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diff --git a/58645-0.txt b/58645-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b95f882 --- /dev/null +++ b/58645-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1113 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58645 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + +This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. +Italics are delimited with the underscore character as _italic_. + + Oration on Charles Sumner, Addressed to Colored People. + + + + + Oration On Charles Sumner, Addressed To Colored People. + + "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me: + Write! + Blessed are the dead which die + In the Lord! + That they may rest from their labors, + And their works + Do follow them."--REV. xiv., 13. + + By EVANGELINE. + + ALBANY: + WEED, PARSONS & CO., PRINTERS. + 1874. + + + + + CHARLES SUMNER. + + In Memoriam. + + The nation's heart is sad! + Her best beloved son, + The great and good! + Has winged his flight from earth, + And white robed angels + Shift the gorgeous scenery of the sky + To let his soul pass onward + To his God! + Who sent his messenger to bid him "Come." + + Sumner is dead! + Oh! many moons must come + And many go + Ere we be comforted again, + Or hush the sighs + That follow him up the golden stair, + Echoing through all the shining corridors + Of heaven, + Where our beloved one has gone to rest! + + Sumner is dead! + Oh, sad refrain! + In which the teeming earth + Doth find a voice, + And nature's gentle hands + Are laid within the clasping of our own; + Stilling the joyous songs of long silent + Birds, + That no awakening sound disturb our grief! + + She casts her snow white mantle + O'er the whispering grass! + And hushes the hasty footfall + Of coming spring! + Calling to the swift March wind + To carry along the golden clouds + To waiting angels + The mournful tidings of our woe! + + Sumner is dead! + O sad repeating words! + That beat upon our hearts + Like showers of frozen hail! + Melting in tears! + That swell the tidal wave of sorrow, + Sweeping adown the great Pacific slopes, + Rushing along + To the sorrowful shores of the broad Atlantic. + + Sumner is dead! + And bitter tears + From our sad eyes + Doth make us little recompense + For his most noble life! Though + The nations of the earth rise up to comfort us; + The glorious Orient and the kindly Occident + Stretch forth their hands + To us + Across the spaces of the earth! + + Sumner is dead! + And the tears of heaven + Are mingling with the tears of earth, + Above his new made grave. + Showers of stormy rain + Descend upon the grave of our beloved dead, + Whose most honored dust + Is heirloom + To all the sorrowing nations of the earth! + + Sumner is dead! + O mournful hearts, + At whose red-lintel doors + The angel of sorrow knocks, + And knocks again! + O tear filled eyes! upon whose drooping fringes + The heavy foot of sorrow presses hard + Be comforted! + For God shall wipe the tears from your sad eyes. + + + + + Oration. + + + There is a word, + When once spoken, + Fixes its meaning upon every human brain, + And finds a habitation, + Within the sacred chambers of the soul; + A word, + Whether spoken on the shores of the Orient, + Lying in slumbrous dreams + A-near the sun! + Or the land of the snow and ice, + Where gorgeous temples arise, + Whose translucent walls are + Builded without the sound of hammer or chisel! + Whether spoken + In the halls of learning or at the fireside, + On the ship's deck + Or the soldier's camp, + Finds an echo + In every human heart! + + A word, + At whose sound + The pages of history open, + And the stirring deeds of our forefathers + Are marshaled forth to meet us! + Thousands of trusty swords leap from their scabbards, + And the hillsides + Are populous with rising life; + Long lines of shadowy soldier-forms + Start up, + Forming in dense array along the valleys, + Bearing evidence + Of the word, + Whose meaning + Has never been changed since + The Almighty traced the boundaries of the sea. + And bid the earth come forth + From the womb of waters! + THAT WORD IS FREEDOM! + + A word + Fraught with deepest meaning + To ye, + O ye down-trodden nation! + Who stood alone + Under the sombre shadow of the past, waiting + For the angel of the future, the sound + Of whose foot-falls made the present tremulous + With coming tidings! + A word, + Pregnant with joys to the poor fettered slave, + Toiling in the heat and burthen of the day + In southern fields, + Where the snowy cotton + Unfurls its fleecy banner to the breeze! + Or in the luxuriant tropics, + Where forests + Are all ablaze with gorgeous flowers, and birds, + And the odorous air + Is laden with orange and spice! + + Or toiling + In northern latitudes, + Where his best efforts + And upward tendencies are clogged! + His life burdened with sorrow, + And ill-requited toil! + O ye men! + Over whose helpless nakedness + He cast the mantle of liberty, woven out! + Woof and weft! + Of the threads of his very life! + Ye men! + Whose faces were never so black as not to show + Behind their dark surface + The features of a brother! + Whose hands, unstained by crime, were never so black + As to be unfit for his grasp! + In loving token of a long lost + Brotherhood! + + O ye men! + Whom he discovered + Prone in the valley of tribulation! + Looking with infinite longing, and sad yearning eyes, + At the solemn vault of heaven, + Where stars + Take their nightly course + Around a mysterious centre! + Wondering, + If within the folding of those azure doors, + There was room for you! + Ye men! + For whom this great apostle of liberty + Stretched forth the rod of justice, + And smote, + With a fearless blow, the stony rock of national caste, + Till all the waters of liberty + Flowed forth! + And he gave you to drink! + + Ye may well + Stand with uncovered heads, + Above his new made grave, + Bowed down with a weight of woe-- + A sense of loss too great for human expression! + For the good man, + Whom God called in the morning of his life, + To be a modern Moses + To an oppressed and down-trodden nation, + Upon whose lives + The iron-foot of bondage made its impress! + For the hand + That bore aloft the proud banner of freedom, + And scaled the walls of deep-rooted prejudice, + To demand + From the custodians of human liberty, + The scroll of your birth-right! + _Lies cold and still + In death!_ + + The strong right arm + That smote the pillar of + Your wrongs in the dust! Calling back + Fleeting generations, before whose revelations + The white faces of the earth + Stood still! + Trembling before outraged heaven. + Upon whose faithful pages every oppression, + Every lash of the whip, + Every tear + From long suffering eyes were registered + For future reference! + "_Beware!_" + Said Sumner in his great appeal to humanity, + "_Of the groans of wounded souls; + Oppress not to the uttermost + A single heart! + For one solitary sigh has power to overset + A whole world!_" + + O, ye freed people! + Scarce had the name of + _Fillmore_ + Traced its guilty lines upon the page + Of that most consummate act + Of cruelty, + When a hundred guns from Boston's classic heights + Belched forth their teeming fire + In ratification + Of the great treaty of blood! + Like a ponderous knell! + Their jarring sound boomed out your death cry, + Upon the soul of Sumner! + And all the night, of that most lurid day, + Alone with his God. + His fast retreating and coming footsteps + Made his silent chamber eloquent with his agony. + And kept their mournful rhythm + With the throes of his soul! + + This true man + Who stood up in your midst + Like a pillar of light! + Endowed with power to emit a radiance + All its own! + When friend and foe alike + Refusing the succor and protection + Of a common humanity; + Would force back the hapless, + Fugitive slave + To the hell of slavery; + "_Thus openly_ DEFYING + _Every sentiment of justice, humanity and christian duty._" + Leaving to coming generations + A record of human wrongs, + "_Amongst the crimes of history, another + Is about to be recorded, + Which no tears can blot out!_" + Said the upright statesman. + + As he stood + Amidst the surging tide + Of calumny and misconception, + Bearing up + Against the pressure of the waves of "caste." + His solemn words echoing through the senate: + "_By the supreme law + Which commands me to do justice; + By the comprehensive + And conscientious law + Of brotherhood; + By the constitution + I have sworn to support, + I am bound to disobey this act! + And never, + In any circumstance, can I render voluntary aid to it! + Pains and penalties I will endure! + This great wrong I will not do. + Better be the victim, + Than the instrument of wrong!_" + + Fired! + With Athenian eloquence, + Towering aloft in his noble manhood! + Bearing the grand proud form + Of a Cret'an hero! + Hurling! + The thunder of heaven + Upon the guilty heads + Of your inhuman and infamous oppressors, + Who would enslave + The very freedom of his speech! + And hang + The fetters of party strife + Upon his independent thoughts! + But he rose up in his giant strength, + Raising the prostrate column + Of your rights, + Manfully fighting for it, block by block, + Every inch of the ground + Contested! + + What wonder + That common minds, + Lacking the moral vertebræ (backbone) + Of a grand and noble humanity, should deem him + Passionate! + Yet, "what is life + Without passionate feeling + To false sentiment? + It is, indeed, a dangerous auxiliary; + But no true sentiment is complete + Without it." + And truer sentiments + Never lit the fires of eloquence in a purer breast + Than Sumner's! + A breast that heaved with indignation + For your bitter wrongs, + And the piteous spectacle of human nature + That Taney's mandate presented + To the eyes of the world! + + That, + "_The black man_ + _Has no rights the white man is bound to respect._" + O! omnipotent + And omnipresent God! + Who made us in thine own image, + Breathing + Thine own pure breath + Into our dust-created bodies! + Giving of thine own life + A semblance + So great in all its purity so grand in all its fulness, + That our humanity can scarce contain it! + So, whether our faces be black, or whether + They be white, + If we but retain thy semblance, + And keep _within_ + + The sacred + Cloister of our souls + The lamp that thou didst consecrate + And gave + Into our most solemn keeping + To illuminate the fair pages of our lives, + And shed + Its holy light upon the path + That lies along the shimmering moon-beams of the sky, + Upon whose silver stair + Expectant angels wait; + Whose luminous wings enfold us round about, + Bearing our happy souls + Beyond the sapphire gates + To the home + From whence we came + _We are as one to thee!_ + _And all the thinking, reasoning nations + Of the earth!_ + + Once only + In the history of this nation, + The floor of the senate chamber + Dedicated to justice and liberty, + Is stained with the blood + Of a martyr! + He lay helpless and lifeless along that floor, + Like an Athenian warrior + Slain upon the altar of his country! + His grand, proud head + Dyed with the crimson tide + Of his own life blood! + His pale, cold face, and white soundless lips + Appealing in their speechless agony + To the banner of his country, that hung in starry folds + Above his head! + The hand that smote him to the earth, + Severed the life-chord of his + Physical well-being! + + But, + Out of the blood, + Out of the turmoil, the warfare and + Passionate strivings, + Out of the pain and anguish, + Out of the ruin and solitude, + Out of the great silence that lay upon his life, + There rose up + A spirit of grandeur + With the thews and sinews of Divine wisdom! + A grander, nobler, truer manhood + Wrought out of the fires + Of anguish and pain! + A wisdom that has gone its slow, sure round + Upon the wheels of time, + Calling out of your own nation a full man + To sit in the chair + Of him who smote your patriot and friend + At his post of duty! + + Out + From the ruin wrought + By a thoughtless and passionate hand! + Sumner, the Christian statesman + Arose grander than ever! + Daring to speak the truth + Having the moral courage to wear it proudly + Upon his lips! + Flooding its glorious light + Upon the actions of his life! + Oh ! How we revere + The man who speaks the truth! + Whose words and actions + Call no unhealthy effort to the mind! + In winnowing out the one bright grain + Of truth + From the chaff of shiftless falsehood! + The tired brain, weary with analyzing + Sought rest in his statements, nor placed them + Within its crucible! + + O, truth! + Thou art born of God! + On thy fair brow + The jeweled crown of purity gleams! + Thy garments + Are luminous with shimmering star-light + O truth! + Thou semblance of the living God! + What have we not borne, what suffered + For thee! + Misconception + Darkens thy fair features! + Misconstruction covers thee with her shadowy mantle! + Throwing wide + The flood-gates of sorrow + That rush from the bitter fountain + Of the grieved soul! + In thy right hand is a crown + Of glory! In thy left + A crown of _thorns_! + + Truth + Is a spirit of glory! + A body of transcendent grandeur! + Sinewy and tenacious + For the human mind to grasp! + The nations of the Earth + Stand forth to honor + A man of truth, + And lay their tribute at his feet! + Alas! too often + _After_ his human ear, + Strained to the utmost tension to catch + The far off sound, + _After_ his throbbing heart! + Hungering for human sympathy, thirsting + For the cup of love + Starving for the kindly hand-grasp, + Tired, and worn, and weary, + Lays down to die! + + And + The dread Saul's march + Thrilling its weird music + Above his grave, + Is but an echo of dead expectancy and woe! + That fall upon our hearts + Like the rustling leaves of autumn! + Ah! + There are human faces + Meeting our eyes each day, + Which, + If they lay cold and still + The air would rend with our lamentations + And sorrow! + And our sad tears would vainly try + To wash the lines of care + From their dead faces! + That fill the haunted chamber of our souls + For evermore! + + Yet! + No word of sympathy, + No outstretched hand, + Bore to their full expectant hearts + A token! + No kindling glance + Of sympathetic brotherhood; + Bore to their asking eyes + "I have a care of thee!" + Thus we go on day after day, wrapping + The mantle of selfishness round our humanity! + Looking so earthward, + The tears of our grieving brother + Fall upon our feet! + O, have a care that + No such sin as this be recorded in Heaven's register + To burthen your free souls + As ye go upward! + + When + The weary day + Lays down her tired head + Upon the dreamy pillow of the past, + Closing the silent gates of night + On her departing foot-falls! + Throwing back upon our thrilling senses + The curtains of mystery! + That float upon the silence and hush + Of the night season! + Making the soundless air + Tremulous with life! + 'Tis then, + And not till then. + Pervaded by a divine restlessness + We kneel + And loose our earthly shoes from off our feet + For the ground whereon we stand + Is holy! + + Alone, + With the divine sculptor, + Whose unerring chisel, + Rounds off the uneven curves and awkward corners + Of our erring nature, + The heroic statue + Is wrought out of roughest marble! + So, the good man + Is moulded out of his very faults! + Thus the great master hand + With divine precision + Measured the breadth and depth and height + Of Sumner! + To fill with honor and credit + The royal shrine; + The grand and noble niche prepared for him + In heaven, + And in the stirring history + Of the world! + + There are men + So utterly narrow-minded, + So wanting in moral vertebræ + And grand human nature, that they are never greatly + Tempted! + Satan, + With discriminating acumen, seeks higher + Prey than these! + They are all too flimsy, weak, and crude + For his purposes! + But, + Upon the men of moral breadth, of depths + Of human pity; + Of height of divine abiding! Some prince + Of the sons of the earth, + Whom God has chosen + For some great epoch in our history, + The whole artillery of hell + Is brought to bear! + + Men + Tried and trusted of God! + Fitted to go down to the arena, + "To fight the great fight," from the going down + To the rising of the sun! + Struggling with some deadly temptation that has + Locked him + In its sinewy embrace; + Or taking some wild passion + By the throat, + And strangling it out of existence. + These, + The large-hearted, square-headed, high minded, + Men of history, + Are his best stock in trade! + To these temptation comes! _and if they fall_, + He lashes them to his chariot wheels, + And carries them in triumph + Into hell! + + But Sumner, + The man of princely integrity, + Accepted no defeat, acknowledged no tempter! + The lobbyist, + Engaged in tunneling under human nature, + Fled from before his face! + The briber, + Whose soft insinuating palm + Takes kindly to the hands of his fellow man! + He, + Who cometh with a smile, + And asketh for no receipt! + He, + Whose loosened purse strings, bind + The tender conscience + With cords, gripped by the sinewy hand + Of Satan, + Turns aside to let Sumner pass on; + _The utterly incorruptible!_ + + 'Tis thus, + Viewing the great + Defender of the constitution surrounded + By an atmosphere of bribery and corruption + Of men + Selling the very sinews of their country + For just so many dollars + Of bitter enemies, + Of unstable friends; + Of hurry and rush + Of weak legislation; + Of "the groans of wounded souls;" + Of falsehood and moral contagion + That we love him best. + For amidst the soulless throng + He stood up in his peerless manhood + Like a pillar of truth, + And carried with him the brightest + Stars of the age! + + 'Twas not in vain + He sat, + A studious disciple + At the royal feet of wisdom! + Culling the sweets of knowledge from her tomes! + Not in vain + Did he visit other lands, and other climes, + Filling up + The vast storehouses of his mind, + With the rarest + And richest gems of culture, + The grand position he had taken in the great + Human family + Needed this! + He stood like a great tree in the forest, + The branches of which stretched out + So far + As to cover the oppressed ones + Of the whole world! + + Let us all + Kindle our aspirations + At his shrine! For the loftiest ideas + Flow from him! + This our modern Solomon who challenged + The admiration of the world! + Whose wise and pure character + Stands out before us to-night + As one + That fills the void in our highest ideas + Of manhood! + The light of his example + Throws its clear defining ray along + The pathway of our lives; + Keeping our eye upon that beacon of light + We shall not stumble, + But fulfill our duties truthfully, manfully, + And with a pure heart! + + His character, + In its human and divine greatness, + Has a wondrous completeness! + Comprehensive + In its compact firmness, its grasp of justice. + Vital + In its rounded purity, its magnanimous + Humanity! + Subtle + In its fine intuitive sympathy! + Grand + In its lofty ideas of duty! + He + Has left us a rich inheritance not in lands + Or tenements, + But in jewels of silver, jewels of gold, + And precious stones! + Heir-looms that shall crown our lives + With honor! + + These jewels + Dived for, in fathoms deep of the waters + Of tribulation, + Are our common heritage! + His + Nobility of character, caught from divine communing! + His + Devotion to truth and integrity of purpose! + His + Allegiance to pure principles and honor! + His + Grand moral and physical courage, + And his great humanity! + Towering in strength, like a giant tree + In the forest, + These are the casket of gems + He has willed to our keeping, + To adorn our lives! + + We stand amazed + At the pyramid of work, + Of toilsome labors, he has raised up! + Labors + Associated with your rise, progression, + And preservation! + The pages of his life are illuminated with + The records of his toil! + These facts + Should pass into your lives, elevating and ennobling + Your efforts! + Raising you upward to + The true dignity of daily labor! + Ye diggers of the soil, + Remember that he was a digger amongst + The roots of wisdom! + Remember that _he_ was pre-eminently + A laborer, + Whose deeds have passed securely + Into the history + Of the world! + + His + Work is done! + The temple is built all but the crest, + And to tender and loyal hands he has left + The finishing thereof! + He has fulfilled the mission to which + God called him! + He, + With the bright band of thinkers + And laborers, + Has brought you out of bondage, of Egyptian + Darkness + To the glorious noon day of freedom, + The promised land + Is yours by divine and human right! + From his immense altitude, with the eyes + Of prophesy, + He could see you possessed of + Its every corner! + + His + Wreath is woven! + Not upon the garniture of costly + Sepulchre, + But upon the loving and sorrowing hearts + Of four millions of freed people! + Not upon + The marble statue, + But upon the appreciative consciousness + Of the world at large! + His wreath is woven! + Every leaf bedewed with tears! + Every flower wreathed in with lamentations! + Tied with the heart-strings of a nation's love! + But, "we mourn not as one without hope!" + For "I am the resurrection and life + "Saith the Lord! + He who believeth in me, though he were dead + Yet shall he live." + + Ye women! + Upon whose kindly bosoms + Lisping children nestle! + _Remember!_ + For the eyes that saw deepest into your human + Woe, + And trembled in humid tenderness + For your degraded humanity, + _Are closed for ever!_ + _Remember!_ + For the lips + That broke your galling fetters + With the fiery thunder of his manhood's + Eloquence! + Re-adjusting, + In all its God-given symmetry, + The disjointed framework + Of your human lives, + Are stilled! + + Ye women! + Who stood alone, + On the outer fringes of proud + Humanity! + Appealing in your helpless degradation + To the pity of the world! + _Remember!_ + For the hand + That made room for you + Amongst the nations of the earth, + And placed a seat + For you + In the halls of civilization! + _Remember!_ + For the hand, + That dug out of the shifting sands + Of public opinion + The gem you wear proudly upon your bosoms, + _Lies cold in death!_ + + Ye women, + _Remember!_ + As ye take a last lingering look + At the face + Of your dead martyr, + On which the surging tide of calumny + And misconception + Have left their harrowing traces, + That he was + The great high priest of your nation, + Ministering + To its highest aspirations! + _Remember!_ + The hand + That lies with such pathetic attitude + Above his quiet bosom, + Opened wide the gates of freedom + To your weary footsteps, + And let you in! + + O ye women! + _Remember!_ + And take heed + What influence ye bring to bear upon + The coming generation! + For ye, too, + Form a strong link + In the chain of our civilization! + Woman, in all ages, in all climes, + White and black, + Have swayed an influence over the world + For evil or for good, + Which has swept the black tide of iniquity, + Whose waters reach down to the uttermost depths + Of hell; + Or the gentle waves of good, freighted with + A nation's blessings! + Upon the waves, _whose reflex actions + Are the currents that flow + From heaven_! + + O ye women! + _Remember!_ + And forget not! + Your great patriot and friend + Left to your keeping + The jewels of divine and human greatness + Washed with his tears! + Brightened with his love! + _Remember!_ + And forget not! + The intertwining of your prayer extended hands + Forms a stairway + By which your nation hope + To reach all greatness, + All purity, all grandeur, + And at last + To follow your leader up the shining stair + To heaven! + + As + The voice of sympathy + Hath a thousand tongues, + Making the silent mystery of night + Eloquent with gentle whisperings, + So, out of the seclusion of my quiet life, + To ye + O ye millions of freed people, I have come! + To ye my sympathies go forth to-night. + Sympathies, + At whose fountain head, the angel of purity sits; + And from her sacred niche, beholds + The coming and the going thereof. + For ye + Whom he called his children, were knit in + With every fibre of his heart; + And your wrongs echoed + To the innermost chamber of his soul, + To ye + His loss is greatest! + + O ye men! + Who loved him + With a love past telling! + Be the better for his noble efforts! + Let the picture of his glorious life + Hang ever before your eyes! + Sanctifying your efforts, ennobling your aspirations! + He suffered + In the throes of agony to give birth + To a higher manhood! + _Be that manhood!_ + True, you have been buffetted and + Rudely tossed, + But that has passed into the oblivion of + The receding age! + The present and future + Are open to you as never before! + Helping hands are extended to you! + _Take care of your opportunities!_ + + Ye men + Cultivate truth! + For honor and independence + Follow quickly upon its footsteps! + 'Tis true + The standard of Sumner is high! + But a-down the ladder of his life there are + Steps of granite mould + That will bear you upward + And onward! + _Be ye governed by no ignoble motives!_ + The time is not far distant when the missing + Fringes + Of the glorious mantle of liberty + Will be sewn on by loving hands! + Be prepared for it! + Receive it upon your knees, + With uncovered heads! + Remembering whose hand had + Wrought it out! + + Be ye sure + It is borne to ye + Within the folding of an angel's wing! + 'Tis yours! + By the voice of heaven! + 'Tis yours! + By the voice of earth! + The pinnacle of your temple of freedom! + The flag that will flutter freely o'er its top! + "O, my bill! My bill!!" + He cried in the last agonies of death! + "Take care of my civil rights bill!" + Were his solemn words, + As the messenger of death stood upon + His threshold! + "_O, don't let the bill fail!_" + Was his dying injunction, as he sought out + With his glazing eye, the friend + Who kissed his hand in token of + The solemn covenant! + + "_Take_ + _Care of your rights!_" + Comes across the ocean of eternity, + A solemn message from your friend + And benefactor! + Be worthy of him! + Raise the standard of your people higher, + And higher still! + To-day is yours! + Grasp firm hold of it, for it cometh not + Again! Let the world see and note + The heroic fibre + Of which you are made! + Remember the gates of a great future + Are open to you! + Educate yourselves, your women and your children, + Inaugurate and carry on + Reform within yourselves; + Enlarge your minds! Quicken your + Intelligence, and follow in the footsteps + Of Sumner! + + Ye men, + Look well and wisely + To your political welfare! + Let not the foul fingers of bribery + And corruption + Pollute the pure scroll of your + Birthright! + Remember the loving laborers upon the walls + Of liberty's republican temple. + A temple built on free soil! + "Its corner stone," said Sumner, "is _freedom_; + Its broad, all sustaining arches, + _Truth_, _justice_ and _humanity_! + Like the ancient Roman capitol, at once + A _temple_ and a _citadel_! + Fit shrine for the genius of _American institutions_." + _A shrine at whose high Altar + The best and noblest of the land doth minister! + A temple wherein the lamp of human pity + Suspended by the chain of universal brotherhood + Swings its perpetual light!_ + + Adieu + Charles Sumner! + Thou friend of humanity, Adieu! + Never! Till the sun + Folds up his gorgeous mantle! + Hiding his burning head + In the dark valley of chaos! + Never! + Till the moon's pale hand + Forgets to throw her silver shower + A-down the ether track! + Never! + Till the angels forget + To replenish the glistening starlight + In the sky! + Never! + Till the great surging deep recedes + To the mysterious outlet, + From whence the voice of God + Called it forth! + + Never! + Till the murmuring shells + Lying along the sunny shores + Forget their music! + Never! + Till the flowers hide their heads + Upon the dying heart of nature, + Sighing out the requiem + "There is no more life!" + And the birds go silently to their death! + Never! + Till human hearts + Throb out their last breath + _Shalt thou be forgotten_! + Nay! Not even then! For + As we go upward on our last journey + We'll see thy name with the names of the just + Written in letters of gold + Across the sky! + + _Finis._ + + + + +[Illustration: Muse] + +"It will take a long time to get the whole truth told about that noble +man, and many voices to tell it." + +HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. + +CAMBRIDGE, May 11, 1874. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected. + +Typographical errors were silently corrected. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Oration on Charles Sumner, Addressed +to Colored People, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58645 *** |