Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

Parnassian Spring.
Extract from a POEM, on the HAPPINESS of AMERICA.
By Col. HUMPHREYS, of Connecticut.

Ye reverend fathers, props of freedom's cause,
Who rear'd an empire by your sapient laws,
With blest example give this lesson weight,
"That toil and virtue make a nation great!"
Then shall your name reach earth's remotest clime
Rise high as Heaven, and brave the rage of time.
Mis thinking sons the sire shall oft remind,
What parents sages first in Congress join'd:
The faithful Hancock grac'd that early scene,
Great Washington appear'd in Godlike mein,
Jay, Laurens, Clinton skill'd in ruling men,
And he who earlier held the farmer's pen--
Twas Lee illustrious at the father's head,
The daring way to independence led--
The self-taught Sherman urg'd his reasons clear,
And all the Livingstons, to freedom dear--
What godlike names in fair procession throng,
With Rutledge, Johnston, Nash demand the song!
And chiefly ye of human kind the friends,
On whose high task my humbler toil attends.
Ye who uniting realms in leagues of peace,
The sum of human happiness increase!
Adams, the sage, a patriot from his youth,
Whose deeds are honour, and whose voice is truth;
Undying Franklin from the hill of fame,
Who bids the thunders spread his awful name;
And Jefferson, whose mind with space extends,
Each science woos, all knowledge comprehends,
Whose patriot deeds and elevated views
Demand the tribute of a loftier muse:
Though Randolph, Hosmer, Honyman sleep in death;
Still these great patriots draw the vital breath,
And can a nation fail in peace to thrive,
Where such strong talents, such high worth survive!
Rous'd at the thought by vast ideas fir'd,
His breast enraptur'd, and his tongue inspir'd,
Another Bard, in conscious genius bold,
Now sings the new world happier than the old.