Page:Home; or, The unlost paradise (IA homeorunlostpara00palm).pdf/21

And as her loyal sons their lives had spent,
And with her honored dead had peaceful slept
'Neath hallowed aisles in storied chapels dim,
Less had they loved what most ennobles man—
Freedom of soul, pure faith, and peace with heaven.
Hatred hath called them stern; their sturdy strength
Of principle hath bigotry misnamed;
And levity, with leer and jibe profane,
Blasphemed their sanctity and saintly zeal.
'Tis rather bigotry that dares deny
Their nobleness, their glory that would stain.
Warm were their hearts; none warmer e'er did beat
In manly breasts; and humble though their Homes,
By hard necessity, yet love and beauty there
Found place for sweet unfolding, nor was mirth
A stranger at those hearths where nightly blazed
The fires that made a fireside worth the name.
Knowledge, religion, virtue—wheresoe'er
These dwell together, dwell earth's best delights.
Not faultless were they, else were they not men;
Yet less their own the faults than of their time;