POETRY.
PRINCETON IN WAR-TIME.
[Princeton University has become a great training ground for the American fighting forces. The first four lines of this poem have recently been inscribed on a monument to the British and American soldiers of the Revolutionary War who fell in the battle of Prinoeton, and were buried on her historio campus, in one grave. The bronze tigers referred to in the third stanza are the emblem of Princeton University.]
Here Freedom stood, by slaughtered friend and foe; And, ere the wrath paled or the sunset died, Looked through the ages; then, with eyes aglow, Laid them, to wait that future, side by side.
Now lamp-lit gardens in the blue dusk shine Through dog-wood red and white; And, round -the gray quadrangles, line by line, The windows fill with light, Where Princeton calls to Magdalen, tower to tower, Twin lanthorns of the law, And those cream-white magnolia houghs embower The halls of old Nassau.
The dark bronze tigers crouch on either side Where red-coats used to pass, And round the bird-loved house, where Mercer died And violets dusk the grass, By Stony Brook that ran so red of old, But sings of friendship now, To feed the old enemy's harvest fiftyfold The green earth takes the plough.
Through this May night, if one great ghost should stray With deep remembering eyes, Where that old meadow of battle smiles away Its blood-stained memories, If Washington should walk, where friend and foe Sleep and forget the past, Be sure his unquenched heart would leap to know Their souls are linked at last.
Be sure he walks, in shadowy buff and blue, Where those dim lilacs wave, He bends his head to bless, as dreams come true, The promise of that grave; Mien, with a vaster hope than thought can scan, Touching his ancient sword, Prays for that mightier realm of God in man,— "Hasten Thy Kingdom, Lord.
Lend of our hope, land of the singing stars, Type of the world to be, The vision of a world set free from wars Takes life, takes form, from thee, Where all th• jarring nations of this earth Beneath the all-blessing sun, Bring the new music of mankind to birth, And make the whole world one."
And those old comrades rise around him there, Old foemen, side by side, With eyes like stars upon the brave night-air, And young as when they died, To hear your bells, 0 beautiful Princeton towers, Ring for the world's release.
They see you, piercing like gray swords through flowers, And smile, from hearts at peace.
A112168 Novas.
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