Part 1

Ballads and Other Poems

BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS

BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

_FOURTH EDITION, REVISED_

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press

“BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION” COPYRIGHT, 1886 BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

“SKETCHES IN SONG” COPYRIGHT, 1887 BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

THIRD EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

FOURTH EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1916 BY GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND

Made in the United States of America

CONTENTS.

PAGE

_BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION._

OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH 3

THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE 22

THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON 37

THE CROWN’S FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN’S RIGHT 55

THE RALLY OF THE FARMERS 64

ETHAN ALLEN 73

HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL 88

_MISCELLANEOUS._

A SONG ON SINGING 101

THE MUSIC OF LIFE 105

MY IDEAL 107

CAGED 108

WHATEVER THE MISSION OF LIFE MAY BE 109

THE DESTINY-MAKER 110

_DRAMATIC._

HAYDN 115

_SKETCHES IN SONG._

A FISH STORY 1

UNVEILING THE MONUMENT 2

UNDER THE NEW MOON 12

ALL IN ALL 14

NOTHING AT ALL 14

THE IDEALIST 15

A PHASE OF THE ANGELIC 17

THE BELLE 19

THE POET’S REASON 20

AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 21

MARTIN CRAEGIN 23

OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM 26

MY LOVE IS SAD 28

MY DREAM AT CORDOVA 29

THE FLOWER PLUCKED 36

THE ARTIST’S AIM 37

MUSICIAN AND MORALIZER 39

WHAT THE BOUQUET SAID 40

WITH THE YOUNG 41

A TRANSLATION 42

FARMER LAD 44

THE WIFE 45

NOTHING TO KEEP UNDER 47

OUR DAY AT PISA 48

THE HIGHEST CLAIMS 50

NOTES FROM THE VICTORY 52

THE POET’S LESSON 53

THE MOURNER ANSWERED 57

THE VACANT ROOM 58

THANKSGIVING DAY 60

A MISAPPREHENSION 61

AUNTY’S ANSWER 63

HIS LOVE’S FRUITION 64

WHAT WOULD I GIVE 65

_DRAMATIC._

IDEALS MADE REAL 69

_PATRIOTIC._

AMERICA, OUR HOME 159

HAIL THE FLAG 160

EXPANSION 162

A PRAYER FOR PEACE AND GOOD WILL 163

BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.

REPRESENTING THE SPIRIT AND REASONS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.

_Third Edition, Revised._

BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.[1]

OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH.

1765.

Great Britain’s lords[2] were planning— So ran the world’s report— To tax the colonies more and more,[4] And treat our sires as if they wore The liveries at the court.

“The colonies’ hope is union,” Said Franklin,[3] by and by; “Not one of them that stands alone Can hold its own against the throne. We[3] join,” he wrote, “or die.”

And “Freedom[4] is a birthright Our fathers handed down; Blood-bought,” James Otis[4] boldly said: “One king of theirs it cost his head; And one his throne and crown.[5]

“Were we to lose it, England Would share in our mishap[6]; For not a net can harm us here, But threatens every English peer, Whom yet it may entrap.

“Our laws are in our charters For scores of years enjoy’d; Nor has the King, or Parliament, Or both without our own consent The power to make them void.[5]

“By them, the Magna Charta, And all our Saxon rights; By claims of nature, mind, descent, We ought to send to Parliament[7] And show it what it slights.”

A protest then we sent it.[7] But back came sail on sail;[8] And less had leaves of law-books grave Torn out and flung to wind and wave Shown law could not prevail.

They broke up our assembly;[9] Supreme their army[10] made; Removed the judge[11] who check’d their greed; And on the church our fathers freed The hands of bishops laid.[12]

“Shall we, whose fathers won us Our rights, abide their loss? Nay,” Mayhew said;[13] “though these to take Our Pharoah’s hosts of red-coats make Blood-red the sea they cross.

“The Lord o’errules the waters, And He will guard our cause: And Parliament—let Plymouth Rock To whelm them all throw back the shock— Will bid the tyrant pause.”

“God guide the House of Commons,” We cried with lifted eyes. God guided it and us, alas, But how He scorch’d our heaven to pass His finger through the skies!

The Commons framed the Stamp-Act.[14] It legal writs refused, And made our bargains go for naught, Unless, in all we sold or bought, Their stamps were bought and used.

“The stamps are only vouchers,” Wrote Green,[15] “to license knaves!” “To tax, against their own consent, Where none,” said Adams,[16] “represent Our people, brands them slaves.”

“Our charter’d free assemblies, To which our laws entrust[17] The right to tax us, and to pay Each crown-official,—only they Can ever keep him just.”

Quoth Thomas Chase:[18] “They only! But British agents curse To find that our assemblies true Have something nobler here to do Than fill a noble’s purse.”

“The admiralty,” said Hancock,[21] “To swell the navy’s pelf, Have pass’d a law that it empowers[19] To seek in every ship of ours A bounty for itself.

“Would we dispute the seizure, Our loss can be discuss’d And righted but in England’s courts,[20] And by a judge whom it supports;— And that, they say, is just.

“No fleet of mine[21] shall carry A stamp, though all I lose. I choose, ere it, to save my soul!” The whole land heard, and soon the whole Had sworn no stamps to use.

New York had lived by commerce. Her merchants vow’d, they all,[22] Ere stamps they bought, would sail no boats, And sell no goods, and pass no notes— They would not live in thrall.

Said Isaac Sears:[23] “No wonder These human lords combine The masses’ rivalling wealth to steal! Let them be stript, my lord may feel His decency divine.

“For years, to gild the peerage Have England’s ports been made[24] The marts by law for all we bought.— Alas! in what that we have wrought Have they not check’d our trade?

“The nobles, while their winnings Like nuggets clog the sieve That ours drop through, would not eschew Their royal rule: ‘To others do What makes them humbly live.’

“And shall we not live humbly Who but our pride restrain? And buy at home more homely goods?”— “Buy homespun!”[25] rang from bay to woods. Then rang the looms[25] amain.

But keen and crafty tories, They prowl’d around at night, And plotted long, and bought and sold, And hoax’d and coax’d the young and old Their homespun league to slight.[26]

“We must not wait till England Shall send the stamps,” wrote Edes.[27] “Once let our tories own a few, They soon were sown the whole land through To grow like seeds of weeds.”

The Boston Stamp-man’s image Men burn’d before his face. Their roars, like thunder, threaten’d storm; And torches flash’d; the air was warm; The man resign’d his place.

“Resign!” erelong the echo Had roll’d to every town.[28] None dared resist the people’s plea, And none dared hold a stamp, or be The stamp-man of the crown.

“Our governors,” growl’d the tories, “Will sell the stamps to us.” The governors vow’d this course to take;[29] But we, we vow’d, our lives the stake, They should not thwart us thus.

The night before the Stamp-Act Should rule the colony, We slept not much; we melted lead; We whetted steel; we plann’d ahead, We “Sons of Liberty.”[30]

Then, when the morn was breaking,[31] On every hill and plain, In all the towns, we toll’d the bells,[31] That all began with doleful knells, As though for Freedom slain.

Anon, they rang out madly[31] What might have peal’d to be The land’s alarm-bell—only now They peal’d to hail the new-born vow Of men that would be free.

New York went wild to hear them.[32] Men flooded every way: They left their shops; they stopt their mills; And farmers flock’d from all the hills, And sailors from the bay.

Now who would buy a stamp here? Was ask’d in all the ways. But not a shop was not shut to; For all had wiser work to do On this, our day of days.

“We would not, and we will not Submit,” said Isaac Sears.[33] The governor said: “You fill the street, But here a fort and there a fleet May yet awake your fears.”

“Our stamps,” cried James,[34] his major, “Our stamps, if loaded down Our cannon here, and scatter’d thence Among the crowd, would soon commence To circulate in town.”

“Aha,” said Sears in answer, “For this you soldiers came? For this our wily governor here Pretended border wars to fear—[35] Aha, were we his game?

“To tax us indirectly,— Was it for this, the crown Bade your imported troopers make Our town[35] support you?—for the sake Of being thus kept down?

“To kill our leaders, was it, The crown made them be rank’d By Braddock’s braggarts, who could run And leave a man like Washington[36] By their commands outflank’d?

“Yes, yes, in genuine danger We know who[37] win the day; And whose the coin and blood we miss, That, from our fathers’ time to this, Have held our foes at bay.

“And need we now your army? You know—your sovereign too, Our wars are his—He[37] France attacks And here her colony—when he lacks Excuse for sending you.

“How strong, think you, our patience? How long ere it shall tire?— Ah, Britain’s lion’s whelp may get So tough by cuffs like this, as yet To turn and rend her sire!”

“Sheer treason!” cried the major; And “Treason!” cried his chief. Our spokesman’s eye their fury brook’d, Then calmly toward his friends he look’d, And gave his thoughts relief.

“Nay, theirs are loyal spirits, But when the wrong is great, And forms of law do not deserve Their soul’s allegiance, then they serve The spirit of the state.”

With this, he told those courtiers Their words would he report. They heard the people’s groans that rose To greet the words he bore, and chose To seek, near by, the fort.[38]

Then from the fort the cannon Were turn’d upon the town. But “If you fire,” the people cried, “We hang the governor here outside, Or burn your quarters down.”

The governor urged his honor; “Had pledged,” he said, “his oath,”[39] And ought to further Britain’s aims.“— We thought New York had equal claims On oath and honor both.[39]

“And let him pledge his honor To let the stamps alone,” Said Isaac Sears; and all the crowd Who heard him say it, shouted loud To make his words their own.

The people waited long then, And hoped the strife would end; But, when this course had nothing won, No man[40] could check a course begun The governor’s will to bend.

At night, the boys with torches Came trooping out for sport. They sought the house of James,[41] and took The army flags his fear forsook, And march’d them round the fort.

The governor own’d his coaches, And one a coach of state. They burst his barn-door in with cries[42] And dragg’d them off before his eyes, As trophies of their hate.

An image of the devil, And of the governor too[42] They made, and made them both careen, While, side by side, through Bowling Green, They wheel’d them into view.

At last, of all the coaches They form’d a funeral pyre; And, full in face of all the town, Who only roar’d its roar to drown, They set the whole on fire.

Then came a wake and wailing, As ashes cover’d all; And not a clause in laws unjust The man had thought on us to thrust But some one would recall.

“A foe[43] is he of England!” “A foe to all of us!” “In Scotland went with Jacobites!” “Has vow’d to murder here our rights!— Ere that we toast him thus!”

The colony’s council[44] pass’d then A vote opposed by none,— That England had the stamps assign’d To agents who had all resign’d, Nor was the governor one.

At this the governor waver’d, And wrote a message thus: “I wait the dawn of further light.” Cried Sears then: “Keep the fox in sight! He waits till free from us.

“Now send we back this answer: ‘Awhile the town will wait, But four and twenty hours from now[45] Will hold the stamps or else will vow To hold no more debate.’”

The governor begg’d the army,[46] The army begg’d the fleet, To take the stamps and save the fort; But neither cared to brave the sport Of those who fill’d the street.

The courage of the courtiers Had bow’d to wisdom higher: The power of right that ruled the street Had overawed the fort and fleet— They did not dare to fire.

They did not dare to kindle[46] A spark that, should it flame, Would shed no glory round a throne Where prince and peer would flush alone To blush for their own shame.

So nothing now was left them Except to yield us all.[47] Our mayor took the stamps, at last, And bore them off, and lock’d them fast Within the City Hall.

And loud the people shouted;[48] They felt that right was done; Cried “Liberty and Property! No stamps to curse the Colony!” And parted, one by one.

The next day all the papers[49] Without the stamps appear’d. Men took no notes, but trusted men. Our ships were off to sea again; And none the navy fear’d.

And none had bought a stamp there, Or seal’d himself a slave; And half of England, trust my word, Were thrill’d with joy, when they had heard How we ourselves could save.[50]

At last there came a daybreak When all the thankful kneel’d; And bells were rung, and banners hung; And England’s weal was drunk and sung—[51] The Stamp Act was repeal’d.

Great Britain’s lords in council Had talked of fire and ball; But, when they touch’d our liberties, Met manhood in the colonies They could not thus inthrall.

FOOTNOTES

[1] “In writing a ballad the secrets of success are definiteness of aim, directness of execution, and singleness of idea. The language must be simple, but so vigorous that every word tells; the metre must also be simple, but the versification demands a musical swing, a rush of rhyme, the talent for which is rare. To smell of the lamp is fatal to the ballad; it should have all the spontaneity of an impromptu. The author must forget himself, for ballad poetry is essentially objective, and a touch of subjectivity spoils it. Each incident must be related as though the writer had taken part in it, and seeing with his mind’s eye, he must paint as vividly as though that described were before him in very truth. It is not an easy thing to write a ballad in these days, when the drift of poetic thought is quite in the opposite direction.”—_Philadelphia Inquirer_, 1876.

[2] In 1761, “America knew that the Board of Trade had proposed to annul colonial charters, to reduce all the colonies to royal governments.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414. “The king, the ministry, the crown officers all conspiring against her liberties ... there was no help unless from Parliament.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 236.

[3] “Franklin looked for greater liberties than ... Parliament might inaugurate. Having for his motto ‘Join or die,’ ... sketching the outline of a confederacy.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 116. “William Penn in 1697 had proposed an annual Congress ... to regulate commerce. Franklin” in 1752 “revived the great idea, and breathed into it enduring life.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 125.

[4] “The Board of Trade had proposed ... collecting the duties ... the justice of the restrictions on trade was denied and their authority questioned; and when the officers of the customs asked for ‘writs of assistance’ to enforce them, the colony regarded its liberties in peril. This is the opening scene of American resistance. It began” in 1761 ... “in a court-room ... James Otis ... stood up ... the champion of the colonies.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414.

[5] “‘I am determined,’ such were his words, ‘to sacrifice estate ... life in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which cost one king of England his head and another his throne.’ ... Tracing the lineage of freedom to its origin, he opposed the claims of the British officers by the authority of ‘reason,’ and that they were at war with the ‘Constitution’ he proved by appeals to the Charter of Massachusetts, and its English liberties.... ‘An Act of Parliament against the Constitution is void,’ he said.... ‘The crowded audience seemed ready to take up arms.’”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, pp. 415-6.

[6] “The true interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual. Otis in 1763.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 90.

[7] See the Representations of the General Assembly at New York to the King, concerning the administration of justice in that province, 1762, mentioned in _Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 84. “By the laws of nature and of nations, the voice of universal reason and of God, by the statute law and the common law, this memorial claimed for the colonists the absolute rights of Englishmen, ... such were the views of Otis sent by Massachusetts” in 1764 “to its agent in London.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, pp. 198-9.

[8] “Less than forty were willing to receive the petition of Virginia. A third from South Carolina, a fourth from Connecticut, ... a fifth from Massachusetts, ... shared the same refusal. That from New York, no one could be prevailed upon to offer.... The House of Commons would neither receive petitions nor hear council.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 246. This was in Feb., 1765.

[9] In 1763 Brown, the Governor of South Carolina, “assumed the power of rejecting members whom the House declared duly elected and returned.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 8, p. 150. In May, 1765, “The Lieutenant-Governor” of Virginia “dissolved the Assembly.”—_Idem._, ch. 13, p. 277. “Fearing a general expression of the sentiments of the people, through their representatives ... Tyron issued a proclamation in October proroguing the Assembly which was to meet on the thirtieth of November, until the following March. This act incurred the indignation of the people.”—_Lossing’s Field Book of the Revolution_, vol. ii., p. 568. Later, “Townshend’s revenue, so far as it provided an independent support for the crown officers, did away with the necessity of colonial legislatures.... Governors would have little inducement to call assemblies, and an angry minister might dissolve them without inconvenience to his administration.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 29, p. 85. “An act of Parliament” in 1767 “suspended the functions of its (N. Y.) legislature till they should render obedience to the Imperial Legislature.”—_Idem._, p. 84. “Bernard ... prorogued them, and then dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left without a legislature.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 34, p. 165.

[10] “This commission ... established a military power throughout the continent independent of the colonial governors and superior to them ... in 1756 the rule was established ... that troops might be kept up in the colonies and quartered on them at pleasure without the consent of the American Parliaments.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 9, pp. 229-30. In Feb., 1765, “Welbore Ellis, Secretary of War ... made known his intention ‘that the orders of his commander-in-chief and ... the brigadier generals ... should be supreme, and be obeyed by the troops as such in all the civil governments of America.’ ... These instructions rested, as was pretended, on ... the commission” (mentioned above) “... prepared for ... troops in time of war.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 235.

[11] In 1762 “was consummated the system of subjecting the halls of justice to the prerogative. The king ... instituted courts, named the judges, removed them at pleasure, fixed the amount of their salaries, and paid them out of funds that were independent of legislative grants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 19, p. 440.