THE KANSAS EMIGRANTS. <br />WE cross the prairie as of old <br />The pilgrims crossed the sea, <br />To make the West, as they the East, <br />The homestead of the free! <br />We go to rear a wall of men <br />On Freedom's southern line, <br />And plant beside the cotton-tree <br />The rugged Northern pine! <br />We're flowing from our native hills <br />As our free rivers flow; <br />The blessing of our Mother-land <br />Is on us as we go. <br />We go to plant her common schools, <br />On distant prairie swells, <br />And give the Sabbaths of the wild <br />The music of her bells. <br />Upbearing, like the Ark of old, <br />The Bible in our van, <br />We go to test the truth of God <br />Against the fraud of man. <br />No pause, nor rest, save where the streams <br />That feed the Kansas run, <br />Save where our Pilgrim gonfalon <br />Shall flout the setting sun! <br />We'll tread the prairie as of old <br />Our fathers sailed the sea, <br />And make the West, as they the East, <br />The homestead of the free!<br /><br />John Greenleaf Whittier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-kansas-emigrants/
