Page:Halleck.djvu/92

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72
CONNECTICUT.

Upon them with as favorable eyes
As Gabriel on the devil in paradise.

VI.

But these are but their outcasts. View them near
At home, where all their worth and pride is placed;
And there their hospitable fires burn clear,
And there the lowliest farmhouse hearth is graced
With manly hearts, in piety sincere,
Faithful in love, in honor stern and chaste,
In friendship warm and true, in danger brave,
Beloved in life, and sainted in the grave.

VII.

And minds have there been nurtured, whose control
Is felt even in their nation’s destiny;
Men who swayed senates with a statesman’s soul,
And looked on armies with a leader’s eye;
Names that adorn and dignify the scroll,
Whose leaves contain their country’s history,
And tales of love and war—listen to one
Of the Green-Mountaineer—the Stark of Bennington.

VIII.

When on that field his band the Hessians fought,
Briefly he spoke before the fight began:
“Soldiers! those German gentlemen are bought
For four pounds eight and sevenpence per man,