How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old Bell shook the air
Till the clang of Freedom ruffled
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night's repose,
And from the flames, like fabled Phoenix,
Our glorious Liberty arose!
That old State House Bell is silent,
Hushed now its clamorous tongue,
But the spirit it awakened
Still is living--ever young;
And when we greet the smiling sunlight
On the Fourth of each July,
We will ne'er forget the bellman
Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rang out loudly "Independence!"
Which, please God, shall never die!
~Charles Brockden Brown
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