THE
FLAG OF OLD ENGLAND.
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| [A
Centenary Song, written for the one hundredth anniversary
of the landing of Lord Cornwallis at Halifax.] |
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All hail to the day when the Britons came over,
And
planted their standard, with sea-foam still wet,
Around and above us their spirits will hover,
Rejoicing
to mark how we honor it yet. [Page 56]
Beneath it the emblems they cherished are waving,
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5 |
The
Rose of Old England the roadside perfumes;
The Shamrock and Thistle the north winds are braving,
Securely
the Mayflower*
blushes and blooms.
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CHORUS.
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Hail
to the day when the Britons came over,
And
planted their standard with sea-foam still wet,
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10 |
Around
and above us their spirits will hover,
Rejoicing
to mark how we honor it yet.
We’ll
honor it yet, we’ll honor it yet,
The
flag of Old England! we’ll honor it yet!
In the temples they founded, their faith is maintained,
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Every
foot of the soul they bequeathed is still ours,
The graves where they moulder, no foe has profaned,
But we wreathe them with
verdure, and strew them with flowers!
The blood of no brother, in civil strife pour’d,
In this hour of rejoicing,
encumbers our souls!
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20 |
The
frontier’s the field for the Patriot’s
sword,
And curs’d be the
weapon that Faction controls!
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| Chorus—Hail
to the day, &c. |
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Then hail to the day! ’tis with memories crowded,
Delightful to trace ’midst
the mists of the past,
Like the features of Beauty, bewitchingly shrouded,
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25 |
They
shine through the shadows Time o’er them has
cast.
As travelers track to its source in the mountains,
[Page 57]
The stream, which far swelling,
expands o’er the plains,
Our hearts, on this day, fondly turn to the fountains
Whence flow the warm currents
that bound in our veins. |
30 |
| Chorus—Hail
to the day, &c. |
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And proudly we trace them: No warrior flying
From city assaulted, and
fanes overthrown,
With the last of his race on the battlements dying,
And weary with wandering,
founded our own.
From the Queen of the Islands, then famous in story, |
35 |
A
century since, our brave forefathers came,
And our kindred yet fill the wide world with her
glory,
Enlarging her Empire, and
spreading her name. |
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| Chorus—Hail
to the day, &c. |
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Ev’ry flash of her genius our pathway enlightens—
Ev’ry field she explores
we are beckoned to tread, |
40 |
Each
laurel she gathers, our future day brightens—
We joy with her living,
and mourn for her dead.
Then hail to the day when the Britons came over,
And planted their standard,
with sea-foam still wet,
Above and around us their spirits shall hover, |
45 |
| Rejoicing
to mark how we honor it yet. |
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| Chorus—Hail
to the day, &c. |
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* The Mayflower
is the emblem of the Province of Nova Scotia. [back] |
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