Ere yet the life blood, warm and wet, Has dimmed the glistening bayonet, Each soldier eye shall brightly turn To where thy sky-born glories burn, And, as his springing steps advance, Catch war and vengeance from the glance. And when the cannon-mouthings loud Heave in wild wreaths the battle-shrowd, And gory sabers rise and fall Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall; Then shall thy meteor glances glow, And cowering foes shall sink beneath Each gallant arm that strikes below That lovely messenger of death." Bequeathed to us as a priceless legacy, may, the Stars and Stripes remain in our hands unsullied by traitorous acts and vile deeds. As one of the settings of this Jewel of the West may we keep it untarnished and be inspired to seek for a realization of a higher and broader citizenship which shall promote the best interests of our nation. The sparkle and radiance of this government in the diadem of nations is of the brightest and purest. The gov ernment of our National Union is the best the world has ever known; the glory of Greece and the grandeur of Rome, are not comparable to it. Althbugh, like the Romans, we were engaged in a "Civil Strife" yet we came out of that war a purer and a grander nation, impressing upon the world the fact that a government like ours must be perpet ual. "Conceived in Liberty," and founded in the blood of our fathers, it rests upon a sure foundation; "Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created free and equal," it took its birth on the battle-fields of the Revolution. The power of our govenment does not consist in arms alone, but also in our great political influence, respected' and honored by all nations. This power has been the means of settling dispute, of averting war and of making peace. Let us, in
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers