Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-08-02
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE.

hen VINO talk as much as Hon. lhOmaS
Williams, NJ. G. from AlleghanE, do not al
ways talk wisely or well but the following
apoStrophe to the martyred Lincoln is un-
surpassed by any of the many tributes paid
TO his name and memory. 1t is as chaste
and beautiful as it is eloquent:
Rest then, honored shade Spirit of the
gentle Lincoln rest! No stain of innocent
blood is on thy hand. No widows tears
no orphan wall shall ever trouble thy re-
pose. No Acquiring struggle between the
conflicting claims Of mercy and justice shall
affiIct the more. Thou art but gone to
swell the long procession of that noble army
of martyrs, who left their places vacant at
the family board to perish for the faith in
Southern dungeons, or to leave their bones
unburied, or ridged with countless graves
the soil that they have won and watered
with their blood. Though lost to US, thou
art not lost to memory. The benefactors of
mankind live beyond the grave. For thee
death ushers in the life that will not die.
Thy deet.s will not die with thee, nor the
cause or nation which was aimed at in the
mortal blow that laid thee low What
though no sculptured column shall arise to
mark the sepulchre and proclaim to future
times, the broad humanity, the true nobili-
ty of soul, the moderation In success, that,
by the confession OF his harshest critics,
have crowned the untutored and uupretend-
ing child Of prairlas, as the King Of men ?"
W hat though the quiet woodland cemetery
that shelters thy remains, and wooS the
pilgrim to its leafy shades, shall show no
cenetaph-no offering save those which the
hand of affection plants, or that of nature
sheds upon the hallowed mound that marks
thy resting place? What though the muse
of history who registers thy acts, and
inscribes thee high among the favored few
to whom COP has given the privilege Of
promoting the happiness Of theit kind,
ST ould tah to record so quiet and unobtru-
sive virtues that cluster around the hearth
and heart and shrink from the glare Of day?
There is a chronicler more faithful that will
take thy story up where history may leave
write it in the chancery of Heaven, while
the lips of childhood will be taught to re-
peat the tragic tale until memory shall mel
low into the golden light Of Tradition, and
pcesy shall claim the story for Its theme.
But long ere this-even now in our day and
generation-the cotton fields and the rice
swamps Of the South will oe vocal with thy
praise, while the voice of the emauci ipated
white man shall swell the choral harmony
that ascends from the lips of the dusky child
OF the troT les, as he lightens his daily toll
now sweet because no longer unreGuitted-
by extemporizing his simple gratitude in I'M
premeditated laws in honor of the good
President who died to make him free The
mightiest potentates Of earth have labored
vaimly to secure a place in the memories and
the regards of men, by dazzling exhibitions
Of their power to enslave. Both Mempl ian
and Asyrian kings, whose very names had
perished but for the researches OF the learn
ed, have sought to perpetuate their deeds
and glory, in the rock tombs of the Nile,
and the unbnried has beliefs of Ninevah
and Babylon, covered with long trains of
sorrowing captives manacled, and bound,
dragged along to swell the victor triumphs,
or, perhaps, as .votive offerings 10 the tenn
pies of their bestial gods 1t was reserved
for thee to find surer road to fame by no
parade of conquest. No mournful train Of
trails either graces or degrades
thy triumph. The subjugated are free, and
the hereditary bondsman drops his CALLING
chain, and feels that he is once more a man.
If the genius or sculpture should seek to
preserve thy name, it viii present thee lift
ing from the abject posture, and leading by
the hand, with gentle solicitation, the enfran-
chised millions of subject race, and laying
down their fetters as a free-wll offering up
on the altars of that GoD, who is the com
mon Father of mankind.