Written after having heard the Hon. Duncan McKinley’s lecture on
“The Japanese in America.”
Whene’er the races of the East
Shall rise like floods in melting-time,
With fury of the hungry beast;
And homeless in their native clime
Shall shelter seek in this great land;
Woe then to us, if unprepared
We are the influx to withstand;
Remember Rome, and how she fared!
Her wealth and vineyards did allure
The Goth, the Vandal and the Hun,
Their hordes swooped down, while quite secure
She dwelt beneath her summer-sun;
Proud of her past and opulent
She scorned the wild advancing foe,
But found full soon her legions spent
In warding off the fatal blow.
She fell and alien nations took
The scepter from her feeble hand;
Thus written is the judgment book,
Let statesmen read and understand;
The yellow peril from the East,
From Nippon and from old Cathay
Will come unbidden to the feast,
If we neglect to guard the way.