"Long Time Ago"

                         I.
Dark and gloomy was the morning
     Long time ago
When the British cannon scorning
     Dared they the foe,
Who, resolving to be freemen,
     Laid the proud low,
While the tyrant, like a demon,
     Howled in his wo.

                         II.
Now the morning light is purer,
     Here where they go
With a battle-weapon surer,
     On for the foe:
But an enemy the prouder
     Bows to the blow
Than was smote with ball and powder
     Long time ago.

                    III.
“Tis the Demon of the Bottle
     Fill’d full of wo
That to break, and him to throttle
     On do we go,
Where his little imps are working,
     And his streams flow,—
Wheresoever he is lurking,
     There strike the blow.

                         IV.
If our fathers were courageous
     Be we all so,
Cowardice, that plague contagious,
     None here should know.
Were They forced to meet a traitor,
     Long time ago,—
We must grapple with a greater,
     Here soon I trow.

                         V.
Hunt him out, and when we’ve found him,
     Hold him down low
Under water till we’ve drown’d him,
     Where the rills flow;
Then we’ll roll a rock of granite,
     On the slain foe,
Till Eternity may fan it,
     As its winds blow.