunders of the free.

Far aloft in that high steeple
Sat the bellman, old and gray;

He was weary of the tyrant

And his iron-sceptered sway:
So he sat, with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell,
When his eye could catch the signal,
The expected news to tell.

See! See! The dense crowd quivers
Through all its lengthy line,

As the boy beside the portal

Hastens forth to give the sign!

With his little hands uplifted,

Breezes dallying with his hairHark! with deep, clear intonation, Breaks his young voice on the air.

Hushed the people's swelling murmur,
Whilst the boy cries joyously:
"Ring!" he shouts, "Ring, grandpapa!
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!"
Quickly, at the given signal,

The old bellman lifts his hand;
Forth he sends the good news, making
Iron music through the land.

How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
Till the clang of freedom ruffled
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night's repose,
And from flames, like fabled Phoenix,
Our glorious liberty arose!

That old State House bell is silent,

Hushed is now its clamorous tongue;

But the spirit it awakened

Still is living-ever young:

And when we greet the smiling sunlight On the Fourth of each July,

We will ne'er forget the bellman
Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rang out, loudly, "Independence!"
Which, please God, shall never die!

NATHAN HALE1

WILLIAM ORDWAY PARTRIDGE

William Ordway Partridge (1861-), best known as a sculptor, has a reputation also as a writer. The theme of the present poem is familiar, but possibly all the details of the incident may not be known. After the Continental Army had reached Harlem Heights, near New York, Washington applied to Colonel Knowlton for some capable man to find out the intentions of the enemy. Knowlton chose Nathan Hale, a brilliant young captain. This graduate of Yale College, later a Connecticut school teacher, was then in his twenty-first year. In September, 1776, Nathan Hale crossed the Sound at Fairfield, reached New York, and made a careful study of the enemy's fortifications; but while waiting for the return ferry he was recognized and betrayed. His arrest followed, and the following day he was hanged without trial. His dying utterance was, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

ONE hero dies- a thousand new ones rise,

As flowers are sown where perfect blossoms fall; Then quite unknown, the name of Hale now cries Wherever duty sounds her silent call.

1 From Nathan Hale, the Ideal Patriot. Funk & Wagnalls Company. Used by permission.