We thought they slept!--the sons who kept The names of noble sires, And slumbered while the darkness crept Around their vigil fires! But, aye, the "Golden Horseshoe" knights Their Old Dominion keep, Whose foes have found enchanted ground, But not a knight asleep. FRANCIS O. TICKNOR _First Battle of Manassas, 1861_ July Twenty-Second In the darksome depths of the fathomless mine My tireless arm doth play, Where the rocks never saw the sun's decline, Or the dawn of the glorious day. * * * * * I blow the bellows, I forge the steel, In all the shops of trade; I hammer the ore and turn the wheel Where my arms of strength are made; I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint, I carry, I spin, I weave, And all my doings I put in print On every Saturday eve. GEORGE W. CUTTER (_The Song of Steam_) July Twenty-Third ... The rush, the tumult, and the fear Of this our modern age Have only widened out the poet's sphere, Have given him a broader stage On which to act his part. The spiritual world of godlike aspirations, The kingdom of the sympathetic heart, The fair domain of high imaginations, Lie open to the poet as of old. Wrong still is wrong, and right is right, * * * * * And to declare that poetry must go, Is to do God a wrong. WILLIAM P. TRENT (_The Age and the Poet_) July Twenty-Fourth Ante-bellum Master: "Julius, you rascal, if this happens again we'll have to part." "La, Marse Phil, whar you gwine?" July Twenty-Fifth The nights are full of love; The stars and moon take up the golden tale Of the sunk sun, and passionate and pale, Mixing their fires above, Grow eloquent thereof. MADISON CAWEIN July Twenty-Sixth THE PHILOSOPHY OF MAMMY PHYLLIS "Hush, Mary Van," commanded Willis; "you can't crow, you've got to cackle." "I haven't neether; I can crow just as good as you. Can't I, Mammy Phyllis?" "Well," solemnly answered Phyllis, "it soun' mo' ladylike ter hear er hen cackle dan ter crow, but dem wimmen fokes whut wants ter heah dersefs crow is got de right ter do it," shaking her head in resignation but disapproval, "but I allus notice dat de roosters keeps mo' comp'ny wid hens whut cackles dan dem whut crows. G'long now an' cackle like er nice lit'le hen." SARAH JOHNSON COCKE July Twenty-Seventh