These beautiful States are swept by the ocean and mountain winds,
and nurtured by the glowing sun and gentle rains. The palmetto and the
cypress and the lordly live oak, stand above the glowing orange grove
and fragrant magnolia bloom, and the grey moss on the trees, wearing the
uniform of the men in grey, wafts a solemn requiem above their narrow
beds. The light of prosperity spreads transcendent radiance over the
land. The throb of commercial triumph pulsates in the hum of the
factory, in the smelting furnace, and ascends in the soft twilight from
the rich furrows of her incomparable fields; while the salt sea billows,
as they rock her shipping, and dash against pier and wharf, add their
exultant voices in prophecy of still greater prosperity.

May advancing wealth rebuild her mansions and fill her coffers, and
fittingly crown the efforts of her ambition, and of her genius. May she
never lose the aspirations that have made her people through sunshine
and storm, a lofty and noble race.

E.D. POTTS.