Stephenson's Graded classical Poems

"Ezra Kerr!"--- and a voice answered "Here!"
"Hiram Kerr!"--- but no man replied.
They were brothers, these two; the sad wind
sighed,
And a shudder crept through the cornfield near.

"Ephraim Deane!''--- then a soldier spoke;
"Deane carried our regiment's colors," he said,
"When our ensign was shot; I left him dead
Just after the enemy wavered and broke.

"Close to the roadside his body lies;
I paused a moment and gave him a drink;
He murmured his mother's name, I think,
And Death came with it and closed his eyes."

'Twas a victory,--- yes; but it cost us dear:
For that company's roll, when called at night
Of a hundred men who went into the fight,
Numbered but twenty that answered "Here!'
'

N. G. Shepherd

AMERICA
God built a continent of glory and filled it with
treasures untold.
He studded it with sweet flowing fountains, and
traced it with long winding streams;
He carpeted it with soft rolling plains, and col-
umned it with thundering mountains;
He planted it with shadowed forests and filled them
with song.