Our classic toil became inglorious leisure,
We praised the calm Horatian ode no more,
But answered back with song the martial measure,
That held its throb above the cannon’s roar.
The other “Poems of the War” published in Later Lyrics are entitled “Requital,” “The Question,” “One and Many,” “Hymn for a Spring Festival,” “The Jeweller’s Shop in War-time,” and “The Battle Eucharist.”
In these we see how deeply the writer’s soul was oppressed by the sorrow of the war and the horrors of the battle-field. We see, too, how it turned ever for comfort and encouragement to the Cross and to the Lord of Hosts.
X
MRS. HOWE’S LOVE OF FREEDOM AN INHERITANCE
Stories of Gen. Francis Marion—Mrs. Howe’s kinship with the “Swamp Fox”—The episode that saved “Marion’s Men”—The splendid sword that rusted in its scabbard—John Ward, one of Oliver Cromwell’s Ironsides—Samuel Ward, the only Colonial governor who refused to enforce the Stamp Act—Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and champion of religious liberty.
WE have seen that my mother’s love of freedom was in part the result of environment. It was also an inheritance from men who had fought for civil and religious liberty, with the sword and with the pen, on both sides of the Atlantic. Of the founder of the Ward family in America, we know that he fought for the English Commonwealth and against “Charles First, tyrant of England.” He was one of Oliver Cromwell’s Ironsides, serving as an officer in a cavalry regiment. After the republic perished and the Stuart line in the person of Charles II. returned to the throne, doughty old John Ward came to America, bringing his good sword with him. Whether it was ever used on this side of the water, the record does not say, but it was preserved in the family for nearly a century.
His descendants held positions of trust and responsibility under the State, his grandson and great-grandson being each in his turn governor of Rhode Island. The latter, Gov. Samuel Ward, has the distinction of being the only Colonial governor who refused to take the oath to enforce the Stamp Act. As the Chief Executive of “little Rhody” was chosen by the people, his views were naturally more democratic than those of governors appointed by the crown. Still, it took courage to refuse to obey the royal mandate. He early foresaw the separation from Great Britain and wrote to his son in 1766, “These Colonies are destined to an early independence, and you will live to see my words verified.” He was a member of the Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775. The latter resolved itself into a committee of the whole almost every day, and Governor Ward was constantly called to the chair on such occasions, until he was seized with fatal illness, March 13, 1776, dying soon afterward.