The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-01-27
FAREWELL TO 1873.

FAREWELL TO 1873.
rns asAp TO .sUNITY CHURCH FRATERNITY
CHICAGO, AT ITS LAST MEETING.
Ten years ago to-day. my friends
Ten years ago to-day
The clouds OF war were over us,
And peace seemed Tar away,
The strife had lasted then so long
1t seemed 'twould never cease.
And IL sometimes seemed that victory
Was farther of than peace.
The solemn. sombre sound OF drums
Was always In our ears.
A.. regiment by regiment,
Marched forth our volunteers.
<.We're coming, Father Abraham,
Three hundred thousand more.
With straining lungs and aching hearts
We sang the dread encore.
And Ger the president himself,
Our leader strong and steady,
The shadow of his coming COON
Brooded unseen already.
Oar best and dearest marched away
Only to ind a grave;
They Joined the thrOng tnnumeraDle
OF unreturning brave.
AGAINST the solid rebel ranks
our columns storned and Numbered;
The hospitals were Drumming full
And gold almost three hundred!
Those days, dear friends, were sad enough
To this you'll all agree
The days OF war, and waste, and WORK.
The DAYS of sixty-three.
IT, then, anil our double strife
iCiainst bankruptcy and treason,
A ,lafriot.lost heart and hope,
lie had some sort Of reason.
But now, let's look about US
And ace lust where we standl
No war now rears Its horr1d front
In our united land;
And every threatening storm that comes
Our sky to overcast,
But leaves IL clearer, lOVelier
Than ever, when It's past.
The fertile earth pays lavishly
FOR all the work we do,
And one years cotton, grain and pork
Supplies the needs OF two.
No blow so heavy but our strength
Is ample TO endure 1t;
n little time is all the balm
We need apply to cure IL.
Let's see what are some mtseries,
Misfortunes, disappOintments,
In this decade have been repaired
BY times atl-healing ointments-
Chicago burnsl The timid say
That she will rise no more:
Two years roll by, and loi she stands
More glorious than before!
Then dear old Boston follows suit,
Not only in the burning.
But in her happy, hearty style
OF back to life returning.
Then in the Empire City, where
Abuses had arisen,
They break the plots, and burst the rings,
And clap the rOgues in prison:
One victory like that, my friends,
So many evils righting,
Is richly worth to all the land
Ten years corrrption-hghting.
some railways have been built by jobs,
And come to grief financial;
But soon the troubles pass away
The structures are substantial.
Wall Street sends out and builds our roads,
And Wall street fOots the bill:
And then when Wall street goes to smash,
The roads are with us still.
so when the crash came, and the street
stopped payment in dismay,
our banks, not having built the roads,
Could go ahead and pay.)
We ut out the Virginius;
She's captured on the main,-
But, ere we can quarrel pick,
They send her back again.
And now she's sunk where memories
And clam shells cluster round her.
We might have found he troublesome
Bat for that lucky founder!
Here, In our own election,
Our oppOsites prevailed:
And now that we have failed we find
Ills fortunate we fai ed.
Who knows what in labyrinth,
Inextricaoly Gagged,
We might have found ourselves involved.
Or rather say, ENGAGED?
Thus all our reasonable wants
Our kindly Fate supplies,
And even our misfortunes turn
To blessings in disguise.
by all the rules OF common sense,
Low spirits should be banished,
Since all we hoped has come to pass,
And all we feared has vanished.
And yet, and yet, and yet my friends,
It's useless to deny 1t,
i1ANlDR no ROOQ, HOco
Our tempers to disquiet,
We conjurc up unreal ones
With sorcery Satanic,
Dress bugaboOs TO scare ourselves,
And so-we're in a PANEL
No dangers being imminent,
We yet are sore dismayed,
And shake with terror in the fear
That we shall be afraid.
Even so small n circumstance
Az the prevailing lack
OF bits of printed paper tinted
Green upon the bsck,
We magnify into a shape
That takes away our breath,
As IL we'd never known such things
As treason, wounds, and death.
Ten years ago, Our loss and waste
Were of q kind of treasure
That figures never could express
Money could never measure.
Ten little years ago, my friends,
ItWould have seemed like Heaven
To see our Union safe and sound,
And gold at one-eleven!
But then, with panics and stampedes,
There is this one thing sure:
Reason has naught TO 90 with them,-
Can't cause, can't shape, can't cure.
Perhaps you'll say, "Where, then's, the use
OF AL this long grafton?
Let's face the music, own the corn,
Accept the situation;
Make up our minds and be resigned
To do, as do we shall,
The same as all the other mules
In this unferced corral.
am stampe red, so are you,
And blue as blue can be-
a good deal biuer than we were
In eighteen sixty-three;
You needn'G amplify the point:
You needn't think we doubt 1t:
You need but tell US. If you can,
Whist we're 10 do about It."
The boy in the church yard at night
Among the tombs and thistles.
How does he keep his courage up7
He says his prayers, and whistles.
Let's boldly f. ont these monstrous shapes
They soon will be laid low;
Alive or dead, they're naught to us,
Unless we make them so.
These spectres we have conjured up,
That nov loom so immense,
Esteem them Is they will appear
Looked back at ten years hence.
In eighty three some other man
May stand up here and say:
-'What ucklish times there seemed to be
Ten years ago to-day"
Let's keep this sterling fact In view,
In former times well known,
Namely: It's union gives us strength
We're towards " hen alone.
Shoulder 70 shoulder, hand In hand,
We'll fight the dread chimera,
And thus In patience work and wait
For sOme more prosperous era.
Let's show ourselves md all the world
Our spines are bone, not glistle;
ct those who can all say their prayers,
And (you seel can whistle.
- q