The Project Gutenberg eBook of Poems in Wartime, by John Greenleaf Whittier

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at https://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United States, you’ll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Poems in Wartime

Subtitle: Part 4 From Volume III of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier

Author: John Greenleaf Whittier

Release Date: December 1, 2005 [EBook #9578]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger

ANTI-SLAVERY POEMS

SONGS OF LABOR AND REFORM

BY

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

CONTENTS:

IN WAR TIME. TO SAMUEL E. SEWALL AND HARRIET W. SEWALL THY WILL BE DONE A WORD FOR THE HOUR "EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT" TO JOHN C. FREMONT THE WATCHERS TO ENGLISHMEN MITHRIDATES AT CHIOS AT PORT ROYAL ASTRAEA AT THE CAPITOL THE BATTLE AUTUMN OF 1862 OF ST. HELENA'S ISLAND, S. C. THE PROCLAMATION ANNIVERSARY POEM BARBARA FRIETCHIE HAT THE BIRDS SAID THE MANTLE OF ST. JOHN DE MATRA LADS DEO! HYMN FOR THE CELEBRATION OF EMANCIPATION AT NEWBURYPORT

IN WAR TIME.

TO SAMUEL E. SEWALL AND HARRIET W. SEWAll, OF MELROSE.

These lines to my old friends stood as dedication in the volume which contained a collection of pieces under the general title of In War Time. The group belonging distinctly under that title I have retained here; the other pieces in the volume are distributed among the appropriate divisions.

OLOR ISCANUS queries: "Why should we

Vex at the land's ridiculous miserie?"

So on his Usk banks, in the blood-red dawn

Of England's civil strife, did careless Vaughan

Bemock his times. O friends of many years!

Though faith and trust are stronger than our fears,

And the signs promise peace with liberty,

Not thus we trifle with our country's tears

And sweat of agony. The future's gain

Is certain as God's truth; but, meanwhile, pain

Is bitter and tears are salt: our voices take

A sober tone; our very household songs

Are heavy with a nation's griefs and wrongs;

And innocent mirth is chastened for the sake

Of the brave hearts that nevermore shall beat,

The eyes that smile no more, the unreturning

feet!

1863

THY WILL BE DONE.

WE see not, know not; all our way

Is night,—with Thee alone is day

From out the torrent's troubled drift,

Above the storm our prayers we lift,

Thy will be done!

The flesh may fail, the heart may faint,

But who are we to make complaint,

Or dare to plead, in times like these,

The weakness of our love of ease?

Thy will be done!

We take with solemn thankfulness

Our burden up, nor ask it less,

And count it joy that even we

May suffer, serve, or wait for Thee,

Whose will be done!

Though dim as yet in tint and line,

We trace Thy picture's wise design,

And thank Thee that our age supplies

Its dark relief of sacrifice.

Thy will be done!

And if, in our unworthiness,

Thy sacrificial wine we press;

If from Thy ordeal's heated bars

Our feet are seamed with crimson scars,

Thy will be done!

If, for the age to come, this hour

Of trial hath vicarious power,

And, blest by Thee, our present pain,

Be Liberty's eternal gain,

Thy will be done!

Strike, Thou the Master, we Thy keys,

The anthem of the destinies!

The minor of Thy loftier strain,

Our hearts shall breathe the old refrain,

Thy will be done!

1861.

A WORD FOR THE HOUR.

THE firmament breaks up. In black eclipse

Light after light goes out. One evil star,

Luridly glaring through the smoke of war,

As in the dream of the Apocalypse,

Drags others down. Let us not weakly weep

Nor rashly threaten. Give us grace to keep

Our faith and patience; wherefore should we leap

On one hand into fratricidal fight,

Or, on the other, yield eternal right,

Frame lies of law, and good and ill confound?

What fear we? Safe on freedom's vantage-ground

Our feet are planted: let us there remain

In unrevengeful calm, no means untried

Which truth can sanction, no just claim denied,

The sad spectators of a suicide!

They break the links of Union: shall we light

The fires of hell to weld anew the chain

On that red anvil where each blow is pain?

Draw we not even now a freer breath,

As from our shoulders falls a load of death

Loathsome as that the Tuscan's victim bore

When keen with life to a dead horror bound?

Why take we up the accursed thing again?

Pity, forgive, but urge them back no more

Who, drunk with passion, flaunt disunion's rag

With its vile reptile-blazon. Let us press

The golden cluster on our brave old flag

In closer union, and, if numbering less,

Brighter shall shine the stars which still remain.

16th First mo., 1861.

"EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT."

LUTHER'S HYMN.

WE wait beneath the furnace-blast

The pangs of transformation;

Not painlessly doth God recast

And mould anew the nation.

Hot burns the fire

Where wrongs expire;

Nor spares the hand

That from the land

Uproots the ancient evil.

The hand-breadth cloud the sages feared

Its bloody rain is dropping;

The poison plant the fathers spared

All else is overtopping.

East, West, South, North,

It curses the earth;

All justice dies,

And fraud and lies

Live only in its shadow.

What gives the wheat-field blades of steel?

What points the rebel cannon?

What sets the roaring rabble's heel

On the old star-spangled pennon?

What breaks the oath

Of the men o' the South?

What whets the knife

For the Union's life?—

Hark to the answer: Slavery!

Then waste no blows on lesser foes

In strife unworthy freemen.

God lifts to-day the veil, and shows

The features of the demon

O North and South,

Its victims both,

Can ye not cry,

"Let slavery die!"

And union find in freedom?

What though the cast-out spirit tear

The nation in his going?

We who have shared the guilt must share

The pang of his o'erthrowing!

Whate'er the loss,

Whate'er the cross,

Shall they complain

Of present pain

Who trust in God's hereafter?

For who that leans on His right arm

Was ever yet forsaken?

What righteous cause can suffer harm

If He its part has taken?

Though wild and loud,

And dark the cloud,

Behind its folds

His hand upholds

The calm sky of to-morrow!

Above the maddening cry for blood,

Above the wild war-drumming,

Let Freedom's voice be heard, with good

The evil overcoming.

Give prayer and purse

To stay the Curse

Whose wrong we share,

Whose shame we bear,

Whose end shall gladden Heaven!

In vain the bells of war shall ring

Of triumphs and revenges,

While still is spared the evil thing

That severs and estranges.

But blest the ear

That yet shall hear

The jubilant bell

That rings the knell

Of Slavery forever!

Then let the selfish lip be dumb,

And hushed the breath of sighing;

Before the joy of peace must come

The pains of purifying.

God give us grace

Each in his place

To bear his lot,

And, murmuring not,

Endure and wait and labor!

1861.

TO JOHN C. FREMONT. On the 31st of August, 1861, General Fremont, then in charge of the Western Department, issued a proclamation which contained a clause, famous as the first announcement of emancipation: "The property," it declared, "real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men." Mr. Lincoln regarded the proclamation as premature and countermanded it, after vainly endeavoring to persuade Fremont of his own motion to revoke it.

THY error, Fremont, simply was to act

A brave man's part, without the statesman's tact,

And, taking counsel but of common sense,

To strike at cause as well as consequence.

Oh, never yet since Roland wound his horn

At Roncesvalles, has a blast been blown

Far-heard, wide-echoed, startling as thine own,

Heard from the van of freedom's hope forlorn

It had been safer, doubtless, for the time,

To flatter treason, and avoid offence

To that Dark Power whose underlying crime

Heaves upward its perpetual turbulence.

But if thine be the fate of all who break

The ground for truth's seed, or forerun their years

Till lost in distance, or with stout hearts make

A lane for freedom through the level spears,

Still take thou courage! God has spoken through thee,

Irrevocable, the mighty words, Be free!

The land shakes with them, and the slave's dull ear

Turns from the rice-swamp stealthily to hear.

Who would recall them now must first arrest

The winds that blow down from the free Northwest,

Ruffling the Gulf; or like a scroll roll back

The Mississippi to its upper springs.

Such words fulfil their prophecy, and lack

But the full time to harden into things.

1861.

THE WATCHERS.

BESIDE a stricken field I stood;

On the torn turf, on grass and wood,

Hung heavily the dew of blood.

Still in their fresh mounds lay the slain,

But all the air was quick with pain

And gusty sighs and tearful rain.

Two angels, each with drooping head

And folded wings and noiseless tread,

Watched by that valley of the dead.

The one, with forehead saintly bland

And lips of blessing, not command,

Leaned, weeping, on her olive wand.

The other's brows were scarred and knit,

His restless eyes were watch-fires lit,

His hands for battle-gauntlets fit.

"How long!"—I knew the voice of Peace,—

"Is there no respite? no release?

When shall the hopeless quarrel cease?

"O Lord, how long!! One human soul

Is more than any parchment scroll,

Or any flag thy winds unroll.

"What price was Ellsworth's, young and brave?

How weigh the gift that Lyon gave,

Or count the cost of Winthrop's grave?

"O brother! if thine eye can see,

Tell how and when the end shall be,

What hope remains for thee and me."

Then Freedom sternly said: "I shun

No strife nor pang beneath the sun,

When human rights are staked and won.

"I knelt with Ziska's hunted flock,

I watched in Toussaint's cell of rock,

I walked with Sidney to the block.

"The moor of Marston felt my tread,

Through Jersey snows the march I led,

My voice Magenta's charges sped.

"But now, through weary day and night,

I watch a vague and aimless fight

For leave to strike one blow aright.

"On either side my foe they own

One guards through love his ghastly throne,

And one through fear to reverence grown.

"Why wait we longer, mocked, betrayed,

By open foes, or those afraid

To speed thy coming through my aid?

"Why watch to see who win or fall?

I shake the dust against them all,

I leave them to their senseless brawl."

"Nay," Peace implored: "yet longer wait;

The doom is near, the stake is great

God knoweth if it be too late.

"Still wait and watch; the way prepare

Where I with folded wings of prayer

May follow, weaponless and bare."

"Too late!" the stern, sad voice replied,

"Too late!" its mournful echo sighed,

In low lament the answer died.

A rustling as of wings in flight,

An upward gleam of lessening white,

So passed the vision, sound and sight.

But round me, like a silver bell

Rung down the listening sky to tell

Of holy help, a sweet voice fell.

"Still hope and trust," it sang; "the rod

Must fall, the wine-press must be trod,

But all is possible with God!"

1862.

TO ENGLISHMEN. Written when, in the stress of our terrible war, the English ruling class, with few exceptions, were either coldly indifferent or hostile to the party of freedom. Their attitude was illustrated by caricatures of America, among which was one of a slaveholder and cowhide, with the motto, "Haven't I a right to wallop my nigger?"

You flung your taunt across the wave

We bore it as became us,

Well knowing that the fettered slave

Left friendly lips no option save

To pity or to blame us.

You scoffed our plea. "Mere lack of will,

Not lack of power," you told us

We showed our free-state records; still

You mocked, confounding good and ill,

Slave-haters and slaveholders.

We struck at Slavery; to the verge

Of power and means we checked it;

Lo!—presto, change! its claims you urge,

Send greetings to it o'er the surge,

And comfort and protect it.

But yesterday you scarce could shake,

In slave-abhorring rigor,

Our Northern palms for conscience' sake

To-day you clasp the hands that ache

With "walloping the nigger!"

O Englishmen!—in hope and creed,

In blood and tongue our brothers!

We too are heirs of Runnymede;

And Shakespeare's fame and Cromwell's deed

Are not alone our mother's.

"Thicker than water," in one rill

Through centuries of story

Our Saxon blood has flowed, and still

We share with you its good and ill,

The shadow and the glory.

Joint heirs and kinfolk, leagues of wave

Nor length of years can part us

Your right is ours to shrine and grave,

The common freehold of the brave,

The gift of saints and martyrs.

Our very sins and follies teach

Our kindred frail and human

We carp at faults with bitter speech,

The while, for one unshared by each,

We have a score in common.

We bowed the heart, if not the knee,

To England's Queen, God bless her

We praised you when your slaves went free

We seek to unchain ours. Will ye

Join hands with the oppressor?

And is it Christian England cheers

The bruiser, not the bruised?

And must she run, despite the tears

And prayers of eighteen hundred years,

Amuck in Slavery's crusade?

Oh, black disgrace! Oh, shame and loss

Too deep for tongue to phrase on

Tear from your flag its holy cross,

And in your van of battle toss

The pirate's skull-bone blazon!

1862.

MITHRIDATES AT CHIOS.

It is recorded that the Chians, when subjugated by Mithridates of Cappadocia, were delivered up to their own slaves, to be carried away captive to Colchis. Athenxus considers this a just punishment for their wickedness in first introducing the slave-trade into Greece. From this ancient villany of the Chians the proverb arose, "The Chian hath bought himself a master."

KNOW'ST thou, O slave-cursed land

How, when the Chian's cup of guilt

Was full to overflow, there came

God's justice in the sword of flame

That, red with slaughter to its hilt,

Blazed in the Cappadocian victor's hand?

The heavens are still and far;

But, not unheard of awful Jove,

The sighing of the island slave

Was answered, when the AEgean wave

The keels of Mithridates clove,

And the vines shrivelled in the breath of war.

"Robbers of Chios! hark,"

The victor cried, "to Heaven's decree!

Pluck your last cluster from the vine,

Drain your last cup of Chian wine;

Slaves of your slaves, your doom shall be,

In Colchian mines by Phasis rolling dark."

Then rose the long lament

From the hoar sea-god's dusky caves

The priestess rent her hair and cried,

"Woe! woe! The gods are sleepless-eyed!"

And, chained and scourged, the slaves of slaves,

The lords of Chios into exile went.

"The gods at last pay well,"

So Hellas sang her taunting song,

"The fisher in his net is caught,

The Chian hath his master bought;"

And isle from isle, with laughter long,

Took up and sped the mocking parable.

Once more the slow, dumb years

Bring their avenging cycle round,

And, more than Hellas taught of old,

Our wiser lesson shall be told,

Of slaves uprising, freedom-crowned,

To break, not wield, the scourge wet with their

blood and tears.

1868.

AT PORT ROYAL.

In November, 1861, a Union force under Commodore Dupont and General Sherman captured Port Royal, and from this point as a basis of operations, the neighboring islands between Charleston and Savannah were taken possession of. The early occupation of this district, where the negro population was greatly in excess of the white, gave an opportunity which was at once seized upon, of practically emancipating the slaves and of beginning that work of civilization which was accepted as the grave responsibility of those who had labored for freedom.

THE tent-lights glimmer on the land,

The ship-lights on the sea;

The night-wind smooths with drifting sand

Our track on lone Tybee.

At last our grating keels outslide,

Our good boats forward swing;

And while we ride the land-locked tide,

Our negroes row and sing.

For dear the bondman holds his gifts

Of music and of song

The gold that kindly Nature sifts

Among his sands of wrong:

The power to make his toiling days

And poor home-comforts please;

The quaint relief of mirth that plays

With sorrow's minor keys.

Another glow than sunset's fire

Has filled the west with light,

Where field and garner, barn and byre,

Are blazing through the night.

The land is wild with fear and hate,

The rout runs mad and fast;

From hand to hand, from gate to gate

The flaming brand is passed.

The lurid glow falls strong across

Dark faces broad with smiles

Not theirs the terror, hate, and loss

That fire yon blazing piles.

With oar-strokes timing to their song,

They weave in simple lays

The pathos of remembered wrong,

The hope of better days,—

The triumph-note that Miriam sung,

The joy of uncaged birds

Softening with Afric's mellow tongue

Their broken Saxon words.

SONG OF THE NEGRO BOATMEN.

Oh, praise an' tanks! De Lord he come

To set de people free;

An' massa tink it day ob doom,

An' we ob jubilee.

De Lord dat heap de Red Sea waves

He jus' as 'trong as den;

He say de word: we las' night slaves;

To-day, de Lord's freemen.

De yam will grow, de cotton blow,

We'll hab de rice an' corn;

Oh nebber you fear, if nebber you hear

De driver blow his horn!

Ole massa on he trabbels gone;

He leaf de land behind

De Lord's breff blow him furder on,

Like corn-shuck in de wind.

We own de hoe, we own de plough,

We own de hands dat hold;

We sell de pig, we sell de cow,

But nebber chile be sold.

De yam will grow, de cotton blow,

We'll hab de rice an' corn;

Oh nebber you fear, if nebber you hear

De driver blow his horn!

We pray de Lord: he gib us signs

Dat some day we be free;

De norf-wind tell it to de pines,

De wild-duck to de sea;

We tink it when de church-bell ring,

We dream it in de dream;

De rice-bird mean it when he sing,

De eagle when be scream.

De yam will grow, de cotton blow,

We'll hab de rice an' corn

Oh nebber you fear, if nebber you hear

De driver blow his horn!

We know de promise nebber fail,

An' nebber lie de word;

So like de 'postles in de jail,

We waited for de Lord

An' now he open ebery door,

An' trow away de key;

He tink we lub him so before,

We hub him better free.

De yam will grow, de cotton blow,

He'll gib de rice an' corn;

Oh nebber you fear, if nebber you hear

De driver blow his horn!

So sing our dusky gondoliers;

And with a secret pain,

And smiles that seem akin to tears,

We hear the wild refrain.

We dare not share the negro's trust,

Nor yet his hope deny;

We only know that God is just,

And every wrong shall die.

Rude seems the song; each swarthy face,

Flame-lighted, ruder still

We start to think that hapless race

Must shape our good or ill;

That laws of changeless justice bind

Oppressor with oppressed;

And, close as sin and suffering joined,

We march to Fate abreast.

Sing on, poor hearts! your chant shall be

Our sign of blight or bloom,

The Vala-song of Liberty,

Or death-rune of our doom!

1862.

ASTRAEA AT THE CAPITOL.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 1862.

WHEN first I saw our banner wave

Above the nation's council-hall,

I heard beneath its marble wall

The clanking fetters of the slave!

In the foul market-place I stood,

And saw the Christian mother sold,

And childhood with its locks of gold,

Blue-eyed and fair with Saxon blood.

I shut my eyes, I held my breath,

And, smothering down the wrath and shame

That set my Northern blood aflame,

Stood silent,—where to speak was death.

Beside me gloomed the prison-cell

Where wasted one in slow decline

For uttering simple words of mine,

And loving freedom all too well.

The flag that floated from the dome

Flapped menace in the morning air;

I stood a perilled stranger where

The human broker made his home.

For crime was virtue: Gown and Sword

And Law their threefold sanction gave,

And to the quarry of the slave

Went hawking with our symbol-bird.

On the oppressor's side was power;

And yet I knew that every wrong,

However old, however strong,

But waited God's avenging hour.

I knew that truth would crush the lie,

Somehow, some time, the end would be;

Yet scarcely dared I hope to see

The triumph with my mortal eye.

But now I see it! In the sun

A free flag floats from yonder dome,

And at the nation's hearth and home

The justice long delayed is done.

Not as we hoped, in calm of prayer,

The message of deliverance comes,

But heralded by roll of drums

On waves of battle-troubled air!

Midst sounds that madden and appall,

The song that Bethlehem's shepherds knew!

The harp of David melting through

The demon-agonies of Saul!

Not as we hoped; but what are we?

Above our broken dreams and plans

God lays, with wiser hand than man's,

The corner-stones of liberty.

I cavil not with Him: the voice

That freedom's blessed gospel tells

Is sweet to me as silver bells,

Rejoicing! yea, I will rejoice!

Dear friends still toiling in the sun;

Ye dearer ones who, gone before,

Are watching from the eternal shore

The slow work by your hands begun,

Rejoice with me! The chastening rod

Blossoms with love; the furnace heat

Grows cool beneath His blessed feet

Whose form is as the Son of God!

Rejoice! Our Marah's bitter springs

Are sweetened; on our ground of grief

Rise day by day in strong relief

The prophecies of better things.

Rejoice in hope! The day and night

Are one with God, and one with them

Who see by faith the cloudy hem

Of Judgment fringed with Mercy's light

1862.

THE BATTLE AUTUMN OF 1862.

THE flags of war like storm-birds fly,

The charging trumpets blow;

Yet rolls no thunder in the sky,

No earthquake strives below.

And, calm and patient, Nature keeps

Her ancient promise well,

Though o'er her bloom and greenness sweeps

The battle's breath of hell.

And still she walks in golden hours

Through harvest-happy farms,

And still she wears her fruits and flowers

Like jewels on her arms.

What mean the gladness of the plain,

This joy of eve and morn,

The mirth that shakes the beard of grain

And yellow locks of corn?

Ah! eyes may well be full of tears,

And hearts with hate are hot;

But even-paced come round the years,

And Nature changes not.

She meets with smiles our bitter grief,

With songs our groans of pain;

She mocks with tint of flower and leaf

The war-field's crimson stain.

Still, in the cannon's pause, we hear

Her sweet thanksgiving-psalm;

Too near to God for doubt or fear,

She shares the eternal calm.

She knows the seed lies safe below

The fires that blast and burn;

For all the tears of blood we sow

She waits the rich return.

She sees with clearer eve than ours

The good of suffering born,—

The hearts that blossom like her flowers,

And ripen like her corn.

Oh, give to us, in times like these,

The vision of her eyes;

And make her fields and fruited trees

Our golden prophecies

Oh, give to us her finer ear

Above this stormy din,

We too would hear the bells of cheer

Ring peace and freedom in.

1862.

HYMN,

SUNG AT CHRISTMAS BY THE SCHOLARS OF ST. HELENA'S ISLAND, S. C.

OH, none in all the world before

Were ever glad as we!

We're free on Carolina's shore,

We're all at home and free.

Thou Friend and Helper of the poor,

Who suffered for our sake,

To open every prison door,

And every yoke to break!

Bend low Thy pitying face and mild,

And help us sing and pray;

The hand that blessed the little child,

Upon our foreheads lay.

We hear no more the driver's horn,

No more the whip we fear,

This holy day that saw Thee born

Was never half so dear.

The very oaks are greener clad,

The waters brighter smile;

Oh, never shone a day so glad

On sweet St. Helen's Isle.

We praise Thee in our songs to-day,

To Thee in prayer we call,

Make swift the feet and straight the way

Of freedom unto all.

Come once again, O blessed Lord!

Come walking on the sea!

And let the mainlands hear the word

That sets the islands free!

1863.

THE PROCLAMATION.

President Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation was issued

January 1, 1863.

SAINT PATRICK, slave to Milcho of the herds

Of Ballymena, wakened with these words

"Arise, and flee

Out from the land of bondage, and be free!"

Glad as a soul in pain, who hears from heaven

The angels singing of his sins forgiven,

And, wondering, sees

His prison opening to their golden keys,

He rose a man who laid him down a slave,

Shook from his locks the ashes of the grave,

And outward trod

Into the glorious liberty of God.

He cast the symbols of his shame away;

And, passing where the sleeping Milcho lay,

Though back and limb

Smarted with wrong, he prayed, "God pardon

him!"

So went he forth; but in God's time he came

To light on Uilline's hills a holy flame;

And, dying, gave

The land a saint that lost him as a slave.

O dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb

Waiting for God, your hour at last has come,

And freedom's song

Breaks the long silence of your night of wrong!

Arise and flee! shake off the vile restraint

Of ages; but, like Ballymena's saint,

The oppressor spare,

Heap only on his head the coals of prayer.

Go forth, like him! like him return again,

To bless the land whereon in bitter pain

Ye toiled at first,

And heal with freedom what your slavery cursed.

1863.

ANNIVERSARY POEM.

Read before the Alumni of the Friends' Yearly Meeting School, at the

Annual Meeting at Newport, R. I., 15th 6th mo., 1863.

ONCE more, dear friends, you meet beneath

A clouded sky

Not yet the sword has found its sheath,

And on the sweet spring airs the breath

Of war floats by.

Yet trouble springs not from the ground,

Nor pain from chance;

The Eternal order circles round,

And wave and storm find mete and bound

In Providence.

Full long our feet the flowery ways

Of peace have trod,

Content with creed and garb and phrase:

A harder path in earlier days

Led up to God.

Too cheaply truths, once purchased dear,

Are made our own;

Too long the world has smiled to hear

Our boast of full corn in the ear

By others sown;

To see us stir the martyr fires

Of long ago,

And wrap our satisfied desires

In the singed mantles that our sires

Have dropped below.

But now the cross our worthies bore

On us is laid;

Profession's quiet sleep is o'er,

And in the scale of truth once more

Our faith is weighed.

The cry of innocent blood at last

Is calling down

An answer in the whirlwind-blast,

The thunder and the shadow cast

From Heaven's dark frown.

The land is red with judgments. Who

Stands guiltless forth?

Have we been faithful as we knew,

To God and to our brother true,

To Heaven and Earth.

How faint, through din of merchandise

And count of gain,

Have seemed to us the captive's cries!

How far away the tears and sighs

Of souls in pain!

This day the fearful reckoning comes

To each and all;

We hear amidst our peaceful homes

The summons of the conscript drums,

The bugle's call.

Our path is plain; the war-net draws

Round us in vain,

While, faithful to the Higher Cause,

We keep our fealty to the laws

Through patient pain.

The levelled gun, the battle-brand,

We may not take

But, calmly loyal, we can stand

And suffer with our suffering land

For conscience' sake.

Why ask for ease where all is pain?

Shall we alone

Be left to add our gain to gain,

When over Armageddon's plain

The trump is blown?

To suffer well is well to serve;

Safe in our Lord

The rigid lines of law shall curve

To spare us; from our heads shall swerve

Its smiting sword.

And light is mingled with the gloom,

And joy with grief;

Divinest compensations come,

Through thorns of judgment mercies bloom

In sweet relief.

Thanks for our privilege to bless,

By word and deed,

The widow in her keen distress,

The childless and the fatherless,

The hearts that bleed!

For fields of duty, opening wide,

Where all our powers

Are tasked the eager steps to guide

Of millions on a path untried

The slave is ours!

Ours by traditions dear and old,

Which make the race

Our wards to cherish and uphold,

And cast their freedom in the mould

Of Christian grace.

And we may tread the sick-bed floors

Where strong men pine,

And, down the groaning corridors,

Pour freely from our liberal stores

The oil and wine.

Who murmurs that in these dark days

His lot is cast?

God's hand within the shadow lays

The stones whereon His gates of praise

Shall rise at last.

Turn and o'erturn, O outstretched Hand

Nor stint, nor stay;

The years have never dropped their sand

On mortal issue vast and grand

As ours to-day.

Already, on the sable ground

Of man's despair

Is Freedom's glorious picture found,

With all its dusky hands unbound

Upraised in prayer.

Oh, small shall seem all sacrifice

And pain and loss,

When God shall wipe the weeping eyes,

For suffering give the victor's prize,

The crown for cross.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

This poem was written in strict conformity to the account of the incident as I had it from respectable and trustworthy sources. It has since been the subject of a good deal of conflicting testimony, and the story was probably incorrect in some of its details. It is admitted by all that Barbara Frietchie was no myth, but a worthy and highly esteemed gentlewoman, intensely loyal and a hater of the Slavery Rebellion, holding her Union flag sacred and keeping it with her Bible; that when the Confederates halted before her house, and entered her dooryard, she denounced them in vigorous language, shook her cane in their faces, and drove them out; and when General Burnside's troops followed close upon Jackson's, she waved her flag and cheered them. It is stated that May Qnantrell, a brave and loyal lady in another part of the city, did wave her flag in sight of the Confederates. It is possible that there has been a blending of the two incidents.

Up from the meadows rich with corn,

Clear in the cool September morn.

The clustered spires of Frederick stand

Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Round about them orchards sweep,

Apple and peach tree fruited deep,

Fair as the garden of the Lord

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall

When Lee marched over the mountain-wall;

Over the mountains winding down,

Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

Forty flags with their silver stars,

Forty flags with their crimson bars,

Flapped in the morning wind: the sun

Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,

Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

Bravest of all in Frederick town,

She took up the flag the men hauled down;

In her attic window the staff she set,

To show that one heart was loyal yet.

Up the street came the rebel tread,

Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

Under his slouched hat left and right

He glanced; the old flag met his sight.

"Halt!"—the dust-brown ranks stood fast.

"Fire!"—out blazed the rifle-blast.

It shivered the window, pane and sash;

It rent the banner with seam and gash.

Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff

Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf.

She leaned far out on the window-sill,

And shook it forth with a royal will.

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,

But spare your country's flag," she said.

A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,

Over the face of the leader came;

The nobler nature within him stirred

To life at that woman's deed and word.

"Who touches a hair of yon gray head

Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.

All day long through Frederick street

Sounded the tread of marching feet.

All day long that free flag tost

Over the heads of the rebel host.

Ever its torn folds rose and fell

On the loyal winds that loved it well;

And through the hill-gaps sunset light

Shone over it with a warm good-night.

Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er,

And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

Honor to her! and let a tear

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.

Over Barbara Frietchie's grave,

Flag of Freedom and Union, wave!

Peace and order and beauty draw

Round thy symbol of light and law;

And ever the stars above look down On thy stars below in Frederick town! 1863.

WHAT THE BIRDS SAID.

THE birds against the April wind

Flew northward, singing as they flew;

They sang, "The land we leave behind

Has swords for corn-blades, blood for dew."

"O wild-birds, flying from the South,

What saw and heard ye, gazing down?"

"We saw the mortar's upturned mouth,

The sickened camp, the blazing town!

"Beneath the bivouac's starry lamps,

We saw your march-worn children die;

In shrouds of moss, in cypress swamps,

We saw your dead uncoffined lie.

"We heard the starving prisoner's sighs,

And saw, from line and trench, your sons

Follow our flight with home-sick eyes

Beyond the battery's smoking guns."

"And heard and saw ye only wrong

And pain," I cried, "O wing-worn flocks?"

"We heard," they sang, "the freedman's song,

The crash of Slavery's broken locks!

"We saw from new, uprising States

The treason-nursing mischief spurned,

As, crowding Freedom's ample gates,

The long estranged and lost returned.

"O'er dusky faces, seamed and old,

And hands horn-hard with unpaid toil,

With hope in every rustling fold,

We saw your star-dropt flag uncoil.

"And struggling up through sounds accursed,

A grateful murmur clomb the air;

A whisper scarcely heard at first,

It filled the listening heavens with prayer.

"And sweet and far, as from a star,

Replied a voice which shall not cease,

Till, drowning all the noise of war,

It sings the blessed song of peace!"

So to me, in a doubtful day

Of chill and slowly greening spring,

Low stooping from the cloudy gray,

The wild-birds sang or seemed to sing.

They vanished in the misty air,

The song went with them in their flight;

But lo! they left the sunset fair,

And in the evening there was light.

April, 1864.

THE MANTLE OF ST. JOHN DE MATHA.

A LEGEND OF "THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE," A. D. 1154-1864.

A STRONG and mighty Angel,

Calm, terrible, and bright,

The cross in blended red and blue

Upon his mantle white.

Two captives by him kneeling,

Each on his broken chain,

Sang praise to God who raiseth

The dead to life again!

Dropping his cross-wrought mantle,

"Wear this," the Angel said;

"Take thou, O Freedom's priest, its sign,

The white, the blue, and red."

Then rose up John de Matha

In the strength the Lord Christ gave,

And begged through all the land of France

The ransom of the slave.

The gates of tower and castle

Before him open flew,

The drawbridge at his coming fell,

The door-bolt backward drew.

For all men owned his errand,

And paid his righteous tax;

And the hearts of lord and peasant

Were in his hands as wax.

At last, outbound from Tunis,

His bark her anchor weighed,

Freighted with seven-score Christian souls

Whose ransom he had paid.

But, torn by Paynim hatred,

Her sails in tatters hung;

And on the wild waves, rudderless,

A shattered hulk she swung.

"God save us!" cried the captain,

"For naught can man avail;

Oh, woe betide the ship that lacks

Her rudder and her sail!

"Behind us are the Moormen;

At sea we sink or strand

There's death upon the water,

There's death upon the land!"

Then up spake John de Matha

"God's errands never fail!

Take thou the mantle which I wear,

And make of it a sail."

They raised the cross-wrought mantle,

The blue, the white, the red;

And straight before the wind off-shore

The ship of Freedom sped.

"God help us!" cried the seamen,

"For vain is mortal skill

The good ship on a stormy sea

Is drifting at its will."

Then up spake John de Matha

"My mariners, never fear

The Lord whose breath has filled her sail

May well our vessel steer!"

So on through storm and darkness

They drove for weary hours;

And lo! the third gray morning shone

On Ostia's friendly towers.

And on the walls the watchers

The ship of mercy knew,

They knew far off its holy cross,

The red, the white, and blue.

And the bells in all the steeples

Rang out in glad accord,

To welcome home to Christian soil

The ransomed of the Lord.

So runs the ancient legend

By bard and painter told;

And lo! the cycle rounds again,

The new is as the old!

With rudder foully broken,

And sails by traitors torn,

Our country on a midnight sea

Is waiting for the morn.

Before her, nameless terror;

Behind, the pirate foe;

The clouds are black above her,

The sea is white below.

The hope of all who suffer,

The dread of all who wrong,

She drifts in darkness and in storm,

How long, O Lord I how long?

But courage, O my mariners

Ye shall not suffer wreck,

While up to God the freedman's prayers

Are rising from your deck.

Is not your sail the banner

Which God hath blest anew,

The mantle that De Matha wore,

The red, the white, the blue?

Its hues are all of heaven,

The red of sunset's dye,

The whiteness of the moon-lit cloud,

The blue of morning's sky.

Wait cheerily, then, O mariners,

For daylight and for land;

The breath of God is in your sail,

Your rudder is His hand.

Sail on, sail on, deep-freighted

With blessings and with hopes;

The saints of old with shadowy hands

Are pulling at your ropes.

Behind ye holy martyrs

Uplift the palm and crown;

Before ye unborn ages send

Their benedictions down.

Take heart from John de Matha!—

God's errands never fail!

Sweep on through storm and darkness,

The thunder and the hail!

Sail on! The morning cometh,

The port ye yet shall win;

And all the bells of God shall ring

The good ship bravely in!

1865.

LAUS DEO!

On hearing the bells ring on the passage of the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The resolution was adopted by Congress, January 31, 1865. The ratification by the requisite number of states was announced December 18, 1865.

IT is done!

Clang of bell and roar of gun

Send the tidings up and down.

How the belfries rock and reel!

How the great guns, peal on peal,

Fling the joy from town to town!

Ring, O bells!

Every stroke exulting tells

Of the burial hour of crime.

Loud and long, that all may hear,

Ring for every listening ear

Of Eternity and Time!

Let us kneel

God's own voice is in that peal,

And this spot is holy ground.

Lord, forgive us! What are we,

That our eyes this glory see,

That our ears have heard the sound!

For the Lord

On the whirlwind is abroad;

In the earthquake He has spoken;

He has smitten with His thunder

The iron walls asunder,

And the gates of brass are broken.

Loud and long

Lift the old exulting song;

Sing with Miriam by the sea,

He has cast the mighty down;

Horse and rider sink and drown;

"He hath triumphed gloriously!"

Did we dare,

In our agony of prayer,

Ask for more than He has done?

When was ever His right hand

Over any time or land

Stretched as now beneath the sun?

How they pale,

Ancient myth and song and tale,

In this wonder of our days,

When the cruel rod of war

Blossoms white with righteous law,

And the wrath of man is praise!

Blotted out

All within and all about

Shall a fresher life begin;

Freer breathe the universe

As it rolls its heavy curse

On the dead and buried sin!

It is done!

In the circuit of the sun

Shall the sound thereof go forth.

It shall bid the sad rejoice,

It shall give the dumb a voice,

It shall belt with joy the earth!

Ring and swing,

Bells of joy! On morning's wing

Send the song of praise abroad!

With a sound of broken chains

Tell the nations that He reigns,

Who alone is Lord and God!

1865.

HYMN FOR THE CELEBRATION OF EMANCIPATION AT NEWBURYPORT.

NOT unto us who did but seek

The word that burned within to speak,

Not unto us this day belong

The triumph and exultant song.

Upon us fell in early youth

The burden of unwelcome truth,

And left us, weak and frail and few,

The censor's painful work to do.

Thenceforth our life a fight became,

The air we breathed was hot with blame;

For not with gauged and softened tone

We made the bondman's cause our own.

We bore, as Freedom's hope forlorn,

The private hate, the public scorn;

Yet held through all the paths we trod

Our faith in man and trust in God.

We prayed and hoped; but still, with awe,

The coming of the sword we saw;

We heard the nearing steps of doom,

We saw the shade of things to come.

In grief which they alone can feel

Who from a mother's wrong appeal,

With blended lines of fear and hope

We cast our country's horoscope.

For still within her house of life

We marked the lurid sign of strife,

And, poisoning and imbittering all,

We saw the star of Wormwood fall.

Deep as our love for her became

Our hate of all that wrought her shame,

And if, thereby, with tongue and pen

We erred,—we were but mortal men.

We hoped for peace; our eyes survey

The blood-red dawn of Freedom's day

We prayed for love to loose the chain;

'T is shorn by battle's axe in twain!

Nor skill nor strength nor zeal of ours

Has mined and heaved the hostile towers;

Not by our hands is turned the key

That sets the sighing captives free.

A redder sea than Egypt's wave

Is piled and parted for the slave;

A darker cloud moves on in light;

A fiercer fire is guide by night.

The praise, O Lord! is Thine alone,

In Thy own way Thy work is done!

Our poor gifts at Thy feet we cast,

To whom be glory, first and last!

1865.

AFTER THE WAR.

THE PEACE AUTUMN.

Written for the Fssex County Agricultural Festival, 1865.

THANK God for rest, where none molest,

And none can make afraid;

For Peace that sits as Plenty's guest

Beneath the homestead shade!

Bring pike and gun, the sword's red scourge,

The negro's broken chains,

And beat them at the blacksmith's forge

To ploughshares for our plains.

Alike henceforth our hills of snow,

And vales where cotton flowers;

All streams that flow, all winds that blow,

Are Freedom's motive-powers.

Henceforth to Labor's chivalry

Be knightly honors paid;

For nobler than the sword's shall be

The sickle's accolade.

Build up an altar to the Lord,

O grateful hearts of ours

And shape it of the greenest sward

That ever drank the showers.

Lay all the bloom of gardens there,

And there the orchard fruits;

Bring golden grain from sun and air,

From earth her goodly roots.

There let our banners droop and flow,

The stars uprise and fall;

Our roll of martyrs, sad and slow,

Let sighing breezes call.

Their names let hands of horn and tan

And rough-shod feet applaud,

Who died to make the slave a man,

And link with toil reward.

There let the common heart keep time

To such an anthem sung

As never swelled on poet's rhyme,

Or thrilled on singer's tongue.

Song of our burden and relief,

Of peace and long annoy;

The passion of our mighty grief

And our exceeding joy!

A song of praise to Him who filled

The harvests sown in tears,

And gave each field a double yield

To feed our battle-years.

A song of faith that trusts the end

To match the good begun,

Nor doubts the power of Love to blend

The hearts of men as one!

TO THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS.

The thirty-ninth congress was that which met in 1565 after the close of the war, when it was charged with the great question of reconstruction; the uppermost subject in men's minds was the standing of those who had recently been in arms against the Union and their relations to the freedmen.

O PEOPLE-CHOSEN! are ye not

Likewise the chosen of the Lord,

To do His will and speak His word?

From the loud thunder-storm of war

Not man alone hath called ye forth,

But He, the God of all the earth!

The torch of vengeance in your hands

He quenches; unto Him belongs

The solemn recompense of wrongs.

Enough of blood the land has seen,

And not by cell or gallows-stair

Shall ye the way of God prepare.

Say to the pardon-seekers: Keep

Your manhood, bend no suppliant knees,

Nor palter with unworthy pleas.

Above your voices sounds the wail

Of starving men; we shut in vain *

Our eyes to Pillow's ghastly stain. **

What words can drown that bitter cry?

What tears wash out the stain of death?

What oaths confirm your broken faith?

From you alone the guaranty

Of union, freedom, peace, we claim;

We urge no conqueror's terms of shame.

Alas! no victor's pride is ours;

We bend above our triumphs won

Like David o'er his rebel son.

Be men, not beggars. Cancel all

By one brave, generous action; trust

Your better instincts, and be just.

Make all men peers before the law,

Take hands from off the negro's throat,

Give black and white an equal vote.

Keep all your forfeit lives and lands,

But give the common law's redress

To labor's utter nakedness.

Revive the old heroic will;

Be in the right as brave and strong

As ye have proved yourselves in wrong.

Defeat shall then be victory,

Your loss the wealth of full amends,

And hate be love, and foes be friends.

Then buried be the dreadful past,

Its common slain be mourned, and let

All memories soften to regret.

Then shall the Union's mother-heart

Her lost and wandering ones recall,

Forgiving and restoring all,—

And Freedom break her marble trance

Above the Capitolian dome,

Stretch hands, and bid ye welcome home

November, 1865.

* Andersonville prison.

** The massacre of Negro troops at Fort Pillow.

THE HIVE AT GETTYSBURG.

IN the old Hebrew myth the lion's frame,

So terrible alive,

Bleached by the desert's sun and wind, became

The wandering wild bees' hive;

And he who, lone and naked-handed, tore

Those jaws of death apart,

In after time drew forth their honeyed store

To strengthen his strong heart.

Dead seemed the legend: but it only slept

To wake beneath our sky;

Just on the spot whence ravening Treason crept

Back to its lair to die,

Bleeding and torn from Freedom's mountain bounds,

A stained and shattered drum

Is now the hive where, on their flowery rounds,

The wild bees go and come.

Unchallenged by a ghostly sentinel,

They wander wide and far,

Along green hillsides, sown with shot and shell,

Through vales once choked with war.

The low reveille of their battle-drum

Disturbs no morning prayer;

With deeper peace in summer noons their hum

Fills all the drowsy air.

And Samson's riddle is our own to-day,

Of sweetness from the strong,

Of union, peace, and freedom plucked away

From the rent jaws of wrong.

From Treason's death we draw a purer life,

As, from the beast he slew,

A sweetness sweeter for his bitter strife

The old-time athlete drew!

1868.

HOWARD AT ATLANTA.

RIGHT in the track where Sherman

Ploughed his red furrow,

Out of the narrow cabin,

Up from the cellar's burrow,

Gathered the little black people,

With freedom newly dowered,

Where, beside their Northern teacher,

Stood the soldier, Howard.

He listened and heard the children

Of the poor and long-enslaved

Reading the words of Jesus,

Singing the songs of David.

Behold!—the dumb lips speaking,

The blind eyes seeing!

Bones of the Prophet's vision

Warmed into being!

Transformed he saw them passing

Their new life's portal

Almost it seemed the mortal

Put on the immortal.

No more with the beasts of burden,

No more with stone and clod,

But crowned with glory and honor

In the image of God!

There was the human chattel

Its manhood taking;

There, in each dark, bronze statue,

A soul was waking!

The man of many battles,

With tears his eyelids pressing,

Stretched over those dusky foreheads

His one-armed blessing.

And he said: "Who hears can never

Fear for or doubt you;

What shall I tell the children

Up North about you?"

Then ran round a whisper, a murmur,

Some answer devising:

And a little boy stood up: "General,

Tell 'em we're rising!"

O black boy of Atlanta!

But half was spoken

The slave's chain and the master's

Alike are broken.

The one curse of the races

Held both in tether

They are rising,—all are rising,

The black and white together!

O brave men and fair women!

Ill comes of hate and scorning

Shall the dark faces only

Be turned to mourning?—

Make Time your sole avenger,

All-healing, all-redressing;

Meet Fate half-way, and make it

A joy and blessing!

1869.

THE EMANCIPATION GROUP.

Moses Kimball, a citizen of Boston, presented to the city a duplicate of the Freedman's Memorial statue erected in Lincoln Square, Washington. The group, which stands in Park Square, represents the figure of a slave, from whose limbs the broken fetters have fallen, kneeling in gratitude at the feet of Lincoln. The group was designed by Thomas Ball, and was unveiled December 9, 1879. These verses were written for the occasion.

AMIDST thy sacred effigies

Of old renown give place,

O city, Freedom-loved! to his

Whose hand unchained a race.

Take the worn frame, that rested not

Save in a martyr's grave;

The care-lined face, that none forgot,

Bent to the kneeling slave.

Let man be free! The mighty word

He spake was not his own;

An impulse from the Highest stirred

These chiselled lips alone.

The cloudy sign, the fiery guide,

Along his pathway ran,

And Nature, through his voice, denied

The ownership of man.

We rest in peace where these sad eyes

Saw peril, strife, and pain;

His was the nation's sacrifice,

And ours the priceless gain.

O symbol of God's will on earth

As it is done above!

Bear witness to the cost and worth

Of justice and of love.

Stand in thy place and testify

To coming ages long,

That truth is stronger than a lie,

And righteousness than wrong.

THE JUBILEE SINGERS.

A number of students of Fisk University, under the direction of one of the officers, gave a series of concerts in the Northern States, for the purpose of establishing the college on a firmer financial foundation. Their hymns and songs, mostly in a minor key, touched the hearts of the people, and were received as peculiarly expressive of a race delivered from bondage.

VOICE of a people suffering long,

The pathos of their mournful song,

The sorrow of their night of wrong!

Their cry like that which Israel gave,

A prayer for one to guide and save,

Like Moses by the Red Sea's wave!

The stern accord her timbrel lent

To Miriam's note of triumph sent

O'er Egypt's sunken armament!

The tramp that startled camp and town,

And shook the walls of slavery down,

The spectral march of old John Brown!

The storm that swept through battle-days,

The triumph after long delays,

The bondmen giving God the praise!

Voice of a ransomed race, sing on

Till Freedom's every right is won,

And slavery's every wrong undone

1880.

GARRISON.

The earliest poem in this division was my youthful tribute to the great reformer when himself a young man he was first sounding his trumpet in Essex County. I close with the verses inscribed to him at the end of his earthly career, May 24, 1879. My poetical service in the cause of freedom is thus almost synchronous with his life of devotion to the same cause.

THE storm and peril overpast,

The hounding hatred shamed and still,

Go, soul of freedom! take at last

The place which thou alone canst fill.

Confirm the lesson taught of old—

Life saved for self is lost, while they

Who lose it in His service hold

The lease of God's eternal day.

Not for thyself, but for the slave

Thy words of thunder shook the world;

No selfish griefs or hatred gave

The strength wherewith thy bolts were hurled.

From lips that Sinai's trumpet blew

We heard a tender under song;

Thy very wrath from pity grew,

From love of man thy hate of wrong.

Now past and present are as one;

The life below is life above;

Thy mortal years have but begun

Thy immortality of love.

With somewhat of thy lofty faith

We lay thy outworn garment by,

Give death but what belongs to death,

And life the life that cannot die!

Not for a soul like thine the calm

Of selfish ease and joys of sense;

But duty, more than crown or palm,

Its own exceeding recompense.

Go up and on thy day well done,

Its morning promise well fulfilled,

Arise to triumphs yet unwon,

To holier tasks that God has willed.

Go, leave behind thee all that mars

The work below of man for man;

With the white legions of the stars

Do service such as angels can.

Wherever wrong shall right deny

Or suffering spirits urge their plea,

Be thine a voice to smite the lie,

A hand to set the captive free!

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™

Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility: www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

Table of Contents

ANTI-SLAVERY POEMS

CONTENTS: IN WAR TIME. TO SAMUEL E. SEWALL AND HARRIET W. SEWALL THY WILL BE DONE A WORD FOR THE HOUR "EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT" TO JOHN C. FREMONT THE WATCHERS TO ENGLISHMEN MITHRIDATES AT CHIOS AT PORT ROYAL ASTRAEA AT THE CAPITOL THE BATTLE AUTUMN OF 1862 OF ST. HELENA'S ISLAND, S. C. THE PROCLAMATION ANNIVERSARY POEM BARBARA FRIETCHIE HAT THE BIRDS SAID THE MANTLE OF ST. JOHN DE MATRA LADS DEO! HYMN FOR THE CELEBRATION OF EMANCIPATION AT NEWBURYPORT

IN WAR TIME.

THY WILL BE DONE.

A WORD FOR THE HOUR.

"EIN FESTE BURG IST UNSER GOTT."

THE WATCHERS.

MITHRIDATES AT CHIOS.

AT PORT ROYAL.

SONG OF THE NEGRO BOATMEN.

ASTRAEA AT THE CAPITOL.

THE BATTLE AUTUMN OF 1862.

HYMN,

THE PROCLAMATION.

ANNIVERSARY POEM.

BARBARA FRIETCHIE.

WHAT THE BIRDS SAID.

THE MANTLE OF ST. JOHN DE MATHA.

LAUS DEO!

HYMN FOR THE CELEBRATION OF EMANCIPATION AT NEWBURYPORT.

AFTER THE WAR.

TO THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS.

THE HIVE AT GETTYSBURG.

HOWARD AT ATLANTA.

THE EMANCIPATION GROUP.

THE JUBILEE SINGERS.

GARRISON.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE