Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

A quarter of a thousand years ago,
These pilgrim-pioneers
To westward wended from the eastward bay
And hither plodded sturdily but slow
(As needs they must through wilds would
stay
Their steps intrusive — from wellgrounded
fears
That these stern strangers ill-disposed
The calm in which the wood had long re-
posed),
And there, yon hill-top's brow below.
They halted, pleased upon their rugged
road.
Where frequent fountains of sweet waters
flowed.
For needed rest awhile, and he
Who led them, mindful of his English home.
To which his exiled thoughts would ofttimes
roam
And mindful of the many .springs that
yield
Their largess still into the \ov,'erJieh/,
By cooling draught refreshed said grate-
fully,
" Henceforth this spot shall ' Springfield
be!"
Thus in their van,
Leader by nature, and elect of man.
Born to command, unfitted to obey.
Spake William Pt/nrhon, mars/ial of the
day !
" Had those adventurous men
The troublous times that intervene
Between the now and then.
The toils and dangers Fate before them laid
With sight prophetic seen,
Would they have undismayed
Still followed Freedom in her perilous Crusade?
"
Ask of the Pilgrim statue there
So sternly standing on our central square
O Hartley !
you, upon yon pedestal of stone,
Have better shown
Than can the tongue of orator or poet's song
Or History's pen.
The spirit, mould, and measure of the men
To whom the greatest glories of our
belong;
You have personified
The pilgrim-pioneer and Puritan,
'!
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886. r)85
Than which there none
Of all the heroes yet by History descried
In all the centuries flown,
Since bravery in the world its deeds began,
Stands forth so strong
As type of God's intended manly man 1
The speech of orator, the poet's lay,
And History's clearest printed page
Will pass from memory of men's minds
away.
But there your work will linger long
To passing generations' thoughts engage,
And make them mindful of what men
should be
To win, and what they were who won, their
liberty.
Go, patriots of the present day
Who valiantly at odds contend
With every evil as it strides ujion the
way,
And from those bronzed lips take cheer,
And courage new that shall your hearts
defend
Against each fearing Doubt, each doubting
Fear.
Go, trifler of the present age.
Whose longest pilgrimage
Extends from pleasures wearied of to
pleasure's quest,
And there, before that statute, prone.
Your missing manliness bemoan,
And, self-confessed,
x\. i)igmy by a giant's side,
ifake question then.
!
If retrograding from his soul's selected plan
Was possible for such a man.
Ah no ! Those mighty men —
Miles Morgan and his mates —
Held God's commission here to bide
And found His sovereign States;
And bide they did and would have done.
And biding, would have won.
Against the threatnings of a thousand
worser fates
The forest trees.
Deep rooted here for centuries,
Not firmer than their pui poses;
The prehistoric hills
Not stronger than their steadfast wills,
The river at their side, —
The massing of a myriad rills.