Songs of Many Seasons (1862-74) | Page 8

Thy sacred leaves, fair Freedom's flower,
Shall ever float on dome
and tower,
To all their heavenly colors true,
In blackening frost or
crimson dew,--
And God love us as we love thee,
Thrice holy
Flower of Liberty!
Then hail the banner of the free,

The starry
FLOWER OF LIBERTY!

THE SWEET LITTLE MAN
DEDICATED TO THE STAY-AT-HOME RANGERS
Now, while our soldiers are fighting our battles,
Each at his post to do
all that he can,
Down among rebels and contraband chattels,
What
are you doing, my sweet little man?
All the brave boys under canvas are sleeping,
All of them pressing to
march with the van,
Far from the home where their sweethearts are
weeping;
What are you waiting for, sweet little man?
You with the terrible warlike mustaches,
Fit for a colonel or chief of a
clan,
You with the waist made for sword-belts and sashes,
Where
are your shoulder-straps, sweet little man?
Bring him the buttonless garment of woman!
Cover his face lest it
freckle and tan;
Muster the Apron-String Guards on the Common,

That is the corps for the sweet little man!
Give him for escort a file of young misses,
Each of them armed with
a deadly rattan;
They shall defend him from laughter and hisses,

Aimed by low boys at the sweet little man.
All the fair maidens about him shall cluster,
Pluck the white feathers
from bonnet and fan,
Make him a plume like a turkey-wing duster,--

That is the crest for the sweet little man!
Oh, but the Apron-String Guards are the fellows
Drilling each day
since our troubles began,--
"Handle your walking-sticks!" "Shoulder
umbrellas!"
That is the style for the sweet little man!
Have we a nation to save? In the first place
Saving ourselves is the
sensible plan,--
Surely the spot where there's shooting's the worst
place
Where I can stand, says the sweet little man.

Catch me confiding my person with strangers!
Think how the
cowardly Bull-Runners ran!
In the brigade of the Stay-at-Home
Rangers
Marches my corps, says the sweet little man.
Such was the stuff of the Malakoff-takers,
Such were the soldiers that
scaled the Redan;
Truculent housemaids and bloodthirsty Quakers,

Brave not the wrath of the sweet little man!
Yield him the sidewalk, ye nursery maidens!
/Sauve qui peut/!
Bridget, and right about! Ann;--
Fierce as a shark in a school of
menhadens,
See him advancing, the sweet little man!
When the red flails of the battle-field's threshers
Beat out the
continent's wheat from its bran,
While the wind scatters the chaffy
seceshers,
What will become of our sweet little man?
When the brown soldiers come back from the borders,
How will he
look while his features they scan?
How will he feel when he gets
marching orders,
Signed by his lady love? sweet little man!
Fear not for him, though the rebels expect him,--
Life is too precious
to shorten its span;
Woman her broomstick shall raise to protect him,

Will she not fight for the sweet little man?
Now then, nine cheers for the Stay-at-Home Ranger!
Blow the great
fish-horn and beat the big pan!
First in the field that is farthest from
danger,
Take your white-feather plume, sweet little man!
UNION AND LIBERTY
FLAG of the heroes who left us their glory,
Borne through their
battle-fields' thunder and flame,
Blazoned in song and illumined in
story,
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame!
Up with our banner bright,
Sprinkled with starry light,
Spread its

fair emblems from mountain to shore,
While through the sounding
sky
Loud rings the Nation's cry,--
UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE
EVERMORE!
Light of our firmament, guide of our Nation,
Pride of her children,
and honored afar,
Let the wide beams of thy full constellation

Scatter each cloud that would darken a star
Up with our banner bright,
etc.
Empire unsceptred! what foe shall assail thee,
Bearing the standard of
Liberty's van?
Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee,

Striving with men for the birthright of man!
Up with our banner
bright, etc.
Yet if, by madness and treachery blighted,
Dawns the dark hour when
the sword thou must draw,
Then with the arms of thy millions united,

Smite the bold traitors to Freedom and Law!
Up with our banner
bright, etc.
Lord of the Universe! shield us and guide us,
Trusting Thee always,
through shadow and sun!
Thou hast united us, who shall divide us?

Keep us, oh keep us the MANY IN ONE!
Up with our banner bright,

Sprinkled with starry light,
Spread its fair emblems from mountain
to shore,
While through the sounding sky
Loud rings the Nation's
cry,--
UNION AND LIBERTY! ONE EVERMORE!
SONGS OF WELCOME AND FAREWELL
AMERICA TO RUSSIA
AUGUST 5, 1866
Read by Hon. G. V. Fox at a dinner given to the
Mission from the United States, St. Petersburg.
THOUGH watery deserts hold apart
The worlds of East and West,

Still beats the selfsame human heart
In each proud Nation's breast.

Our floating turret tempts the main
And dares the howling blast
To
clasp more close the golden chain
That long has bound them fast.
In vain the gales of ocean sweep,
In vain the billows roar
That
chafe the wild and stormy steep
Of storied Elsinore.
She comes! She comes! her banners dip
In Neva's flashing tide,

With greetings on her cannon's lip,
The