Classic Poem

By deeds not words we prove our inmost mind,
For things, not names, we labor and contend;
In noble souls the two are still combined,
And each to each a nobleness they lend!
Freedom and Union are not names, but things,
By deeds our fathers proved for them their love;
In vain with words like these the country rings,
If to the things themselves we recreant prove.
In this alone all patriots agree,
To labor for their country's highest good;
And, by the fruit it bears, to judge the tree,
However party names are understood.
'Tis not the title that makes good the claim,
But nobler deeds, which justify the name.