The mighty rivers and great lakes,
Where once did float the bark canoe,
Are but the means that nature makes,
To push man’s grand endeavors thru;
And now upon these waters floats
A commerce of a size so vast,
(In more than seven thousand boats)
It never yet has been surpassed.
And pressing on for conquests new,
The teeming millions reach our shore,
And bore the very mountains thru,
In eager reaching out for more;
The earth gives up its lead and gold,
Its silver, copper, salt, and oil,
And countless wealth will yet unfold,
Ere man has ceased to think and toil.
A thousand cities now we show,
And eighty million freemen rule,
Where but four hundred years ago,
There was no house, or church, or school,
And not a white man yet had trod
The fairest portion of the earth,
The land where all may worship God,
Where liberty was given birth.
In seventeen hundred seventy-six,
The brave forefathers of this land,
Tired of tyrannic laws and tricks,
Resolved to take a noble stand;
So on the fourth day of July
They said this country must be free,
And pledged themselves to win or die,
In fighting for its liberty.
Then thirteen states together joined
And declared themselves a nation,
And prouder names were never coined
Than endorsed that declaration.
Our country now must have a flag,
To be praised in song and story,
No silly or unmeaning rag,
But an emblem of our glory.
Flags are made of various types,
Our Congress chose for us the best,
And with our handsome stars and stripes,
We do not care for all the rest;
With seven red and six white bars,
A corner field of pretty blue,
In which to set the coming stars,
Now counting three and forty-two.
Each star a state does represent,
A powerful aggregation,
And each one has a government,
For its local regulation;
So great we’ve grown in width and length,
The truth can hardly be believed;
We do not boast of size or strength,
But of the work we have achieved.
We sixty thousand schools maintain
For the children of our nation,
Where free of cost they can obtain
A liberal education;
And sixty thousand churches, too,
Where people freely worship God,
Learn how to love, be good and true,
For that’s the style on freedom’s sod.
We make ships go ’gainst wind and tide,
Our steamers sail to ev’ry shore,
And on our railroads one can ride
Two hundred thousand miles and more;
Our Franklin brought the lightning down,
Morse made it talk thru miles of wire,
And Edison has gained renown,
By using it for light and fire.
We now can hear a thousand miles,
The ever welcome voice of friends,
And on our little waxen files
Preserve it till life’s journey ends;
The sweetest music in the world
Is sung and played for all mankind,
The notes are caught and then unfurled,
And lift man’s heart and cheer his mind.