THE land of loveliness and genial clime, And healthful airs that check the march of time;

Where spreads the prairie, nature's own great mead,

Inviting her untamed ones to feed.

The wild mustangs, with free and floating

mane,

Like cavalry, career along the plain;
The large-eyed, graceful deer, with antlers
back,

In wrapt suspicion hears the rifle's crack;
And heavy, fierce-eyed, shaggy bisons, make
The prairie like a shaken carpet quake,
As, all before them beating down to crush,
On in vast droves tumultuous they rush.
Vast prairies, stretching to the utmost verge,
In billowy motion, heave with ocean's surge,
As sweeps along the pliant grass the wind;
Or spread with flowers, countless in their kind,
Whose varied hues and richly brilliant dyes,
In gorgeous beauty meet enraptured eyes.
Of oak-crowned hills, from out whose verdant
sides-

O'er which the creeping shadow slowly glides

The silver-threaded brooklet gently wells
To darkly green and coolly silent dells,-
As childhood's silver tones will carry light
To older bosoms wrapt in earthly night.
And, shutting out external nature, there
Those little worlds, secluded and most fair,
Where circling dells, with hills for guardian

towers,

Form amphitheatres adorned with flowers. Now, having scaled and passed the wooded top,

Check thy descent, and, lest thou trespass, stop;

And casting o'er the blooming scene thine eyes,
Behold enclosed an earthly paradise!
Here with the sward far down beneath the feet
Upon the grassy hill side take thy seat,

The fair construction of the tiny throne,
Give fancy rein, while you observe it framed
Of bones from limbs of crickets early lamed,
That yield, because but dwarfish growth they
gain,

A polished ivory of finer grain.

Her softly-cushioned seat, plush-covered see,
By golden back of new-fledged humble bee.
'Tis stuffed with down from under wings of
flies,

And lashes fringed their microscopic eyes.
Affixed at hand is a musquito's bill,

To sheathe the sceptre waved to mark her will.
Young spiders' webs in interwoven plats,
Embroidered, beady, with the eyes of gnats,
About the throne in draperies are hung,
Where often play the noble fairy young,
And, when the court no stately council holds,
Glide in and out at peep among the folds.
A soap-blown bubble rising clear and bright,
Whereon the sun had thrown prismatic light,
Was hemisphered by art of dext'rous fay,
To overcanopy a seat as gay.
For he, from off a plum, untouched and ripe,
Did all the bloom as delicately wipe,
Then with the pinky extract of a rose,
The yellow in a lily's pollen grows,
And many other tints and hues as nice,
For none of which h culled a color twice,
Compounded dyes, and with a brush of down
From thistle top by gentle south wind blown,
Illuminated all most gorgeously

In strange design and rich variety.

Four elves did in their travelling dress enrobe
And visit each a quarter of the globe.
One, where the sun with tropic rays of fire
Dyes deeply brilliant nature's whole attire,
From richly-colored caterpillar stripped
The well-furred skin, and homeward lightly
tripped;

Then spread a carpet thickly velvet raised,
Whose yielding softness Mab has often praised,

And yield thyself to fairy-working will.
For in that grove so greenly foliate
Queen Mab. mayhap, is sitting now in state;
And each wild violet and flower leaf,
And slender spire and blade of grassy sheaf
That covers o'er the space from central grove,
Her throne seat, to the lilly scented cove,
Her fair domain, sun shades a vassal who,
Whate'er she wills, at her command, will do.
A legion round thine ears will swarm; and
tones,

As fine as yield the threads of silk worm's

cones

That vibrate to the rose leaf gently waved, Will weave around the brain thus fay-enslaved, Strange fantasies, ne'er told: Then thou wilt dream

Dreams delicate, that, as thou wak'st, will

seem

Like glimmering far floating gossamer, Just vanishing, while gentle zephyrs stir, And through the meshes play so soft an air, "Twill leave a doubt if sight or sound were there. [shown Now, lest perchance, you may not have been

'Twas lightly trodden by her tiny feet.

One, in the region of the shortest day,
Sought some ephemera at transient play;
Rudely enforced until a tear was shed,
Pricked wing of each until a drop it bled,
And then by some peculiar elfin spell
Enhardened them to jewels as they fell,
Of pearls and rubies; some, a moment seen
To touch a mossy tuft, turned emeralds green.
Another ranged throughout the fairy race
And sought the loveliest virgin form and face,
Then brought an icicle, that pendant clung
To lily's lip, where, just new froze, it hung;
Upholden to her gaze, each glance of light
Did melt a drop became a diamond bright:
Th' admiring glance detached a brilliant gern,
The crowning lustre of Mab's diadem.
A glow-worm took, its brightness to condense
Into the sapphire of a glow intense:
A portion of the same to opals turned,
That changeful with their hidden fires have
burned.

One sought a cave where lasting darkness dwelt,

And by a running stream herein he felt
A tender plant on which a worm was fed,
That spun a floss he took for silken thread,
And wove it in a velvet robe, embroidered o'er
With jewels from the others' brilliant store.

Begun at eve, when first the morning broke
Their fairy work received its final stroke.
Then in a dew drop bathed, and sought repose
There where the sensitive mimosa grows,
That sheds around a honied sweetness, while
No human step its leaflets can beguile
From instant closing; sensitive in dread
Of touch more heavy than a fairy's tread.
Thus robed and crowned, enthroned without

a mate,

Mab issues laws that guide the course of fate.

Alone in the wide prairie often seen,
The giant oak, with foliage ever green,
And rugged, wide extended arms and hands,
Sole, like a vegetable monarch stands.
Indignant, that her laws extend not to
The yearly riffing of his verdant hue,
Nature, by hiding, strives to match its loss,
And robes him in gray draperies of moss.-
Long pendant webs that in the breezes wave,
Like mourning weeds, or willows o'er a
grave.

'Tis here the Mexic's broken faith will warn
The honest bosom to indignant scorn.
Usurping all, the despotism of arms
Fills all the land with terrible alarms;
To crush their civil rights its power will lend,
While to its rule religion's self must bend.
Now rousing in its course indignant ire,
Resisting cry speeds on like mountain fire;
For Saxon blood will own no foreign sway-
In scorn it spurns a mongrel herd away.
Her youthful arm feels nerved with virtue's
might

To crush oppression and maintain the right;
And Texas struggles with the tyrant power,
While thickly gath'ring clouds above her lour.

Where gently swelling plains and wooded slopes

See tender fawns disport like childhood's hopes;

Where tall pecans, symmetrical, abound,
To scatter lavishly rich fruit around;
When Autumn, the alleviater kind
For winter's harshness, calls the rattling wind,
The laden branches to divest of food,
Sustains the tribes that dwell within the
wood;

And in its scattered growth, not seen to meet,
Is found the solitary rough muskeete:-
These own the name of Goliad, and seem
A scene too fair for deeds will make our
theme;

But share them with the crumbling walls of rock,

That witness ruthless War's destroying shock.
Exposed to tenfold force on ev'ry hand,
The gallant Fannin and his men here stand.
Untortified, the contest they maintain,
While still the enemy achieves no gain.
The day has passed, the night, another day,
Nor yet expected succor comes; at bay
The enemy still kept, at length propose,
Surrendered arms, th' unequal strife shall
close,

And gain an honorable safe return,

On faith of Mexic honor pledged and sworn.

In peaceful times the muse neglects to sing-
Heroic deeds should make th' empyrean ring.
A slender band of seven score in all,
Within the Alamo's extended wall,
In its defence contends with thousands two
Of Mexic's best, in conflict long since new.
For fourteen days these valiant men defend
The crumbling walls against the host they
send;
Whose heaps of slain the firm repulses own,
Each thundering assault is calling down.
The lion-hearted more than spartan band,
Their ammunition spent, now hand to hand,
As back to back they form an iron wall,
And sternly" Fannin" to each other call,
In fierce encounter with the swarming host,
Deal trenchant blows that each a death sigh

cost.

And thus at bay, with bold front still opposed,
As closer still the narrow circle 's closed;
Each valiant heart the more determined
grows,

Until the last man dealing last fell blows,
Sinks slowly down beneath a mound of foes.
Far tyrants listened to the awful tale,
And quaked with dread, with fear turned
deadly pale,

Convinced that votaries like these would yet
Bring Freedom triumph while their suns would

set.

In homes o'er which the star-striped banner

waves,

Loud wailing rose for the unburied braves; And freemen swore by Liberty's great cause, To cease enjoyment of her gifts, nor pause Until, as dread avengers, they should flood The stains were left by Crockett, Travis blood With streams as crimson, and dispense the meed

Of coward triumph and demoniac deed!

Where San Jacinto's placid waters flow,
In silence calm, majestically slow,
That scarcely lends a ripple to reply
To wooing sound of prairie hen's dull cry,
And fringe with varied blue and silver sheen,
Extended plains all dyed with emerald green:
There, Texas musters seven hundred strong.
To yield award for unredressed wrong,
And on a force, their own outnumbers twice,
Wreak deadly vengeance at a bloody price.
And now the thunder of the charge resounds
Along the prairie and the foe confounds,
As onward, to the cry of " Alamo,"
They fiercely rush on hated Mexico.
Their righteous cause each arm lends double
force

To carry all before them in their course,
While that fierce battle cry conveys dismay
To conscious hearts that fear the awful day
Of retribution is at hand for deeds,
Dressed horror-struck humanity in weeds.
Continuously, fiercely, ebbing none,
The tide of battle rapidly rolls on,
While hot discharge and fiery charge proclaim,
The fury lent by Goliad's red name.
Not long in doubt which side the battle wins,
For soon the foe gives way, the rout begins.
"Jacinto's plain with fugitives bespread,
And strewn along with dying and with dead;
Jacinto's waters stained with Mexic gore,
All clearly mark the chance of battle o'er.
Though all betrays a terrible defeat,
As yet, the victory is incomplete.
The leader general and head of state,
The special object of their honest hate,
The cruel tyrant, Santa Anna 's flown-
Search, scour the prairie till his fate be known!
Nor sought in vain, ignobly hidden, see
The coward warrior taken from a tree.
Their pledge redeemed, to win in freedom's

Triumphant Mercy waving high her wand
In joyful recognition of her hand,
Presiding Liberty looked down and smiled
Her approbation on her new born child.

Ensanguined by the blood of heroes shed
On fields of Alamo and Goliad,
The lone star rose above the horizon,
All redly glowing as the rising sun.
High chivalry had shed its proudest glow
On what was deemed the fierce and bloody
throe

That marked its rise, and gave a nation birth,
Would rank among the loftiest of earth.
High hopes and cheering prophesies went
round,

Of good, with which the nation should abound,
And brilliancy where erst was painful gloom,
The galaxy of nations would illume,
And countless glories that would emanate
From the lone star when it should culmi-
nate.

Let none gainsay the glowing prophesy,
Nor droop despondingly, and say that she,"
Demeaned, has stooped from her high course

to rest,

And 'neath the eagle's wing has hid her crest.
If moved by order, heaven's primal law,
Victorious her cause, soon liberty foresaw;
Then called the infant state to take her place
Within the ranks of kindred blood and race.
Where strength in union, and the love begot
By kindred language, customs, birth and lot,
Ensures the band of states successful fight,
And progress swift for freedom and for right.
No longer lone, the star with others forms
A constellation unobscured by storms;-
All proudly onward, in her cause now led,
By liberty, their light-dispensing head.

O, great Columbia! what wilt thou be?
Ere Truth supreme can say to Liberty;
Hail to thee handmaid! best and chiefest hail:
The work is done that henceforth cannot fail!
All hail to thee! rewards and thanks for aid;
Progressive man, his debt to me hath paid.
Humanity and science have combined,
By moral force to franchise all mankind;
And unrestricted peace-born intercourse,
Has fought thy battles, voiding war's ill force.
Among earth's nations eldest of them all,
As answering earliest to freedom's call;
And greatest, chiefest, loved of all the best,
As ever taking others to thy breast,

To share with them the blessings are thine