49. Rams.
by Francis de Haes Janvier.
Who, indeed, would have thought that it ever could chanceThat dogmatical England and complaisant France,
Who have always known every thing under the sun;
Who have always thought first of whatever we've done;
Who have scarce deigned our Eagle the slightest salam--
Should fall flat to adore an American Ram?
There have always been Rams! Father Adam, we know,
Found some Rams in his garden a long time ago:
In the raising of Rams Abel took much delight;
And a Ram was concerned in the very first fight--
And the first Ram afloat, we may further remark,
Was the Ram which old Noah took into the Ark!
Then, it seems, there were Rams which were tied up in stalls,
Driven out to do battle by butting down walls--
Alexander, Marcellus, and Sylla, we find,
Had a great many Rams of this desperate kind,
And when Titus encamped 'mid Jerusalem's palms,
It is said that the Hebrews saw nothing but Rams!
After these there came Rams not inclining to fights--
Rams resembling good Joshua's Gibeonites,
Which were “drawers of water” --Hydraulic Rams--
Quite domestic, and commonly found with their dams!
May such Rams still continue to thrive and increase
With the limitless Ram-ifications of peace!
Thus, we Ram-ble along through the cycles of Time,
Finding History's Ram-page is rather sublime!
But the Ram of all Rams is the Ram of our day,
Which is shaking the world with a Ram-pant dismay!
Iron-harnessed, steam-driven, it sweeps o'er the sea--
Our American Ram-part!--the shield of the free!
