I. THE PIONEER SPIRIT COLUMBUS1 JOAQUIN MILLER (1841-1911) Behind him lay the gray Azores, The good mate said: "Now must we pray, Brave Adm'r'l, speak; what shall I say?" "My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly, wan and weak." 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"" They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, 1 From Joaquin Miller's Poems (Bear Edition), Vol. II. Copyright, 1909, by C. H. Miller. Published by Harr Wagner Publishing Company, San Francisco. Used by permission of the publishers. 2 The gates or pillars of Hercules were terms often applied to the two great promontories, Gibraltar and Abyla, on the opposite sides of the strait leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. In Greek mythology these were said to have been torn asunder by Hercules in his journey to Gadez (now Cadiz). These very winds forget their way, They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: He lifts his teeth, as if to bite! Then pale and worn, he paced his deck, It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. COLUMBUS1 EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D.D. (1822-1909) Give me white paper! This which you use is black and rough with smears In this poem the author, who was eminent as clergyman, orator, historian, essayist, editor, and writer of fiction, aptly expresses the thought of the New World as offering humanity's great opportunity. From address on "The Result of Columbus's Discovery," in Works of Edward Everett Hale, Vol. III. Copyright, 1900, by Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Used by permission of the publishers. Crossed with the story of men's sins and fears, When all God's children have forgot their birth, Give me white paper! One storm-trained seaman listened to the word; What no man saw he saw; he heard what no man heard. In answer he compelled the sea To eager man to tell The secret she had kept so well. Left blood and guilt and tyranny behind, For all mankind that unstained scroll unfurled, TO THE VIRGINIAN VOYAGE1 MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631) You brave heroic minds, That honor still pursue, Whilst loitering hinds Lurk here at home, with shame, Go, and subdue. Britons, you stay too long, Quickly aboard bestow you, 1 This spirit of adventure, achievement, and faith in the future felt by the Englishmen of the seventeenth century is a part of the inheritance entering into the American spirit. From the Works of Michael Drayton, Esq., Vol. IV. Printed for W. Reeve at Shakespear's Head in Fleet Street, London, 1753. And with a merry gale Swell your stretch'd sail, With vows as strong As the winds that blow you. Your course securely steer, You need not fear, And cheerfully at sea, To get the pearl and gold, Virginia, Earth's only paradise, Where nature hath in store Fowl, venison, and fish, Three harvests more, All greater than your wish. And the ambitious vine Crowns with his purple mass The cypress, pine, |