The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-01-14

QUESTION ana Will w
He was repeatedly mobbed and CONTRACTED
and finally murdered by q pra-slaVery
mob. a martyr to the cause of free speech
and press. His brother SOwen minister
in Illinois. made VOW to avepge the
murder of his brother by devotlng ms
life to the obstruction OF slavery Wnlon
had been the cause. He entered polltlcai
life and alsoscamesto Congress from LII
nois in the midst of that game '1rrepres-
sible conflict" in 1866. Here and every
where. in public and in private life, ne
used all his energy, and his wonderful
elooueuce against human slavery, as an
autnor has said, ''amidst fierce threats
and insults. and often in peril OF as
sassination. ! will quote here re-
markable and most prophetic speech de-
livered in Congress, amlast stolms VI
abuse and threatened violence, on the
fifth of March 1860. 1t will be remem-
cred that the situation had been greatly
intensified by the John Brown raid ano
tragedy only few months before. Al
dressing the Southern memb ers he said.
HYou. who advocate the perpeuuity OF
slavery, are like a lot OF madcaps VINO
should place themselves on the top OF an
iceberg which had separated ltselI rom
tbs frozen regions of the NORTH, and ne
aun the float downward, and downward,
through the warm climates. The sun
shines and melts it, the soft winds bio "
and melt it. the warm rain des eends and
melts 1T, the waters ripple AROUND IL anu
melt it. and then these wild vlslonar2e5,
who fancied they could sail an lcenerg
through the tropics, tnding tnaG tnelr
craft il dissolying beneath them, start up
and blasnhems the sun and rain and
zephyr, and, mounting the heavens, tell
Jehovah that unless he stops the shining
of the sun, the blowing OF the winds,
and the falling of the rain, they will
Bile bisauniverse from turret to
foundation stone Do you think that
God would feel bad? and would the
arohangels trem BILE at the oh1valry! You
may call this extraVagant, pu1 you can
no more perpetuats slavery, and you Will
no more dissolve this Union in order to
perpetuate il, than you can stop the shin
ing of the sun, the ripple of the sea, the
falling of the rain or the blowing OF the
wind; nav, no more than you can sub
due the ocean, when 1T lashes itself INTO
fury and dashes its mountain pillows
against the rocks. 1t Is as prepostefous
to think of taking slavery down through
the civilization of the ages, as to think
of floating an iceberg through the tropics
! say you can do anything that other
men can do, 70 caD preserve and per-
petuate this system if any equal number
of men can do it; but the stars in their
course are against you. God in his pTovi-
dence is against you. You must sacrlhce
slavery for the good of your country.
Do this. and you will have the sympathy
and the prayers, and the cooperation of
theseptjre nation. Refuse or neglect
this-refuse to proclaim liberty through
all the land. and to all the Inhabitants
thereof, and the exodus of the slave Will
be through the Red Sea-
How near that exodus was, and how
red was that sea, need not here be TOLD.
II. - 80 oo1,h 1r
the Love1oys, s. s. Prs ntiss, Portland
boy and q graduate of Bowdotn college.
had won great fame infConpress as rep
resentative from the state of Mississippi.
for his remarkable eloquence and power
as debater Unfortunately he died at
40 victim of yellow fever.
Portland's immortal poet WAS also in
touch with this stormy period. In the
fervor of his youth he wrote that grand
apostrophe to the Union:
"Thou tooTsail on o Ship OF State
Sail on Union strong and great.
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years
Is hanging breathless on thy fate.
We know what master laid that heel
What workman wrought thy ribs of steel
Who made each mast and sail and rope
What anVils rang what hammers beat
In what a forge and what heat
We're shaped the anchors of thy hope.
Fear not each sudden sound and shock;
TITS of the wave and not the rock;-
TITS but the Tapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale.
In spite of rock and tempests roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on nor fear to breast the sea,
Our hearts our hopes are all with thee;-
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our
tears,
Our faith, triumphant DER our fears,
Are all with thee,-are all with thee!"
These lines are full of tender solicit
tude,-exaIted .2atriotisni, -unbounded
faith, but not word of bitterness for
those who were threat ening to destroy
the Union.
We must not forget to name some of
the women who have won honor for our
state.
&c Backward-turn backward o Time in
your flight;
Make me child again, just for to-
night"
short lines. A refined woman in middle
life is presented, whose sensitive heart
has grown weary Of life's cares, chilled by
the worlds Indifference, buffeted by its
selGshness or stung ny it's disappoint-
ments, until, in the silence of midnight,
it breaks out into ecstatic supplication
for ono more taste uf ohj1dhood-one
more taste of that charmed existence
which the Master has likened to the
Kingdom of Heaven itself. One more
taste, no matter how brief-"just for
tonight. - And how the pathos is inten-
sified by the fact that this troubled
SOULS petition must be made to the
swiuger OF the pitiless soythe THAT
grizzly old personifcation whose heart
has been turned to stone by the havoc be
has wrought, along the pathway of the
ages:
Backward, turn backward o Time in
your flight,
Make me child again, just for to-
night
Mother, come back from the echoless
shore;
Take me again in your arms as of yore,
Kiss from my forehead the burrows of
care,
Smooth the few silver threads out of my
hair
Over my SAUNDERS your loving watch
keep
Rock me to sleep mother, rock me to
cloap