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About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1922)
4 THE WESTERN AMERICAN December, JflllllllllllllllllUlllllllllllllliltllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllltrNlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllllllllllHlUlt llllllllllllllllllilllHIIllllllfIltllllillllllllllllhlillllllllllllllllNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIliJ POEMS AND SONGS OFAMERICA TYURING the recent world war many splendid patriotic songs and poems were written. Some of these will perhaps stand the test of time while most of them will soon be forgotten. American patriotism has nev er been better expressed than in the “Battle Hymn of the Re public,” a martial song written during the trying days of the Civil War by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. Its lofty sentiments and elevation in style has gained for it the foremost place of all mar tial songs of history. During the latter part of 1861 Mrs. Howe, with a party of friends visited Washington. With her friends she attended a review of the Union troops on the Virginia side of the Poto mac, near the city. During her stay in camp she witnessed a sudden and unexpected attack of the enemy. Thus she had a glimpse of actual warfare. On the trip back to the city the party sang a number of war songs, including “John Brown’s Body.” One of the party re marked that the tune was a grand one, and altogether su perior to the words of the song. Mrs. Howe responded to the ef feet that she would endeavor to write other words that might be sung to this stirring melody. Impressed with what she had seen and in spirit wed to the Union cause she became more and more determined to put her soul into a song that might build stronger if possible the Union cause. That night, while half asleep and half awake, in a dark room in the city of Wash ington, she composed word for word, line after line, verse after verse the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Becoming fully awake she sprang out of bed, found her pen and a peace of paper and wrote down the words as they had come to her while in bed and BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC By Julia Ward Howe Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are I stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; I His truth is marching on. CHORUS: Glory! Glory Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps: I They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on. I have read a firey gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel: “As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall I deal; I Let the Hero, bom of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on.” He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. I Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! I Our God is marching on. I In the beauty of the lilies Christ was bom across the sea, | With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; I As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, J While God is marching on. ----------------------------------- _----- 1 while they were still fresh in the molders of American! her memory. The song created thought and life shines the glit-l a stir throughout the nation and tering star of a nobility ol it was sung during the Civil character unsurpassed. Theirl War by the troops when march devotion to higher ideals, theirl ing, on the battlefields when the spirit of justice and fairness arel guns were booming and at a imprints from their lives, beau-l great number of public gather tifully traced on the pages of*, our history. Their thoughts! ings. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was might well be our guiding! born in New York City, May 27, lights, their path the road fori 1819. She became very early in us to follow.------------------------ I life interested in philanthropic Sing the “Battle Hymn of th« work and become an avowed Republic” often, in a low tone! champion for woman’s suffrage. for your own edification, as an! She became the wife of Dr. accompaniment to your work ini Samuel G. Howe, the philanthro tn the shop, and in the home, at pist, and with him edited the your daily task and in the nurs-j Anti-Slavery Journal, “The Bos ery. Learn the words and repeat! ton Commonwealth.” She is per them if you do not know the! haps best known as the author melody. There is character build! of the “Battle Hymn of the Re ing force in every line in this! public,” but she wrote a number hymn of Christian patriotism! of other works. It holds the suggestion of al Out of the lives of these revelation, something that Goil 1 Americans, who recently were himself has inspired. lIllllflllltlllllllllllllllllllllUtlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliHlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllinilllllllll lllllltllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllimillHIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHIII®
