“Will they do it?” “Dare they do it?” “Who is speaking?” “What’s the news?” “What of Adams?” “What of Sherman?” “Oh, God grant they won’t refuse!” “Make some way, there!” “Let me nearer!” “I am stifling!” “Stifle, then! When a nation’s life’s at hazard, We’ve no time to think of men!” So they beat against the portal, Man and woman, maid and child; And the July sun in heaven On the scene looked down and smiled: The same sun that saw the Spartan Shed his patriot blood in vain, Now beheld the soul of freedom, All unconquered, rise again. See! See! The dense crowd quivers Through all its lengthy line, As the boy beside the portal Looks forth to give the sign! With his little hands uplifted, Breezes dallying with his hair, Hark! with deep, clear intonation, Breaks his young voice on the air. Hushed the people’s swelling murmur, List the boy’s exultant cry! “Ring!” he shouts, “Ring! Grandpa, Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!” Quickly at the given signal The bell-man lifts his hand, Forth he sends the good news, making Iron music through the land. How they shouted! What rejoicing! How the old bell shook the air, Till the clang of freedom ruffled The calmly gliding Delaware! How the bonfires and the torches Lighted up the night’s repose, And from the flames, like fabled Phœnix, Our glorious Liberty arose! That old State House bell is silent, Hushed is now its clamorous tongue; But the spirit it awakened Still is living,—ever young; And when we greet the smiling sunlight On the Fourth of each July, We will ne’er forget the bell-man Who, betwixt the earth and sky, Rung out, loudly, “INDEPENDENCE;” Which, please God, _shall never die_! THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN CONGRESS JULY 4, 1776 (The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.) When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.