SELECTIONS. THE SONG OF THE KANSAS EMIGRANT.1 TUNE-"Auld Lang Syne." [Printed in the first issue of the Herald of Freedom, one of the first Free-State papers published in Kansas, October 21st, 1854.] We cross the prairies as of old The Pilgrims crossed the sea, To make the West, as they the East, CHORUS: The homestead of the free, my boys, To make the West, as they the East, We go to rear a wall of men And plant beside the cotton-tree The rugged Northern pine. [Chorus.] We're flowing from our native hills, As our free rivers flow; The blessings of our mother-land Is on us as we go. [Chorus.] 1 Our title, "Kansas in Literature," permits the introduction of a few famous pieces by Whittier and Lucy Larcom, which were prompted by Kansas events. (28) We go to plant her common schools And give the Sabbaths of the wild The music of her bells. Upbearing, like the ark of old, The Bible in her van, We go to test the truth of God Against the fraud of man. [Chorus.] [Chorus.] No pause, nor rest, save where the streams That feed the Kansas run, Save where our pilgrim gonfalon Shall flout the setting sun. We'll tread the prairies as of old [Chorus.] And make the West, as they the East, The homestead of the free. [Chorus.] THE BURIAL OF BARBER.1 Bear him, comrades, to his grave: Shall the prairie-grasses weep, In the ages yet to come, What we sow in tears shall reap. 1 Thomas W. Barber was murdered three miles west of Lawrence, December 11th, 1855, by James Burnes and George W. Clark, Pro-Slavery men. Bear him up the icy hill, One more look of that dead face, One more kiss, O widowed one! Frozen earth to frozen breast, Pledge yourselves for life or death— That the State whose walls ye lay, And your goodly land untrod Plant the buckeye on his grave, In its shadows cannot rest; Of the freedom of the West. —Whittier. A CALL TO KANSAS.1 TUNE-"Nelly Bly." Yeomen strong, hither throng! We will make the wilderness Bring the sickle, speed the plow, For the true man's toil. Ho, brothers! come, brothers! We'll sing upon the Kansas plains Father, haste! O'er the waste There your fireside's altar-stones, There your sons, brave and good, Ho, brothers! come, brothers! Hasten all with me; We'll sing upon the Kansas plains Mother, come! Here's a home In the waiting West; Bring the seeds of love and peace, You who sow them best. 1 Written in competition for a prize of $50, offered in 1855 by the New England Emi grant Aid Company for the best song in aid of the Kansas movement. This poem took the prize. Faithful hearts, holy prayers, Soil a mother's tears have wet We'll sing upon the Kansas plains Brother brave, stem the wave! List, we call to thee; We'll sing upon the Kansas plains One and all, hear our call Echo through the land! Aid us with a willing heart And the strong right hand! Ho, brother! come, brother! Hasten all with me; We'll sing upon the Kansas plains A song of liberty! -Lucy Larcom. |