Poems of home and country :: :: University of Virginia Library

The small life, coiled within the seed,—
A promise hid away,—
But dimly heralds what shall be
When comes the perfect day;
But sun, and rain, and frost, and heat
Enrich the fertile fields,
And the small life of earlier years
A waving harvest yields.

The corn that slumbers in the hill,—
A disk of golden grain,—
Stands up at last, a rustling host,
And covers all the plain;
Who knows to what the infant germ,
In coming seasons, leads,
Or how the golden grain expands,
And mighty armies feeds!

The acorn, in its little cup,
High on the breezy hill,
Waits for the fulness of the times,
Its mission to fulfil,

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And year by year grows grand and strong,—
What shall the future be?
A noble forest on the land,
Or navy on the sea.

The bright-eyed boys, who crowd our schools,
The knights of book and pen,
Weary of childish games and moods,
Will soon be stalwart men;
The leaders in the race of life,
The men to win applause,
The great minds, born to guide the State,
The wise, to make the laws.

Teach them to guard with jealous care
The land that gave them birth,
As patriot sons of patriot sires,—
The dearest spot of earth;
Teach them the sacred trust to keep,
Like true men, pure and brave,
And o'er them, through the ages, bid
Freedom's fair banner wave.

This poem was written on the 22d day of February, 1894, as the closing patriotic selection of “Beacon Lights of Patriotism.”