  Poem composed by Mrs. C. M. O'Hara and read before David Meriwether Chapter, Greenville, Ga., Georgia day, 1911. Georgia, the baby of the original thirteen, Not, however, youngest in importance, I ween, Was born to the colonies in seventeen thirty-two, To help those in prison their lives to renew. What Oglethorpe planned for this child of his heart Was that rum and slaves of it should not be a part, But this wayward child would have her own way, In spite of her mistakes she has made up to date, Georgia is called of the South the Empire State. She was the fifth of her sisters in secession to say, "The Union she'd leave" when there was not fair play. This child of famous men has sent her portion From the "marshes of Glynn" to the Pacific Ocean. Near Savannah, where Oglethorpe first planted his foot, Ebenezer, the first orphanage, has taken firm root. Another distinction, too, fair Georgia can claim Is the first college for women, Wesleyan by name. Towering intellects she reared in her Toombs and her Hills; She can boast of her factories and her mills; She has kept pace with her sisters in every movement That tends to her children's uplift and improvement. Now in heathen lands, across the deep waters, Performing deeds of mercy are Georgia's sons and daughters. |
|
