By her pride in the soil that has given her birth--
By her tenderest memories garnered on earth--
By the legacy blood-bought and precious, which she
Would leave to her children--the right to be free,--
By the altar where once rose the hymn and the prayer;
By the home that lies scarred in its solitude there,--
By the pangs she has suffered,--the ills she has borne,--
By the desolate exile through which she must mourn,--
By the struggles that hallow this fair Southern sod,
By the vows she has breathed in the ear of her God,--
By the blood of the heart that she worshipped,--the life
That enfolded her own; by her love, as his wife;
By his death on the battle-field, gallantly brave,--
By the shadow that ever will wrap her--his grave--
By the faith she reposes, oh! Father! in Thee,
She claims that her glorious South MUST be free!




VIRGINIA.

A SONNET.


Grandly thou fillest the world's eye to-day,
My proud Virginia! When the gage was thrown--
The deadly gage of battle--thou, alone,
Strong in thy self-control, didst stoop to lay
The olive-branch thereon, and calmly pray