Excerpt from Poems of Heroism in American LifeThe poems here gathered vary in age from several centuries to a year or two, yet all are American in theme and in spirit. Some of the youngest are among the most vigorous of temperament, while the older ones have en during welcome for their inspiration. All have arisen from occasions of vital interest.Grouped in their natural time-periods, they afford what might be called a moving-picture of America's, way of entering and of taking a great part in the world's life - from Columbus and the early settlers to the days of Roosevelt and Pershing.Here are of course old-time favorites for ready refer ence and revival of interest, other stirring pieces not so familiar, with graphic depictions of events big in Ameri can history. Adventure, war and battle are the most active incitements of heroism in all lands, and, peaceful as are the chief aims and blessedness of our people, this Republic has had full share of such agitations. There has been an amplitude of the warlike genius, as well as heroic meeting of disaster in civil life, of daring enter prise and achievement, to inspire poetic expression - an embarrassment of riches for so slight a collection. With no design of making a school-book, the editor hopes that the terse introductory paragraphs, giving dates and the essential facts inspiring most of the poems, may serve to make the little collection a pleasant and stimulating companion for those pursuing more seriously the study of our American history, linking names and places with the heroic element so fascinating 'in its life.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.