Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith, triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee, are all with thee!
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
The Constitution and Laws are here personified, and addressed as "The
Ship of State."
AMERICA.
"America" (Samuel Francis Smith, 1808-95) is a good poem to learn as a
poem, regardless of the fact that every American who can sing it ought
to know it, that he may join in the chorus when patriotic celebrations
call for it. My boys love to repeat the entire poem, but I often find
masses of people trying to sing it, knowing only one stanza. It is our
national anthem, and a part of our education to know every word of it.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.
My native country, thee--
Land of the noble free--
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
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