Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-01-22


High shall our affairs fires burn,
And proudly beat our hearts to-day.
And thou thou ancient holiday,
We hail thee with a new delight
Since hopes bright beams and freedoms ray
Has dawned upon the bondsman's night
Dawned on his night and interspersed
y deathleSs yearning to be free;
Aheaven-approved and burning thirst
Ihat naught can quench but liberty
liberty what charms so great!
One radiant smile, one look of thine,
Can change the dropping bondsman's tate
And light his brow with hope divine;
His manhood wrapped in rayless gloom,
At thy approach throws off its pail,
And rising up, from the tomb,
Stands forth defiant of the thrall.
No tyrant's power can crush the soul
Illum'd by thine inspiring ray;
The fiendishness of base control
Flees thy approach night from day.
Ride onward i'll thy chariot ride,
Ihou peerless queen, ride on, ride on
lth truth and justice by thy side
From pole to pole, from sun to sun,
Nor lnger in our bleeding South,
Nor domicil with race or clan
But in thy glorious goings forth,
BE thy benlgnant object man,
OF every Cline of every hue,
O1 every tongue, of every race,
Meath Heavens broad, ethereal blue;
Oh let thy radiant smiles embrace;
I'LL neither slave. nor one oppressed,
Remain throughout creations span,
BY thee unpitled and unblest
OF all the progeny of man.
We fan would have the world aspire
To that proud height of free desire,
Whose archery skill none could excci,)
When once upon his Alpine brow,
He stood reclining on his bow,
And saw, careering in his might
In all his majesty of hight
\ lordly eagle float and swing
Upon his broad. untran,rIeled wing
lie bent his bow, he poised his dart
With full intent to pierce the heart
But as the proud bird nearer drew
His stalwart arm unsteady grew,
His arrow fingered III the groove
The cord unwilling seemed to move,
For there he saw persOnIied
That freedom which had been his pride;
And as the eagle onward sped,
Der lofty hill and towering tree,
lie dropped his bow, he bowed his head;
lie could not shoot; twas Liberty ="
The crowd now marched back to the coun
Gil chamber Of the - Union League Of Amer
ica,' fife and drum playing the while .. Yes
We'll rally round the flag, boys . and wei
did they illustrate their devotion to that flag
that brought them freedom, eternal freedom
by lowering closer and closer around the stat
that bore it. And as the company halteC
before thoir council chamber, the sun, hith
erto hidden from human vision, shed few o.
its setting rays upon the band of patriots
thus giving cheer and courage to the heart.
of many a loyalist.
The rebels were also at work on this day.
doing all they could, resorting to every device
that their fertile brains lin this direction)
could invent to decoy the colored men from
their duty and the friends of their choice
One of their prominent men made an APP
pointment at the state capitol, at 10 \. NJ
to speak to the cOlored masses Of the city
as To their future prospects, and =. their best
friends " but his speech, if delivered at all
was to the deaf ears of empty chairs and va
cant galleries, for their occupants were lis
tening to a different story, from different
friends. But Judge Rice, failing in this
was not TO be beat without another trial Sc
by means of puny brass band, crowd ol
about five hundred men, majority white, were
assembled at a prominent corner, where the
Judge, standing on the steps of the building
and by sundry gesticulatIons reminding one
of the motions of a rooster just before he
crows, began to speak his piece. But a.
NAV be imagined. when the Stars and
Stripes came floating by, the colored men
in the crowd bid - their best friends = cool
good bye, and joined their ertcD,ics-joined
the men, however, who had listened to
speeches not prompted by 'rhiskeya and rerenge
The crowd was a slceeping erotcd, for after
they passed, there were not twenty black men
left to listen to the maddening insults and
abuse heaped upon their loyal leaders by a
partially drunken judge.
Such was emancipation day in Montgom-
ery-the first day Of the New Year, and the
fifth anniversary of emancipation
1t is my prayer, and should he that of
every Christian patriot, that these men who
are now battling against oppression and al
most every obstacle may live to see perfect
peace fully restored, and to live lives free from
every oppression and every rebel threat.