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| THE OLD Dutch Pilgrims were a solid race, | |
| A mixture of good French and Holland blood; | |
| Honest enough to look in any face, | |
| Fearless to brave all things to serve their God. | |
| Such lineage may good Knickerbockers trace— | 5 |
| To noble men as earth have ever trod; | |
| And yet how few, with ready pen or tongue, | |
| Have writ their virtues or their praises sung. | |
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| Rich was the freight of virtues stowed aboard | |
| The old Goed Vrow along with baser stuff— | 10 |
| The things to trade with, to increase their hoard, | |
| And little Holland’s, should the way prove rough; | |
| They brought no bigot’s thongs, nor tyrant’s sword— | |
| Of these already they had had enough, | |
| And never thought that others might be found | 15 |
| To need such helps to keep their conscience sound. | |
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| They brought the spirit of Van Tromp, the brave | |
| Dutch Admiral, whose ships once cast such gloom | |
| On English shores, and made the mad bull rave, | |
| When at mast-head he nailed the symbol broom | 20 |
| To show he swept the seas from wave to wave, | |
| As careful housewife sweeps a dirty room; | |
| Hence New York masts stand thick like forest trees, | |
| And hence our conquering navy sweeps the seas. | |
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| I would delight to tell if I had time, | 25 |
| How Santa Claus came with them o’er the deep | |
| To mollify the rigours of our clime, | |
| To teach good Dutchmen how to eat and sleep, | |
| To toast each other without harm or crime, | |
| Their wagon-wheels in well-worn ruts to keep, | 30 |
| And guide them in the good old ways of yore, | |
| In which our fathers’ wagons went before. | |
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| And how he instituted New-Year’s calls | |
| To tie the knot of Friendship once a year, | |
| And mend its breaches, rent by windy squalls, | 35 |
| With sweetened pastry and such dainty gear; | |
| To feed true love, until the palate palls, | |
| With kruller, olekook, and doughnut cheer, | |
| And make the whole town stagger with the joys | |
| Of jocund youth and jolly older boys. | 40 |
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| “Een dracht maakt macht,”—In Union there is might— | |
| Was our Dutch Pilgrims’ motto. Heart and hand | |
| United in the cause of God and right | |
| Shall bind the nation with a granite band, | |
| Entwined with purest flowers and wreaths of light;—— | 45 |
| Divided we shall fall, united stand!— | |
| God bless our fathers’ memories forever | |
| For those strong words that bind our States together! | |
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