Armstrong was considered a young
man of fine talents and great devotion; and that some of the students
had facetiously said, "Brother Armstrong was so pious that even the
dogs would not bark at him!"
Mr. Armstrong was not at all disposed to take his tutor's advice. But
he favoured me with a copy of his poem, on condition that I would not
cause it to be printed in America,--in England I might. It contains
some turgid expressions, some halting and prosaic lines, and might be
improved by a severe revision; but, besides its interest as a
Transatlantic college-exercise, I feel it possesses sufficient merit to
relieve the tediousness of my own prose.
"'_On_--to the glorious conflict--ON!'--
Is heard throughout the land,
While flashing columns, thick and strong,
Sweep by with swelling band.
'Our country, right or wrong,' they shout,
'Shall still our motto he:
With _this_ we are prepared to rout
Our foes from sea to sea.
Our own right arms to us shall bring
The victory and the spoils;
And Montezuma's halls shall ring,
When there we end our toils.'
ON, then, ye brave' like tigers rage,
That you may win your crown,
Mowing both infancy and age
In ruthless carnage down.
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