Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-01-21

lie feels such weakness a disgrace
Both to his head and heart.
His calling sometimes takes him where
Wealth, worth, grace, beauty, all unite;
And lovely tones arrest his ear,
And lovely looks his sight
And much he thinks-and half he sighs-
Yet ere his welcome work is done,
He longs for home, and Mary's eyes,
And for his p~rattling san.
His labor hath been light to-day;
And wife and child before him sleep;
And he has pass'd the half-spent night
In study close and deep.
The lamp burns dim the fire is low
The book is closed wherein he read;
But wildly swell the streams OF Thought
lis fountain-pages fed.
With eyes liked calmly on the floor,
But varying and expressive face,
He cons the lesson DER and DER
The history Of his race.
And much he finds of word and deed,
Whose virtue is example now;
But more than makes his bosom bleed,
And darkens DER his brow -
The thirst for wealth-the strife for power
The ~easeless struggle for
The daring that hath seized a realm,
Or caught a wavering crown-
The manhood that hath tamely bent
And falfn beneath tyrannic sway
The balk'd resistance, that hath lent
Its darkness TO the day -
But chiefly this it is that fills
The swelling volume of his mind
The countless wrongs and c~ruelties
That have Oppressed his kind.
And viewing them, upon his brain
His own hard struggles darkly throng ;
And as he feels their weight again,
He also dreams Of wrong:
Wrong TO himself, and wrong to all
Who bear the burthens he hath borne:
"a yoke! !" up starting he exclAims,
Sand oh, how meekly worn!"
But as he reads Life's riddle still,
He feels, with sudden change of mood,
The stern, the indomitable will,
That never was subdued.
The will, not 10 destroy, but build |!
Not the blind Might, of old renown,
Which took the pillars in its grasp,
And shook the temple down
DNh 'i'hh "hCoN HbNiShN OiNlS1
Works ever upward, without rest,
Until the pierced and parted sea
Rolls from its coral breast.
In the dim freight, for a while,
His tall form.moveth to and fro;
Then by the couch of those he loves,
He stops, and bendeth low.
Oh, holy love oh, blessed kiss (!
Ye ask not splendor-bide not pow'r-
But in a humble home like this,
Ye have your triumph hour!
He sleeps-but even on his dreams
Obtrudes the purpose of his soul:
He wanders where the living streams
OF Knowledg &c brightly roll;
And where men win their own good ways,
Nor yield to doubt, or dark despair,
In dreams his bounding spirit strays-
In dreams he triumphs there.
With stronger arm, with mightier heart,
Than he hath felt or known before,
When comes the morrow's hour of toll,
He'll leave his humble door.
No wavering hence he'll know-no rest
Until the new-ssen goal be won;
But firm and calm, and self possessed,
Bear resolutely on.
And this it is, that year by year,
Through which nor faith nor hope grows
less,
Pursued, shall crown his high career
With honor and success.
This-this it is that marks HE man!
Dare thou, then, meath whose studious eve
This lesson lies, rouse up at once,
And on myself rely
Give to thy free soul freest thought;
And whatsoe'er it prompts thee do,
That manfully, year in year out,
With all thy might pursue.
What though thy name may not be heard
Afar, or shouted through the town,
Thou'lt win a higher need of praise,
A worlhier renown.
Press on, then Earth has need of thee!
The metal at the forge is red
The axe is rusting by the tree;
The grain hangs heavy in the head.
Heed not who works not-kdOr thou!
Lay bravely hold, nor pause, nor shrink
Lies Rubicon is here-and stand
Not dubious on the brink!
The seeds of mind are sown
In every human breast;
But dormant lie, unless we own
The spirits high behest!
Look outwardly and LEARN,
Turn inwardly and THINK; -.
And Truth and Love shall brighter burn
Der Errors wasting brink.