The Kansas Emigrants

We cross the prairie as of old     The pilgrims crossed the sea,     To make the West, as they the East,     The homestead of the free!     We go to rear a wall of men     On Freedoms southern line,     And plant beside the cotton-tree     The rugged Northern pine!     Were flowing from our native hills     As our free rivers flow;     The blessing of our Mother-land     Is on us as we go.     We go to plant her common schools,     On distant prairie swells,     And give the Sabbaths of the wild     The music of her bells.     Upbearing, like the Ark of old,     The Bible in our van,     We go to test the truth of God     Against the fraud of man.     No pause, nor rest, save where the streams     That feed the Kansas run,     Save where our Pilgrim gonfalon     Shall flout the setting sun!     Well tread the prairie as of old     Our fathers sailed the sea,     And make the West, as they the East,     The homestead of the free!