Page:Poems Proctor.djvu/76

The Legislature at Exeter met;
Money and men they fain would raise,
And despair on every face was set
As news of the army's need was read;
Then, in the hush, John Langdon said;
"Three thousand dollars have I in gold;
For as much I will pledge the plate T hold;
Eighty casks of Tobago rum;
All is the country's. The time will come,
If we conquer, when amply the debt she 1l pay;
If we fail, our property 's worthless." A ray
Of hope cheered the gloom, while the Governor said:
"For a regiment now, with Stark at its head!"
And the boon we gained through the noble lender
Was the Bennington day and Burgoyne's surrender!"

Conflict over and weary quest,
Hid in their hallowed graves they rest;
Nor the voice of love, nor the cannon's roar
Wins them to field or fireside more!
Did the glory go from the hills with them?
Nay! for the sons are true to the sires!
And the gems they have set in our diadem
Burn with as rare and brilliant fires,
And the woodland streams and the mountain airs
Sing of the fathers' fame with theirs!
One, in the shadow of lone Kearsarge