And listening to my voice are tall young men,
And women fair who were but children then.
Our young Republic, freed from all his chains,
For peaceful conquest girds his lusty reins.
The smiling Mississippi to the sea
Rolls as in days of old, unvexed and free,
And East and West in one grand commonweal
Are bound by triple bands of shining steel.
The apple tree historic rots away;
Our gunboats all have crumbled to decay;