Page:Memories of Virginia.djvu/41

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Memories of Virginia


FIRST MEMORY
Founding Days

Turn back the page of history,
To Fourteen Hundred Ninety-seven,
When Cabot touched the Greenland shore,
His pilot guide the light of heaven;
Recall the dangers of the land;
Recall the perils of the sea.
To seize and hold the new found land,
The north New World discovery.
Sir Walter Raleigh on the land,
Bold Drake the viking of the sea,
The pioneers of New World fame,
To hold the great discovery.
Drake, Gilbert, Raleigh and Cavendish.
Historic men of enterprise,
The men of opportunity,
A world conquest before their eyes.
 
The Benjamins of New World fame,
Who left the Isaacs of the Old,
To found a kingdom of conquest,
A western empire long foretold.
The call "Sail on" again was heard,
The year of Sixteen hundred Seven,
John Smith, the Captain Pioneer,
The pilot chief to find a haven.
After the Jamestown massacre,
Matthews, he heard the call, "March On,"
He left the Old World for the New,
His race to stand American.
Let us revere his memory,
The British chief of founding sires,
The king makers of ancient Gaul,
Since Charles Martel led pioneers.

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