The fountain of our story spreads no clouds
Of mist above it rich in varied glows,
None paint us Gods and Goddesses in crowds
Where some Scamander flows.
The tale of Jamestown, which I need not gild,
With that of Plymouth, by the World is seen,
But none, in visions, fancifully build
Olympus in between.
At Jamestown stood the Saxon's home and graves,
There Britain's spray broke on the native rock,
There rose the English tide with crested waves
And overwhelming shock.
Virginia thence, stirred by a grand unrest,
Swept o'er the waters, scaled the mountain's crag,
Hewed out a more than Roman roadway West,
And planted there her flag.
Her fortune was forewritten even then--
That fortune in the coming years to be
"Mother of States and unpolluted men,"
And nurse of Liberty.
Then 'twas our coast all bore Virginia's name;
Next North Virginia took its separate place,
And grew by slow degrees in wealth and fame
And Freedom's special grace.
[Footnote 11: Hugh Blair Grigsby, L.L.D., Chancellor of William and
Mary College, and President of the Virginia Historical Society,
Scholar and Historian, died on the day on which he received a gift
of flowers from his life-long friend, Mr. Winthrop, and these
literally gladdened the dying eyes of the noble gentleman whose loss
will long be deplored by all who knew him, whether they live in
Virginia or Massachusetts.]