Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79. | | | | Introductory to Western States | | The Pioneers | | Charles Mackay (1814–1889) |
| | | ROUSE! brothers, rouse! we ’ve far to travel, | |
| Free as the winds we love to roam, | |
| Far through the prairie, far through the forest, | |
| Over the mountains we ’ll find a home. | |
| We cannot breathe in crowded cities, | 5 |
| We ’re strangers to the ways of trade; | |
| We long to feel the grass beneath us, | |
| And ply the hatchet and the spade. | |
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| Meadows and hills and ancient woodlands | |
| Offer us pasture, fruit, and corn; | 10 |
| Needing our presence, courting our labor;— | |
| Why should we linger like men forlorn? | |
| We love to hear the ringing rifle, | |
| The smiting axe, the falling tree;— | |
| And though our life be rough and lonely, | 15 |
| If it be honest, what care we? | |
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| Fair elbow-room for men to thrive in! | |
| Wide elbow-room for work or play! | |
| If cities follow, tracing our footsteps, | |
| Ever to westward shall point our way! | 20 |
| Rude though our life, it suits our spirit, | |
| And new-born States in future years | |
| Shall own us founders of a nation,— | |
| And bless the hardy pioneers. | | | | |
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