Grand Haven Daily Tribune  July 20, 1900

Our God Hath Led Us On.

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BY DAVID FLETCHER HUNTON.

―

Upon New England’s rugged shore,

Three hundred years ago;

God sowed the seeds of liberty,

And He made them grow:

From Plymouth Rock to Concord Plains,

And on to Lexington;

From Yorktown down to New Orleans,

Our God hath led us on!

From Mexico unto Luzon,

He hath our courage fanned;

And crowned our flag with victories,

On lake, and seas, and land:

He helped us bring the Spaniards down

From his once proud career;

And we have gained what he has lost,

Upon this mundane sphere.

Glory has come into our arms,

And crowned our flag anew:

We have enlarged our fair domain,

And to the world been true:

God taught the fathers to expand,

And stretch their boundary lines;

We’ll do the same as they have done―

We’ll keep the Philippines!

Our dead are sleeping ‘neath the sands

Of beautiful Luzon;

And o’er their graves no foreign flag

Shall ever greet the dawn:―

“Old Glory,” with her stars and stripes,

Shall girdle half the earth:

‘Till all can see and understand

What liberty is worth!

We’ll not decline our destiny!

America must grow!

And we’ll “Make way for Liberty,”

For God hath willed it so!

We’ll not give up our vested rights―

We’ll reap where we have sown;

We’ve paid for all those islands fair,

And mean to keep our own.

Through Dewey’s splendid victory,

God hath achieved an end;

And thus made it possible,

Our mission to extend:

Down!  Down with skittish doubts and fears,

And warnings of despair;

We have the courage and the vim,

For greatness to prepare!

We will uphold the rights of man,

And fight against the wrong!

We’ll guard the banner of the free,

And make our union strong!

We’ll not surrender, nor retreat

From where our flag has gone!

We will fulfill our destiny,

While God still leads us on!

Grand Haven, Mich.

July 16, 1900.
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