Chapter I: |A sound like the sound of a tempest rolled,

And the heart of a people stirred,

For the bell of freedom at midnight tolled,

Through a fettered land was heard;

And the chime still rung

From its iron tongue,

Steadily swaying to and fro;

And to some it came

As a breath of flame,

And to some as a sound of woe.

* Rung in Philadelphia upon the announcement of the
Declaration of Independence, July 4th. 1776.