Page:Pacific Monthly volumes 9 and 10.djvu/62

 T|pahan.

All hail to her! — the white forerunner

sent From out the lavish West to rouse the old Lethargic portals of the Orient, Till all its stolid habitants be told Of quick, new modes of life, and mani- fold Swift engines of exchange, and how by

these To run their times within a finer mould. And from the rut of Chinese centuries To reach for wider joys and soother lux- uries.

We front the threshold of a giant age, Foremost still, but others follow fast. We may not trust o'ermuch the written

page, Nor measure with the measures of the

past, For all our millions and our regions vast, And arm'd array in boastful numbers told, To keep the treasure that our sires

amass'd Hath need of statesmen lion-like to hoW, And still forestall the changing times, alert

and bold.

O sure, it is no small thing to be said That under us the East and West have

met! — That our red, British route is perfected Around the World, and our red flag doth

yet High vantage o'er its strenuous rivals get. Whether it wave from Windsor's kingly

pile, Or on the farthest verge of Empire set 'Bove fearless towns, whose heart-strings all the while Thrill to every chord from their old Mother- Isle.

LOOKIXG TOWARD THE OLYMPIC RANGE FROM BKACOX HILL

ID

We feel the center now where'er we stand, And touch community in everything, Since Science with her patient, subtle

hand Hath snar'd the globe as in a witch's

ring. And set all elements a-quivering To our desire. What marvels more she'll

show — What new delights from Nature conjur- ing — Small wit have I to guess, but this I know. That more and more the scatter'd World as one must grow.

II

Then closer blend for empire — that is

power; No thing of worth e'er came of feebleness. And union is the genius of the hour. The virtues that by master craft and

stress Wrought hugely on primaeval palaces, And 'stonish'd Egypt and great Babylon With monuments of admirable excess. Seem once again from out Oblivion drawn To lighten o'er the Earth in unexampled

dawn.

The impulse of a thousand centuries Strikes upward now in our united race. Not for a Roman triumph, but to ease The intercourse of nations, and to place The social fabric on a happier base; The very enginry of war abhorr'd So soon as may is bended to erase The stain and bloody ravage of the sword; The vanquish'd now are all to equal right restored.

But cry contempt upon that sickly creed That would not fire a shot to save its own. Whose piety perverse doth only feed The hope of leaner nations, bolder grown To tread the path that we have hewn alone. 'Twas not for them we found that path so

hard — 'Twas not for them the Earth so thick was sown With British dead! Nay, rather let us guard The barest rock that flies onr flag at all

hazard.