The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 3.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[369] But, with thy just and equal rule,
     And labor's need and breadth of lands,
Free press and rostrum, church and school,
     Thy sure, if slow, transforming hands

Shall mould even them to thy design,
     Making a blessing of the ban;
And Freedom's chemistry combine
     The alien elements of man.

The power that broke their prison bar
     And set the dusky millions free,
And welded in the flame of war
     The Union fast to Liberty,

Shall it not deal with other ills,
     Redress the red man's grievance, break
The Circean cup which shames and kills,
     And Labor full requital make?

Alone to such as fitly bear
     Thy civic honors bid them fall?
And call thy daughters forth to share
     The rights and duties pledged to all?

Give every child his right of school,
     Merge private greed in public good,
And spare a treasury overfull
     The tax upon a poor man's food?

No lack was in thy primal stock,
     No weakling founders builded here;
Thine were the men of Plymouth Rock,
     The Huguenot and Cavalier;