War Poetry of the South | Page 8

has come, and the times that tried
The souls of men in
our days of pride,
Return once more, and now for the brave,
To
merit the boon which our fathers gave.
And if there be one base spirit who stands
Now, in our peril, with
folded hands,
Let his grave at once in the soil be wrought,
With the
sword with which his old father fought.
An oath sublime should the freeman take,
Still braving the fight and
the felon stake,--
The oath that his sires brought over the sea,
When
they pledged their swords to Liberty!
'Twas a goodly oath, and In Heaven's own sight,
They battled and
bled in behalf of the right;
'Twas hallowed by God with the holiest
sign,
And seal'd with the blood of your sires and mine.
We cannot forget, and we dare not forego,
The holy duty to them that
we owe,
The duty that pledges the soul of the son
To keep the
freedom his sire hath won.
To suffer no proud transgressor to spoil
One right of our homes, or
one foot of our soil,
One privilege pluck from our keeping, or dare

Usurp one blessing 'tis fit that we share!
Art ready for this, dear brother, who still
Keep'st Washington's bones
upon Vernon's hill?
Art ready for this, dear brother, whose ear,

Should ever the voices of Mecklenberg hear?
Thou art ready, I know, brother nearest my heart,
Son of Eutaw and
Ashley, to do thy part;
The sword and the rifle are bright in thy hands,

And waits but the word for the flashing of brands!

And thou, by Savannah's broad valleys,--and thou
Where the Black
Warrior murmurs in echoes the vow;
And thou, youngest son of our
sires, who roves
Where Apala-chicola[1] glides through her groves.
Nor shall Tennessee pause, when like voice from the steep,
The great
South shall summon her sons from their sleep;
Nor Kentucky be slow,
when our trumpet shall call,
To tear down the rifle that hangs on her
wall!
Oh, sound, to awaken the dead from their graves,
The will that would
thrust us from place for our slaves,
That, by fraud which lacks
courage, and plea that lacks truth, Would rob us of right without reason
or ruth.
Dost thou hearken, brave Creole, as fearless as strong,
Nor rouse thee
to combat the infamous wrong?
Ye hear it, I know, in the depth of
your souls,
Valiant race, through whose valley the great river rolls.
At last ye are wakened, all rising at length,
In the passion of pride, in
the fulness of strength;
And now let the struggle begin which shall
see,
If the son, like the sire, is fit to be free.
We are sworn to the State, from our fathers that came,
To welcome
the ruin, but never the shame;
To yield not a foot of our soil, nor a
right,
While the soul and the sword are still fit for the fight.
Then, brothers, your hands and your hearts, while we draw
The bright
sword of right, on the charter of law;--
Here the record was writ by
our fathers, and here,
To keep, with the sword, that old record, we
swear.
Let those who defile and deface it, be sure,
No longer their wrong or
their fraud we endure;
We will scatter in scorn every link of the chain,

With which they would fetter our free souls in vain.

How goodly and bright were its links at the first!
How loathly and
foul, in their usage accurst!
We had worn it in pride while it honor'd
the brave,
But we rend it, when only grown fit for the slave.
[1] The reader will place the accent on the ante-penultimate, which
affords not only the most musical, but the correct pronunciation.
The Oath of Freedom.
By James Barron Hope.
_"Liberty is always won where there exists the unconquerable will to
be free."_
Born free, thus we resolve to live:
By Heaven we will be free!
By
all the stars which burn on high--
By the green earth--the mighty sea--

By God's unshaken majesty,
We will be free or die!
Then let the
drums all roll!
Let all the trumpets blow!
Mind, heart, and soul,

We spurn control
Attempted by a foe!
Born free, thus we resolve to live:
By Heaven we will be free!
And,
vainly now the Northmen try
To beat us down--in arms we stand
To
strike for this our native land!
We will be free or die!
Then let the
drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, we thus resolve to live:
By Heaven we will be free!
Our
wives and children look on high,
Pray God to smile upon the right!

And bid us in the deadly fight
As freemen live or die!
Then let the
drums all roll! etc., etc.
Born free, thus we resolve to live:
By Heaven we will be free!
And
ere we cease this battle-cry,
Be all our blood, our kindred's spilt,
On
bayonet or sabre hilt!
We will be free or die!
Then let the drums all
roll! etc., etc.
Born free, thus we resolve to live:
By Heaven we will be free!


Defiant let the banners fly,
Shake out their glories to the air,
And,
kneeling, brothers, let us