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KOSCIUSKO (ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS AID TO AMERICA) by MARGARETTE BALL DICKSON

First Line: WEST POINT HAS MANY MONUMENTS OF NOTE
Last Line: AND IN THE LAND OF WILLIAM TELL ... MET DEATH.
Subject(s): KOSCIUSZKO, THADDEUS (1746-1817); UNITED STATES - MILITARY ACADEMY;

(@3On the 150th anniversary of his aid to America@1)

West Point has many monuments of note
But that of Kosciusko towers high:
A mighty base, and pointing toward the sky
A Doric column on which chisels wrote:
"The great and good." What tightens in your throat
As eager eyes scan that beloved face --
Our hero and the hero of his race.
Oh high bronze figure -- sword that never smote
Except in freedom's cause! It was refused
To Russia, lest its purpose be abused;
Copernicus was born on that same plane
That gave to Kosciusko vital breath;
With Washington, he fought with sword and brain
And in the land of William Tell ... met death.



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