THE CAMPFIRES OF THE PIONEERS
Vincere est vivere!
Striking at ease his epic lyre,
The laurelled Mantuan has sung
Beleaguered Troy's illustrious pyre—
The daring sail Æneas flung
To wayward gales, the voyage long
That tracked the silver waves of song
Until the worn and weary oar
Has kissed the far Lavinian shore;
The Argo's classic pennon streams
Along a fairer sea of dreams,
The Mayflower now has furled her wings,
And restfully at anchor swings—
Columbia chants to columned seas
The triumph of the Genoese—
And yet, stout hearts, no fitting meed
Of panegyric crowns your deed,
From which a stately empire springs.
The minions of a perfumed age
Already crowd upon the stage,—
The massive manhood of the past
In many a graceful mould is cast;
And yet with calm and kindly eyes
You view the feast for others spread,
The laurelled Mantuan has sung
Beleaguered Troy's illustrious pyre—
The daring sail Æneas flung
To wayward gales, the voyage long
That tracked the silver waves of song
Until the worn and weary oar
Has kissed the far Lavinian shore;
The Argo's classic pennon streams
Along a fairer sea of dreams,
The Mayflower now has furled her wings,
And restfully at anchor swings—
Columbia chants to columned seas
The triumph of the Genoese—
And yet, stout hearts, no fitting meed
Of panegyric crowns your deed,
From which a stately empire springs.
The minions of a perfumed age
Already crowd upon the stage,—
The massive manhood of the past
In many a graceful mould is cast;
And yet with calm and kindly eyes
You view the feast for others spread,
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