Then Nature must teach us the strength of the chain That her petulant children would sever in vain.

They may fight till the buzzards are gorged with their

spoil, Till the harvest grows black as it rots in the soil, Till the wolves and the catamounts troop from their

caves, And the shark tracks the pirate, the lord of the waves :

In vain is the strife! When its fury is past,
Their fortunes must flow in one channel at last,
As the torrents that rush from the mountains of snow
Roll mingled in peace in the valleys below.

Our Union is river, lake, ocean, and sky;
Man breaks not the medal when God cuts the die!
Though darkened with sulphur, though cloven with

steel,
The blue arch will brighten, the waters will heal!

O Caroline, Caroline, child of the sun,
There are battles with fate that can never be won!
The star-flowering banner must never be furled,
For its blossoms of light are the hope of the world!

Go, then, our rash sister, afar and aloof,
Run wild in the sunshine away from our roof;
But when your heart aches, and your feet have grown

sore,
Remember the pathway that leads to our door!

DIXIE

BY ALBERT PIKE

Southrons, hear your country call you!
Up, lest worse than death befall you!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie !
Lo! all the beacon-fires are lighted,-
Let all hearts be now united!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie !
Advance the flag of Dixie !

Hurrah! hurrah!
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie !

To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie !

To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie !

Fear no danger! Shun no labor!
Lift up rifle, pike, and saber!
Shoulder pressing close to shoulder,
Let the odds make each heart bolder!

How the South's great heart rejoices
At your cannons' ringing voices !
For faith betrayed, and pledges broken,
Wrongs inflicted, insults spoken.

Strong as lions, swift as eagles,
Back to their kennels hunt these beagles !
Cut the unequal bonds asunder!
Let them hence each other plunder!

Swear upon your country's altar
Never to submit or falter,
Till the spoilers are defeated,
Till the Lord's work is completed.

Halt not till our Federation
Secures among earth's powers its station !
Then at peace, and crowned with glory,
Hear your children tell the story!

If the loved ones weep in sadness,
Victory soon shall bring them gladness,

To arms!
Exultant pride soon banish sorrow,
Smiles chase tears away to-morrow.
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie !
Advance the flag of Dixie !

Hurrah! hurrah !
For Dixie's land we take our stand,
And live or die for Dixie !

To arms! To arms!
And conquer peace for Dixie !

To arms! To arms!

And conquer peace for Dixie ! (Southern.)

FIRST O SONGS FOR A PRELUDE 1

BY WALT WHITMAN

First O songs for a prelude,
Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum pride and

joy in my city, How she led the rest to arms, how she gave the cue, How at once with lithe limbs unwaiting a moment she

sprang, (O superb! O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis! O

truer than steel!) How you sprang—how you threw off the costumes

of peace with indifferent hand, How your soft opera-music changed, and the drum

and fife were heard in their stead, How

you led to the war (that shall serve for our pre

lude, songs of soldiers), How Manhattan drum-taps led.

Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading, Forty years as a pageant, till unawares the lady of

this teeming and turbulent city, Sleepless amid her ships, her houses, her incalculable

wealth,
With her million children around her, suddenly,
At dead of night, at news from the south,
Incens'd struck with clinch'd hand the pavement.

From “Selected Poems." Published by David McKay, Philadelphia

A shock electric, the night sustain'd it,
Till with ominous hum our hive at daybreak pour'd out

its myriads. From the houses then and the workshops, and through

all the doorways, Leapt they tumultuous, and lo! Manhattan arming.

To the drum-taps prompt,
The young men falling in and arming,
The mechanics arming (the trowel, the jack-plane, the

blacksmith's hammer, tost aside with precipita

tion), The lawyer leaving his office and arming, the judge

leaving the court, The driver deserting his wagon in the street, jumping

down, throwing the reins abruptly down on the

horses' backs, The salesman leaving the store, the boss, book-keeper,

porter, all leaving ; Squads gather everywhere by common consent and

arm, The new recruits, even boys, the old men show them

how to wear their accounterments, they buckle

the straps carefully, Outdoors arming, indoors arming, the flash of the

musket-barrels, The white tents cluster in camps, and arm’d sentries

around, the sunrise cannon and again at sunset, Arm'd regiments arrive every day, pass through the

city, and embark from the wharves, (How good they look as they tramp down to the river,

sweaty, with their guns on their shoulders !