Page:Memories of Virginia.djvu/135

 Ring me and ye shall hear the hammers that strike my rim Echo the glory of deeds and days ages shall not make dim; Trinkets were brought to me from masters and mansions great, Relics were wrought in me of field and forum and State, And in me they molded, too, the voice of the deeds that ring Wherever the lips of the legions shout, the voices of freemen sing!

I am the voice of the bell, named of her name and sweet With melody of a woman's heart and dancing of woman's feet! I am the voice of the past, and I am the voice that thrills Out of Virginia's heart of hearts, over her hill of hills; Voice of the North and South, tender and strong and true, Ringing the hope of the sister States under these skies of blue!

The bell was cast at the McShane foundry, in Baltimore, and its composition includes, in addition to other historic metal, a piece of the Columbian bell, which was sent to the Chicago exposition in 1893, and also pennies given by many schoolchildren.

Among the interested spectators present was Mrs. Anna S. Green, of Culpeper, Va., who founded the Pocahontas Bell Association. Music for the occasion was furnished by the band from the University of Missouri.

Among the old relics of the seventeenth century presented to increase the value of the memorial bell the following contributors stand recorded:

William B. Matthews presents a very old brass candlestick in memory of his father, James Muscoe Matthews, descendant of the last royal governor of the Dominion.

Charles B. Tiernan, a lineal descendant of Pocahontas, through the Bolling line, presents old coin and other relics of founding days.