Arms And The Man. - The Oaks And The Tempest.

Oaks multiplied apace, and o'er the seas     Big rumors went in many a winding ring;     And stories fabulous on every breeze             Swept to a distant King.     Full many a tale of wild romance, and myth,     In large hyperbole the New World told,     And down from days of Raleigh and of Smith     The Colonies meant gold.     Not from Banchoonan's mines came forth the ore,     But from the waters, and the woods, and fields,     Paid for in blood, but bringing more and more     The wealth that labor yields.     Then seeing this, that King beyond the sea,     The jus divinum filling all his soul,     Bethought him that he held these lands in fee     And absolute control.     When this high claim in action was displayed     With one accord the young Plantations spoke,     And told him, English-like, they were not made     To plough with such a yoke.     Thus met, not his to falter, or to flag,     A sudden fury seized the Royal breast -     Prometheus bound upon a Scythian crag     His policy expressed.     And, so, he ordered in those stormy hours     His adamantine chains for one and all,     Brute "Force" and soulless "Strength" the only Power     On which he chose to call.     Great men withstood him many a weary day;     In Press and Parliament full well they strove:     But all in vain, for he was bound to play     A travesty on Jove!     Then flamed the crater! And the flame took wing;     Furious and far the lava blazed around,     Until at last, on this same spot that King     His Herculaneum found!     Breed's Hill became Vesuvius, and its stream     Rushed forth through years, a God-directed tide     To light two Worlds and realize the dream     For which brave Warren died.