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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

THE Quaker of the olden time! How calm and firm and true, Unspotted by its wrong and crime, He walked the dark earth through. The lust of power, the love of gain, The thousand lures of sin Around him, had no power to stain The purity within. With that deep insight which detects All great […]

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.–MATTHEW vii. 12. BEARER of Freedom’s holy light, Breaker of Slavery’s chain and rod, The foe of all which pains the sight, Or wounds the generous ear of God! Beautiful yet thy temples rise, Though there profaning gifts are […]

Written on reading pamphlets published by clergymen against the abolition of the gallows. I. THE suns of eighteen centuries have shone Since the Redeemer walked with man, and made The fisher’s boat, the cavern’s floor of stone, And mountain moss, a pillow for His head; And He, who wandered with the peasant Jew, And broke […]

This poem was addressed to those who like Richard Cobden and John Bright were seeking the reform of political evils in Great Britain by peaceful and Christian means. It will be remembered that the Anti-Corn Law League was in the midst of its labors at this time. GOD bless ye, brothers! in the fight Ye […]

Some leading sectarian papers had lately published the letter of a clergyman, giving an account of his attendance upon a criminal (who had committed murder during a fit of intoxication), at the time of his execution, in western New York. The writer describes the agony of the wretched being, his abortive attempts at prayer, his […]

(First poem in a group Songs of Labor poems) Prefixed to the volume of which the group of six poems following this prelude constituted the first portion. I WOULD the gift I offer here Might graces from thy favor take, And, seen through Friendship’s atmosphere, On softened lines and coloring, wear The unaccustomed light of […]

(Second poem in a group Songs of Labor poems) Ho! workers of the old time styled The Gentle Craft of Leather Young brothers of the ancient guild, Stand forth once more together! Call out again your long array, In the olden merry manner Once more, on gay St. Crispin’s day, Fling out your blazoned banner! […]

(Third poem in a group Songs of Labor poems) HURRAH! the seaward breezes Sweep down the bay amain; Heave up, my lads, the anchor! Run up the sail again Leave to the lubber landsmen The rail-car and the steed; The stars of heaven shall guide us, The breath of heaven shall speed. From the hill-top […]