The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Song of the Stone Wall, by Helen Keller

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Title: The Song of the Stone Wall

Author: Helen Keller

Release Date: April 20, 2004 [EBook #12093]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SONG OF THE STONE WALL ***

Produced by Jamie Taylor in memory of Helen Keller.

THE SONG OF
THE STONE WALL

BY
HELEN KELLER

1910
Copyright, 1909, 1910.
_Published October, 1910_.

DEDICATION

When I began "The Song of the Stone Wall," Dr. Edward Everett Hale
was still among us, and it was my intention to dedicate the poem
to him if it should be deemed worthy of publication. I fancied that
he would like it; for he loved the old walls and the traditions that
cling about them.

As I tried to image the men who had built the walls long ago, it
seemed to me that Dr. Hale was the living embodiment of whatever was
heroic in the founders of New England. He was a great American. He
was also a great Puritan. Was not the zeal of his ancestors upon his
lips, and their courage in his heart? Had they not bequeathed to him
their torch-like faith, their patient fervor of toil and their creed
of equality?

But his bright spirit had inherited no trace of their harshness and
gloom. The windows of his soul opened to the sunlight of a joyous
faith. His optimism and genial humor inspired gladness and good
sense in others. With an old story he prepared their minds to
receive new ideas, and with a parable he opened their hearts to
generous feelings. All men loved him because he loved them. They
knew that his heart was in their happiness, and that his humanity
embraced their sorrows. In him the weak found a friend, the
unprotected, a champion. Though a herald and proclaimer of peace, he
could fight stubbornly and passionately on the side of justice. His
was a lovable, uplifting greatness which drew all men near and ever
nearer to God and to each other. Like his ancestors, he dreamed of a
land of freedom founded on the love of God and the brotherhood of
man, a land where each man shall achieve his share of happiness and
learn the work of manhood--to rule himself and "lend a han