SONG OF THE BROAD-AXE. WEAPON,' shapely, naked, wan! I Head from the mother's bowels drawn ! Wooded flesh and metal bone! limb only one, and lip only one! Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown! helve produced from a little seed sown! Resting the grass amid and upon, To be lean'd, and to lean on. Strong shapes, and attributes of strong shapes-masculine trades, sights and sounds; Long varied train of an emblem, dabs of music; Fingers of the organist skipping staccato over the keys of the great organ. 2 Welcome are all earth's lands, each for its kind; Welcome are lands of pine and oak; Welcome are lands of the lemon and fig; Welcome are lands of gold; 10 Welcome are lands of wheat and maize-welcome those of the grape ; Welcome are lands of sugar and rice ; Welcome the cotton-lands-welcome those of the white potato and sweet potato ; Welcome are mountains, flats, sands, forests, prairies; Welcome the rich borders of rivers, table-lands, openings; Welcome the measureless grazing-lands-welcome the teeming soil of orchards, flax, honey, hemp; Welcome just as much the other more hard-faced lands; 20 LANDS OF IRON ! lands of the make of the axe! 1 1856'60. For "Weapon" read "Broad-Axe." 3 The log at the wood-pile, the axe supported by it; The sylvan hut, the vine over the doorway, the space clear'd for a garden, The irregular tapping of rain down on the leaves, after the storm is lull'd, The wailing and moaning at intervals, the thought of the sea, The thought of ships struck in the storm, and put on their beam ends, and the cutting away of masts; The sentiment of the huge timbers of old-fashion'd houses and barns; 30 The remember'd print or narrative, the voyage at a venture of men, families, goods, The disembarkation, the founding of a new city, The voyage of those who sought a New England and found itthe outset anywhere,1 The settlements of the Arkansas, Colorado, Ottawa, Willamette, The slow progress, the scant fare, the axe, rifle, saddle-bags; The beauty of all adventurous and daring persons, The beauty of wood-boys and wood-men, with their clear untrimm'd faces, The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves, The American contempt for statutes and ceremonies, the boundless impatience of restraint, The loose drift of character, the inkling through random types, the solidification; 40 The butcher in the slaughter-house, the hands aboard schooners and sloops, the raftsman, the pioneer, Lumbermen in their winter camp, day-break in the woods, stripes of snow on the limbs of trees, the occasional snapping, The glad clear sound of one's own voice, the merry song, the natural life of the woods, the strong day's work, The blazing fire at night, the sweet taste of supper, the talk, the bed of hemlock boughs, and the bear-skin; -The house-builder at work in cities or anywhere, The preparatory jointing, squaring, sawing, mortising, The hoist-up of beams, the push of them in their places, laying them regular, 1 "the outset anywhere" added in 1860. After line 33, 1856 reads "The Year! of These States, the weapons that year began with, scythe, pitch-fork, club, horse-pistol." Setting the studs by their tenons in the mortises, according as they were prepared, The blows of mallets and hammers, the attitudes of the men, their curv'd limbs, Bending, standing, astride the beams, driving in pins, holding on by posts and braces, 50 The hook'd arm over the plate, the other arm wielding the axe, The huge store-house carried up in the city, well under way, The six framing-men, two in the middle, and two at each end, carefully bearing on their shoulders a heavy stick for a cross-beam, The crowded line of masons with trowels in their right hands, rapidly laying the long side-wall, two hundred feet from front to rear, The flexible rise and fall of backs, the continual click of the trowels striking' the bricks, The bricks, one after another, each laid so workmanlike in its place, and set with a knock of the trowel-handle, The piles of materials, the mortar on the mortar-boards, and the steady replenishing by the hod-men; 60 -Spar-makers in the spar-yard, the swarming row of well-grown apprentices, The swing of their axes on the square-hew'd log, shaping it to ward the shape of a mast, The brisk short crackle of the steel driven slantingly into the pine, The butter-color'd chips flying off in great flakes and slivers, The limber motion of brawny young arms and hips in easy cos tumes; The constructor of wharves, bridges, piers, bulk-heads, floats, stays against the sea; -The city fireman-the fire that suddenly bursts forth in the close-pack'd square, The arriving engines, the hoarse shouts, the nimble stepping and daring, The strong command through the fire-trumpets, the falling in line, the rise and fall of the arms forcing the water, The slender, spasmic, blue-white jets—the bringing to bear of the hooks and ladders, and their execution, 1 "striking" added in 1860. 70 The crash and cut away of connecting wood-work, or through floors, if the fire smoulders under them, The crowd with their lit faces, watching-the glare and dense shadows; -The forger at his forge-furnace, and the user of iron after him, The maker of the axe large and small, and the welder and tem perer, The chooser breathing his breath on the cold steel, and trying the edge with his thumb, The one who clean-shapes the handle, and sets it firmly in the socket; The shadowy processions of the portraits of the past users also, The Roman lictors preceding the consuls, The antique European warrior with his axe in combat, 80 The uplifted arm, the clatter of blows on the helmeted head, The death-howl, the limpsey tumbling body, the rush of friend and foe thither, The siege of revolted lieges determin'd for liberty, The summons to surrender, the battering at castle gates, the truce and parley; The sack of an old city in its time, The bursting in of mercenaries and bigots tumultuously and disorderly, Roar, flames, blood, drunkenness, madness, Goods freely rifled from houses and temples, screams of women in the gripe of brigands, Craft and thievery of camp-followers, men running, old persons despairing, The hell of war, the cruelties of creeds, The list of all executive deeds and words, just or unjust, The power of personality, just or unjust. 90 Muscle and pluck forever! 4 What invigorates life, invigorates death, And the dead advance as much as the living advance, And the future is no more uncertain than the present, And the roughness of the earth and of man encloses as much as the delicatesse of the earth and of man, And nothing endures but personal qualities. Or a teeming manufacturing state? or a prepared constitution? or the best-built steamships? Or hotels of granite and iron? or any chef-d'œuvres of engineering, forts, armaments? Away! These are not to be cherish'd for themselves; They fill their hour, the dancers dance, the musicians play for them; The show passes, all does well enough of course, All does very well till one flash of defiance. The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman; If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world. 5 The place where the great city stands is not the place of stretch'd wharves, docks, manufactures, deposits of pro duce, Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of new comers, or the anchorlifters of the departing, Nor the place of the tallest and costliest buildings, or shops selling goods from the rest of the earth, Nor the place of the best libraries and schools-nor the place where money is plentiest, Nor the place of the most numerous population. Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards; Where the city stands that is beloved by these, and loves them in return, and understands them ;* Where no monuments exist to heroes, but in the common words and deeds; Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place;" Where the men and women think lightly of the laws; 1 1856'60. 2 1856 '60. 1856'60. 1856'60. For "great" read "greatest." After line 116 read "Where there may be seen going every day in the streets, with their arms familiar to the shoulders of their friends." 3 1856 '60. After line 118 read "Where behavior is the finest of the fine arts." |