THE SETTLEMENT OF GERMANTOWN, PA.
Hail to posterity!
Hail, future men of Germanopolis!
Let the young generations yet to be
Look kindly upon this.
Think how your fathers left their native land,
Dear German land, O! sacred hearths and homes!
And where the wild beast roams
In patience planned
New forest homes beyond the mighty sea,
There undisturbed and free
To live as brothers of one family.
What pains and cares befell,
What trials and what fears,
Remember, and wherein we have done well
Follow our footsteps, men of coming years;
Where we have failed to do
Aright, or wisely live,
Be warned by us, the better way pursue.
And knowing we were human, even as you,
Pity us and forgive.
Farewell, Posterity;
Farewell, dear Germany;
Forever more farewell! — Whittier.[1]
When the history of Pennsylvania comes to be
thoroughly understood, it will be found that the Dutchman,
as he is generally called, occupies a position by
- ↑ From the Latin of Francis Daniel Pastorius in the Germantown Records, 1688, first published by Prof. Oswald Seidensticker.
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