20
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees, beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! 5
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

1. The author mentions many ways in which America
is beautiful. Which of these are real,
matter-of-fact? Which are not?

2. To whom is the reference in lines 9-10
applicable? Explain lines 14-16. Paraphrase line
19. What is meant by line 7, page 353?

3. Memorize at least one stanza of the poem.

O BEAUTIFUL! MY COUNTRY!

BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

This is a part of Lowell's "Commemoration Ode"
written in honor of the heroes of Harvard College,
killed in the Civil War. Lowell here imagines
America as a beautiful woman--a Goddess of
Liberty--now fully restored to her worshipers.

O beautiful! My Country! ours once more!
Smoothing thy gold of war-disheveled hair
O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, . . .
What were our lives without thee?
What all our lives to save thee? 5
We reck not what we gave thee;
We will not dare to doubt thee,
But ask whatever else, and we will dare!

THE PROBLEMS OF THE REPUBLIC

BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT

The following is extracted from the inaugural
address of President Roosevelt, delivered March 4,
1905. It is of special interest to read it in
connection with Mr. Hughes's speech (page 356) and
to compare the ideas of citizenship and of our
country as expressed in the two. In reading this
speech you should bear in mind that the era was one
of peace, long undisturbed by war. Our problems
then were the ordinary problems of everyday living.

Modern life is both complex and intense, and the
tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary
industrial development of the half century are felt in every
fiber of our social and political being. Never before have
men tried so vast and formidable an exper