A. H. Laidlaw

“ A wonder to the lubbers and terror to the whales.
CAPTAIN.
Lubbers' yarns! My Maiden, trust you what I say,
There never was an Ocean—nothing but this Bay,
And if you'll be my bride, the whole world we'll explore,
In sight of New York Harbor and Staten Island shore.
Luffing to the starboard, tacking o'er the Bay,
Thus the married Captain sails his life away.
IT IS TIME TO BEGIN TO CONCLUDE.
Ye Parsons, desirous all sinners to save,
And to make each a prig or a prude,
If two thousand long years have not made us behave,
It is time you began to conclude. ”

“ So the creatures that crawl and the insects that sting
Will add terror to life and bring death on the wing.
Tarry ye not,
Tarry ye not,
Tarry ye not in Egypt!
The Lord hath hardened the heart of the King,
So the creatures that crawl and the insects that sting
Will add terror to life and bring death on the wing,
So tarry no longer in Egypt!
There is blood on the river and blood on the door,
Tarry ye not in Egypt!
The land shall be red on the sea and the shore,
And the blood of the Ruler shall reign nevermore. ”

“ Is she whose home adorns the loam of this fair land of mine:
American in sire,
She's born of love and fire,
And dominates the heart of man as by a right divine.
By rhyming swain pursued,
She meets the puling dude,
Whose hopes to win are centered in his pale Platonic plan;
American in heart,
She spurns his petty part,
Then, speeds him to the army mess to prove himself a man.
With tact burned in the bone,
She stands herself, alone,
The peer of peers of ancient years, for highest functions fit ”

“ BURKE OF THE BRAVE BRIGADE. Inscribed to Dennis F. Burke, last Commander of the Irish Brigade, at Gettysburg.
THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH.
"Why come ye to this mountain, lads,
In panoply of war?
Why leave ye the hills of your native heath,
To seek these heights afar?"
BURKE OF THE BRAVE BRIGADE.
"We have come to unchain the slave,
And not for a dress parade;
We have come to save man's flesh from the lash,"
Said Burke of the Brave Brigade. ”

“ High as thy hills their burning blood will swell,
To leave thee as they find thee, fair and free.
The nations gaze and tremble at thy spell,
A vision of eternal Liberty,
Emerging from a swift and bloody birth,
The terror, wonder, glory of the earth. ”

“ The red line of danger grows deadly and large,
Loud from the hills rings the rifleman's rattle,
But Custer is ready, so forward and charge!
Firing with left hand, and fencing with right,
The reins in his teeth, like a handless young Hun,
What is his fate in the terrible fight?
The thousands hath slain him, yet Custer hath won.
His foemen still seek him in terror and wonder,
Alive in the tempest that darkens the vale ”

“ Hold up your banner of light to the eye,
High! High!
Let its folds fly,
Blessing the earth and rejoicing the sky.
Ever to be
Flag of the free,
Long as the earth shows the sight of a slave,
Wave! Wave!
Mighty to save,
Fronting the fight in the eye of the brave.
Ever to be
Light of the free,
Lashed to the palm tree or nailed to the pine,
Shine! Shine!
Liberty's sign,
Lighting the human to find the Divine. ”

“ Do you not know that thus for twenty years
I've faced both ball and bullet!—for no prize
But weal of France, my country? In man's ears,
Yea and before God's all-beholding eyes,
I swear I never wronged her. But Death nears. ”

“ There is never an eye like the Black.
Here then is good health and without or with wealth
To the deep raven eye of my charmer!
It's a heavenly spell when it loves very well,
Only when it does not it is warmer. ”

“ So, for Erin go bragh,
'Tis both Gospel and Law
For to ate, or to shpake or to swig,
If you have a great mind,
You surely will find
The Poteen's the best part of the pig!
The Poteen's the best part of the pig! ”

“ And Sigsbee will soon shoot it all very plain
Into Blanco's most murderous brood,
That the cry from the blood of the Men of the Maine
Makes it meet for mere talk to conclude.
MARSHAL NEY'S FAREWELL.
Adieu to France! ”

“ While fighting a thousand fierce foemen alone.
Custer's the right wing, the left and the center,
Himself is his only reserve and supply.
This is a battle for Spartans to enter,
Where One makes an army to conquer or die. ”