. The poets' New England. fuU strength of its drab inwriting about the Lexington folks who were shot anddid not shoot back. I cannot say anything aboutthose who did shoot to some purpose on BunkerHill. The Quaker drab is somewhat too evident inthe poem, a conscientious and accurate enough ac-count, but hardly calculated to arouse the enthusiasmwhich one feels should be the due of those simplemen. Their dogged resistance meant the muzzling of tyr-anny, and the clearing of the way for a mighty stepin world progress. Whittier indicates aU this, it istrue, but it is done with too peaceful and pros
. The poets' New England. fuU strength of its drab inwriting about the Lexington folks who were shot anddid not shoot back. I cannot say anything aboutthose who did shoot to some purpose on BunkerHill. The Quaker drab is somewhat too evident inthe poem, a conscientious and accurate enough ac-count, but hardly calculated to arouse the enthusiasmwhich one feels should be the due of those simplemen. Their dogged resistance meant the muzzling of tyr-anny, and the clearing of the way for a mighty stepin world progress. Whittier indicates aU this, it istrue, but it is done with too peaceful and prosaic atouch. All that was theirs to give, they flowers that blossomed from their graveHave sown themselves beneath all skies. Their death-shot shook the feudal tower,And shattered slaverys chain as well;On the skys dome, as on a echo struck the worlds great hour. Besides the Concord Hymn, two other poems ofEmersons shed their lustre upon this period of Amer-ican history. In the Ode, sung in the Town Hall. The Minute Man THE POETS NEW ENGLAND 147 at Concord, July 4, 1857, the connection is scarcelymore than the suggestiveness of the date for whichit was written. It gives but a hint of the historicevent which made July Fourth a date of paramountsignificance in our history, but it does give in Emer-sons own winged way an ideal of what freedomshould mean translated into daily action, and, at thesame time, shows it to be a divine force in the uni-verse,* working with the steadiness of fate towardfulfilment. Boston, though more definitely historical in set-ting, is similarly philosophical in intent. What isthe meaning of Boston and the Boston Tea Party,for freedom?— Kings shook with fear, old empires craveThe secret force to findWhich fired the little state to saveThe rights of aU mankind. We might all do well to direct our energies towardmaking the ideal Boston, founded upon a divine be-lief in Freedom, as beautiful as Emerson pictures it: Let the blood of her hun
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