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The Columbia!)
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Vol. VII. PORTLAND, OREGON, FEBRUARY, 1909 ' • ' No. 5
ODE IN HONOR OF LINCOLN
JOHN D. NEELON.
WHEN deeds of glory and renown
Must sweetly charm the listening ear,
For what fair country shall the crown
Be twined, and to what alien peer
Shall we the numbered trophy rear?
Or should we seek on every hand,
What name would seem more justly fair
Than his who saved from dark despair
Our own beloved land?
When glorious freedom from afar
First saw this land at break of day,
She sang unto the morning star:
“To these fair hills shall never stray,
Nor Shame, nor Weakness, nor Decay.”
To him who proves this saying true,
What tree shall yield the garland crown,
What tongue shall utter his renown,
Or flowers his pathway strew?
*
From Mississippi’s beaming wave
To Carolina’s winding shore,
From dismal swamps where toiled the slave
Beneath the whip-lash flecked with gore, ,
The wind a mighty murmur bore;
Or else in warring factions cleft?
Must this same star begin to wane,
That lately ’gan so bright to burn
Mid sister stars, and sadly turn
Beneath the wave again?
Then was there one who quickly rose
To battle for his country’s sake,
And moved to pity by her woes
He raised his head and kingly spake:
“Though sweet the song that peace doth
. wake,
And sweet indeed its soft refrain;
Better to meet in deadly strife,
Better to give the loved one’s life,
Than let, rebellion reign.”
O’er bending hill and wooded dale
The bugle call of battle rings,
Anon, like leaves in Autumn gale,
A mighty host its banner flings
On high, and hastes on martial wings.
From North and West the legions pour
To grapple with the Southern host,
And prove in vain their idle boast,
That union is no more.
The belching shot and cannonade
Make lightnings through the fetid air,
While trampling steed and reeking blade
Leaves many a soldier lying there,
And many a waiting fireside bare.
When sire must angry be with sire, __ _
Come, vultures of the battlefield,
Come, light upon the warrior’s shield,
And glut to your desire.
And when at lengtji the Rebel band
Lay down their, arms at Freedom’s feet,
His hand was first to clasp their hand,
His kindly voice the first to greet
And lead them back to Honor’s seat.
Now side by side the heroes lay,
While one proud flag in glory waves
Above the lonely moss-rimmed graves
Of soldiers blue and gray.
future age shall find thy name
Enshrined within a nation’s breast,
And such the greatness of thy fame
That North and South, and East an4 West
Shall honor thy immortal rest.
And future time thy grave shall strew
With choicest flowers and such a crown
Of honor, glory and renown, —
A Caesar never knew.
The murmur of a trodden race
That, if our God were kind and just,
Then let him lift them from the dust
That they might see * His face.
O’er fair Columbia’s laureled brow
The war-clouds of Rebellion rolled;
AH marred and dim that motto now,
That watchword of a century old.
Of “Peace,” once wrought in flames of gold.
Our honored flag the Rebels tore;
Unmindful of their filial debt,
And stars and bars in contrast set
To stars and stripes of yore.
1
Oh! goddess of this stricken land,-
With golden scales within thy left,
And naked sword in thy right hand,
Must we of freedom be bereft,
1
