Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1866-07-05
fHE DEATH OF SLAVERY.



thou great Wrong that through the slow paced yea"
Didst hold thy millions feitered. and didst WELD
The scourge that drove the laborer to the he'd'
Aud look with stony eyes human tears, .
Thy cruel reign is o,erj
.. Thy bundmeu crouch no more ...
In teffpf al the menRce ot Time eyyj mn. 49, I
For lie who marks the bounds OF guilty power
Long SUITE ring hath heard the capuve's cry;
Aid touched his shackles at the appointed hour;
And 10, they fall aud he whose limbs they CALLED
Stands hl his native manhood, disen'iralIed
A shout Of Joy from the redeemed is sent;..
. fen thousand hamlets swell the hymn Of hanks
Our rivers roll exulting aud their banks
Send up hosannas 10 the armament
I -II1 Fields. where the bondman's toll
a,rl, No more shall trench the coil, .....
Seem now TO bnsk IN sereiier day;
iPhe ,nesdow.birds sing sweeter aud The aifs
OF heaven with more caressng sofness play,
. Welcoming ina, to liberty ike theirs
a glory clothes the land from sea 10 sea-, ... . 10
For the g,eai land aud all its coasts are free .p
Within that land wer thou enihroned Of late, srH
And they by whom the nations laws were made,
And they who filled its Judgment seats obeyed
Thy msndata, rigid as the'will Of fate .tt.
N Fierce men al thy right hand,
bio & with gesture Of command, tu 'r
Gave forth the word that might dare gainsay;
And grave and reverend ones, who loved thee not,
Shrank from thy presence. and, in blank ~ may,
Choked down unuitered. the rebellions Thought
While meaner cowarJs. InnglinS with thy Train,
Proved, from the book Of God thy righ' 10 reign
Great as thou vert and feared from shore to shore
u The wrath Of God o'erook thee in thy pride
Thou siitst ghasty shadow by thy side ...
Thy once strong arms hang nervcless everutore.
.;. And they who quaed hut now
l' Before thy lowering brow
Devote thy memory 10 scorn aud shame,
Aud scof at the pale, powerless thing thou arr
Aud they who ruled in thine imperial name,
subdued, and standing sulleny spuft. ...
Scowl al the hands that overthrew thy eign G.
Aud shattered at bo~ the prisoners cham.
Well was thy doom deserved; thou ddst mol spare
life's tenderesl ties, but cruelly didst part .-
Husband and wife and from the mo hers heart
Ddst her children. deaf TO shrek and prayer
= Thy inner lair became if .iH." e
eco The haunt Of guilty shame; .r. ...;
The lash dropped blood the murderer. at my side
Show ed his red hands. nor feared the vengeance due
Thou dids earth with crimes and, far and wide,
I A harvest of uncounled misrres grew,
Unt the measure of Thy sins at last ts,r e, ,.,'
Was full, and then the aveiiging bolt was cast ..
Co. them accursed OF God aud take thy place 81 ..i
With baleful memories OF the elder time, l.s,z
With many a wasting pest. and nameless crime,
And bloody war that thiined the human race;r
With tie Black Death. whose way
.u Through wailing cities lay, --'f ..t
Worship OF Moloch. tyrannes that built
The Pyramids. an,t cruel creeds that taught ..-.
To aven.e In ncied guilt by deeper guilt
Death al the stake % those that he d them not.
Lo the foul phan,ons, silent IN the gloon .#..
OF the flown ages part yell thee room.
see the better years that hasten by
Z CarEy'th back into that shadowy past,
l. Where M the dusty spaces. void and va t. 10 .
The graves of those whom thou hast murdered lie.
i''f''7 The sin ,e-p pen. through whose door
H.rr Thy virtims pass o more .4...H --.-
Is there, aud there shall the grim block remain a
Al which the slave sold Will al thy feet
Scourees and engines of restraint and pain ''
Moulder rust by thine eternal sent 10 oils g
There mid the symbols that proclaim thy CRIMES,
Dwell thou. warning 10 the coiniliS times.
-lAuantic Monthly, for July.