Not lightly, oh, not lightly, Lord,
Let this our awful task begin;
Speak from thy throne a warning word
Above the angry factions' din.
If this be thy Most Holy will,
Be with us still,—be with us still!
Danske Dandridge.
Good Friday, 1898.
Spain, without waiting for investigation, announced that the Maine had been blown up by an explosion of her magazines, due to the carelessness of her officers. The American people waited in ominous silence for the investigation to be concluded.
TO SPAIN—A LAST WORD
Iberian! palter no more! By thine hands, thine alone, they were slain!
Oh, 'twas a deed in the dark—
Yet mark!
We will show you a way—only one—by which ye may blot out the stain!
Build them a monument whom to death-sleep, in their sleep, ye betrayed!
Proud and stern let it be—
Cuba free!
So, only, the stain shall be razed—so, only, the great debt be paid!
Edith M. Thomas.
Meanwhile, the sailor dead were buried in the cemetery at Havana, with impressive ceremony. They were afterwards disinterred and placed in the military cemetery at Arlington on the Potomac.
THE MARTYRS OF THE MAINE