The Shasta courier., 1867-11-16
" Dignum ct justum est,
Kquum ct salutare."

Dlgnum ct Justum est,
Equum ct salutare.'
To chant thy dirge in fitting, worthy words
Our time is too perturbed, our souls to vain
Where may we find. 0 Lincoln accents strong
Wherewith to Faint thy rugged, wondrous traits
Can onr tongue, nursed at the feet of kings,
On whom 1t pours unceasing batteries,
Can it in verse plebian and robust
Sing the death-song of a great citizen?
Let me essay-thy virtue be my theme;
inspire me though with accents worthy her,
In which, without or pomp or spendor vain,
Simplicity shall into grandeur rise.
Ere yet an age had passed the Atlantic saw
The new America born her shores
Springing to life and grow tn, the arena vast,
Fruitful aud free--free to all humankind,
Where the old world herswarming millions sent
And where in Natures bosom man again
Returned to freedom, as the metal grows
Pure in the erueible. Now striding on
with rapid bounds did the young nation reach
Inc great Paclhc, there to set bound
To the Collussus of the frozen North
who casts his threatening shadow over US,
Whose icy feet tread on three continents
Thus to despotic power rod seemed to saw
= No farther go y Eternal justice now
Holds its divine balance DER the globe,
-i"hiiS tAlS iiCS ouAE ldllu 10 rise anu DlOOm,
And show the astonished world the spectacle
OF great State self governed. sef-sustained
But IN her greatness lurkcd the germ of death,
a deep, devouring canker gnawed her breast
Slavery most hideous her laws deformed;
She whose foul chains outrage two souls at once,
Victor and victim bind in one dread bond
branding the master deeper than the slave.
The nation saw the curse that grew with time,
Tend onward to its fatal end and knew
That She m ust off r;-b
Then, like a hero, with firm hand and sure
She pucked the iron from her dreadful wound,
And bravcly washed away the STAIN in blood
Alas how freely and how purely it flowed
When Lincoln to the helm of State was called
America was drifting toward the rocks
Like disabled, storm-tossed ship at sea;
The day of dreadful reconing had come
The winds of discord whistled through the sails,
And rent the flag of stars doubt and dismay
Seized on the gallant ship about to plunge
Into the yawning gulf which opened wide
He came, sad and alone-God his soul guide
With firm intrepid gaze saw the dire i'll
Without reproach he seized the helm,
And through four years, four dark tempestuous
years,
Calm in defeat as calm in victory,
He saw at length the fearful storm subsde
The.wav retire. lulled by his sovereign voice.
The sound of discord stihcd dies away,
And the brave pilot sigh the distant port.
To him the slave holds forth his unbound arms,
And peace and mercy wait on all his steps.
But the grand drama has bloodier act
Blind hatred now to the vast hecatomb
of martyrs slain the last great victim adds
Lincoln falls pleading at the assassins feet
".
Die then, but die content, since ere they closed
Thine eyes beheld the day of Justice dawn,
Ard at thy bidding whole race oppressed
Rise up and gain the dignity of man,
Offamily, of citizen, Of law.
nations crime to expiate thy life
Thy great soul offered as a sacrifice,
And God accepted it, Oh happy thou.
The glory of thy country, thy great name
The legacy to our degenerate age,
Snpplanting the false grandeur Of the Past
model rare with moral beauty crowned,
Gentleness, justice, and simplicity.
Hero and Christian, Child of Liberty,
Our age is proud of thee, great honest man =
Honest and dear The heroes of old Rome
Thou dost not pale before. Democracy
Shall to thy virtues point, and say with PRIDE
| too my Cincnnatuses can boast
Upward and onward was thy course of life,
Whose every step was nearer to the goal
The newer of wood, the unlettered laborcr,
Selftaught, set his firm foot the first round.
Ardent and eager on he took his way,
Higher and higher, to a wider field
Up from the forum to the height of State.
Made by the people, love Chief Magistrate.
But not enough one higher step remains,
One glory still-the palm of martyrdom
lis his; and now, o Lincoln, thou canst die,
Earth and its grandeur hath more for thee.
Thus ddst thou die but why did mocking Fate
Reserve for thee Cazar's destiny
Scorner of freedom and of humankind
Upon what sacred right hadst thou laid hand ?
When didst thou seek thine own wrongs to
avenge?
When did tt covetuous lust of power lead thee,
In the States name, to trampe the weak
Thou didst not blight nor veil fair Liberty,
Type of a nations head, great citizen,
Good, simple grand, thou only knewest it not
Alas! when thou didst fall, at that dread stroke
Evil had done its work the hour had come
vi triumph for thy hearts great clemency,
The erowning glory of all conquerers.
On, with what flial care, what tenderness,
Nouldst thou thy bleeding country have raised
up,
And IN her bosom, rent with nameless wounds,
Have poured oblivion, pardon, and peace.
How gentle was the soul in thy rude FORM
hat hidden sweetness lay in thy great strength /;
How simple, childlike, guileless was thy heart
Thou gentle statesman-lon nursed with milk !
VI.
For thee, thou mine, fired with the assassin 5
part,
Blind criminal, whom Ravaillac awaits
Among the parreides, didst thou not know
That step by step does vengeance follow crime !?
That thought, immortal thought, no sword can
harm,
No power can conquer not like it divine
That who would slay it only aids its growths?
Did the blow struck by Brutus save the world
From the oppressors chain No Caesars blood
The royal purple of 0ctavius dyed;
In Plato Socrates still lived and spoke;
Luther, Melanethon, Huss bequeathed his foes ;
Joan of Arc, upon her funeral pyre
Transformed, became the angel of the land:
And Christ, in dying on the shameful cross,
Saved lost world, that henceforth hailed him
God
VII.
Lincoln, sleep now in peace Thy memory,
Girt with a double halo, will remain;
In GOOD men 5 hearts thy name will evor live