Complete Poetical Works

Complete Poetical Works by Bret Harte is a series of rousing poems about various zany characters, historical wars, and fossils. Excerpt: "Have you heard the story that gossips tell Of Burns of Gettysburg?—No? Ah, well: Brief is the glory that a hero earns, and Briefer the story of poor John Burns. He was the fellow who won renown,— The only man who didn't back down When the rebels rode through his native town. But held his own in the fight the next day, When all his townsfolk ran away. That was in July sixty-three, The very day that General Lee, Flower of Southern chivalry, Baffled and beaten, backward reeled From a stubborn Meade and a barren field."