With all that's ours, together let us rise,

Seek brighter plains and more indulgent skies;
Where fair Ohio rolls his amber tide,

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And nature blossoms in her virgin pride;

Where all that beauty's hand can form to please,
Shall crown the toils of war with rural ease.

The shady coverts and the sunny hills,
The gentle lapse of ever-murm'ring rills,
The soft repose amid the noon-tide bow'rs,

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The evening walk among the blushing flow'rs,

The fragrant groves that yield a sweet perfume,
And vernal glories in perpetual bloom,
Await you there; and heav'n shall bless the toil,
Your own the produce, as your own the soil.

360

No tyrant lord shall grasp a thousand farms,
Curse the mild clime, and spoil its fairest charms:
No blast severe your ripening fields deform,
No vollied hail-stones, and no driving storm:

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No raging murrain on your cattle seize,

And nature sicken with the dire disease.

But golden years, anew, begin their reigns,

And cloudless sunshine gild salubrious plains.

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Herbs, fruits and flow'rs shall clothe th' uncultur'd field,

Along the meads, or near the shady groves,

There sport the flocks, there feed the fatt'ning droves;

There strays the steed, through bloomy vales afar,

Who erst mov'd lofty in the ranks of war.

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There, free from envy, cank'ring care and strife, Flow the calm pleasures of domestic life:

There mutual friendship soothes each placid breast,
Blest in themselves, and in each other blest.
From house to house the social glee extends,

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For friends in war, in piece are doubly friends:

Their children taught to emulate their sires,

Catch the warm glow, and feel the kindred fires,

Till by degrees the mingling joys improve,
Grow with their years, and ripen into love:

390

Nor long the blushing pair in secret sigh,

And drink sweet poison from the love-sick eye;

Blest be their lot, when in his eager arms

Th' enamour'd youth folds the fair virgin's charms;

On her ripe lip imprints the burning kiss,
And seals with hallow'd rites the nuptial bliss.

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Then festal sports the ev'ning hours prolong,
The mazy dance, and the sweet warbling song:
Then each endearment wakes the ravish'd sense
To pure delights, and raptures most intense:
And the pleas'd parent tells his list'ning son,

400

What wond'rous deeds, by him, in youth, were done.

No sights of woe, no tort'ring fears annoy

1

The sweet sensations of the heart-felt joy:

Nor shall the savages of murd'rous soul,
In painted bands dark to the combat roll,
With midnight orgies, by the gloomy shade,
On the pale victim point the reeking blade;
Or cause the hamlet, lull'd in deep repose,
No more to wake, or wake to ceaseless woes:
For your strong arm the guarded land secures,
And freedom, glory, happiness, are yours!

So shall you flourish in unfading prime,
Each age refining through the reign of time;
A nobler off'spring crown the fond embrace,
A band of heroes, and a patriot race:
Not by soft Luxury's too dainty food,
Their minds contaminated with their blood:
But like the heirs our great forefathers bred,
By freedom nurtur'd, and by temp'rance fed;
Healthful and strong, they turn'd the virgin soil,
The untam'd forest bow'd beneath their toil:
At early dawn they sought the mountain chace,
Or rous'd the Indian from his lurking place;
Curb'd the mad fury of those barb'rous men,
Or dragg'd the wild beast struggling from his den:

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To all the vigour of that pristine race,
New charms are added, and superior grace.

Then cities rise, and spiry towns increase, With gilded domes, and every art of peace.

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D

Then Cultivation shall extend his pow'r,

Rear the green blade, and nurse the tender flow'r;
Make the fair villa in full splendours smile,

And robe with verdure all the genial soil.

Then shall rich Commercè court the fav'ring gales,
And wond'ring wilds admire the passing sails;
Where the bold ships the stormy Huron brave,
Where wild Ontario rolls the whit'ning wave,
Where fair Ohio his pure current pours,
And Mississippi laves th' extended shores.

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Then oh, blest land! with genius unconfin'd, With polish'd manners, and th' illumin❜d mind, Thy future race on daring wing shall soar, Each science trace, and all the arts explore; Till bright religion, beck'ning to the skies, Shall bid thy sons to endless glories rise.

As round thy clime celestial joy extends,
Thy beauties ripen, and thy pomp ascends;
Farther and farther still, thy blessings roll,
To southern oceans and the northern pole;
Where now the thorn, or tangled thicket grows,
The wilderness shall blossom as the rose;
Unbounded deserts unknown charms assume,
Like Salem flourish, and like Eden bloom.

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And oh, may heav'n! when all our toils are past,

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Crown with such happiness our days at last:

So rise our sons, like our great sires of old,
In Freedom's cause, unconquerably bold;

With spotless faith, and morals pure, their name
Spread through the world, and gain immortal fame.

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And thou Supreme! whose hand sustains this ball,
Before whose nod the nations rise and fall,
Propitious smile, and shed diviner charms
On this blest land, the queen of arts and arms;

Make the great empire rise on Wisdom's plan,
The seat of bliss, and last retreat of man.

466

A

РОЕМ

ON THE

HAPPINESS OF AMERICA.

ADDRESSED TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES.

TENTH EDITION.