Ohio History Journal

KANSAS' DEAD IN FRANCE*

 

 

BY WHITTIER C. MITCHELL.

Leans from his warrior's heaven down,

John Brown, Immortal Madman Brown!

 

Who shamed a nation by a deed

Bolder than that of Winkelreid;

 

Swept to his dauntless breast the spears

Of Freedom's foes; and ere her tears

Streamed on his bier, with God's own fire

Enkindled Slavery's funeral pyre,

That by its glare, might all men see

That all are bond till all are free.

 

He leans and smiles. A measured tread

Echoes up from the trenches red.

 

New Comrades fare to his abode --

Comrades and kin -- by the Martyrs' road;

Sons of that state where freemen first

The strangling snare of Slavery burst.

 

Kansas' old task in France they wrought;

Kansas' old spirit in them fought.

 

Nobly they offered, gaily paid

Freedom's hard price, and, unafraid,

Put by Life's warm withholding hand,

To dare that darker No Man's Land.

 

Once more for Freedom. Kansas' blood,

Has brimmed the ancient martyr-flood;

Once more her alabaster vase

Is broken for our common race.

*Kansas Historical Collections, Vol. XXI, 1923-1925, p. 594.

Vol. XXXVI - 10              (145)

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146        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. For Liberty, in sacred trust, She held her sons who now are dust. The bugles blew; with courage high, She sent them forth to smite and die! Forever shall those souls of flame Step to the deathless drums of fame! And doubt not, on some vaster field, Eternally their arms they wield, Behind God's fierce barrage of Right, Somewhere they charge and win His fight! Their bodies sleep in France's sod: Their souls, with Brown's, march on for God. NOTE:--The author of this spirited poem was born at Barnesville. Kansas, November 17, 1870, about thirty-five miles from the old homestead of John Brown in that state. His father was a Civil War veteran. His mother was born in Perry County, Ohio. He is at present engaged in business in Detroit, Michigan. His home address is 1286 Belvidere Avenue.

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