m's day,
There is a time to fight and pray!"

And now before the open door-- 25
The warrior priest had ordered so--
The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar
Rang through the chapel, o'er and o'er,
Its long reverberating blow,
So loud and clear, it seemed the ear
Of dusty death must wake and hear;
And there the startling drum and fife
Fired the living with fiercer life.

While overhead, with wild increase, 5
Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,
The great bell swung as ne'er before.
It seemed as it would never cease;
And every word its ardor flung
From off its jubilant iron tongue 10
Was, "War! War! War!"

"Who dares?"--this was the patriot's cry,
As striding from the desk he came,--
"Come out with me, in Freedom's name,
For her to live, for her to die?" 15
A hundred hands flung up reply,
A hundred voices answered, "I."

1. Explain the following references in the first
stanza: "the North"; "wild news"; "boreal light";
"first oath of Freedom's gun"; "Concord . . .
forgot her old baptismal name."

2. Where does this story begin? What is the purpose
of the first stanza? Where is the scene laid? What
is the date of the action? Who was Berkeley? What
occurs?

3. What other dramatic Revolutionary War episodes
do you know? Name three other Revolutionary War
poems.

4. Thomas Buchanan Read (1822-1872) was a
Pennsylvanian by birth. His interests in art and
literature took him abroad, and he spent several
years in Italy. A number of his poems and paintings
are highly esteemed.

OUR OWN COUNTRY

BY JAMES MONTGOMERY

There is a land of every land the pride,
Beloved of Heaven o'er all the world beside,
There brighter suns dispense serener light
And milder moons imparadise the night.
O land of beauty, virtue, valor, truth, 5
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth!
There is a spot of earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest,
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and scepter,