The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1922-06-17
PRESENT cRiA.s

lion Wheihef ot not X WAS wrong TO
how'd black men as slaves WAS very
earnest III our country The people
we're taking sides upon the question.
Mtasuros were propoaeu In Congress
and m public meetings which indlc6ted
that the question might be settled By
act Of Congress- II was the general
feeling that crisis had been reached
and Chat slavery must be abolished In
our country or he more directly recog.
mixed and sustained By the Federal
Government Hence. LoWells subject
The Present Crisis. i was only 9
few nionlhs inter The poem was PUB
iiep that ne Wilnlot Proyiso' was
introduced NJ Congress- which was the
first definite proposition voted on in
Congress to prevent the extensl6n Of
slavery into new terrisors 4 was de-
fe8ffd In the Scnete The resi- crisis
did not come until 1850
This u amone the noblest Of low
ellis poems, and is particularly mark
Cd BY 1ifoctness and simplicity Of
style It was written as an appeal to
The siumbering consclerae Of the
nation and had most powerful effect
And glad Truths vet nightier MN
When deed Is done for Freedog
through the broad earth's achine
breast
Runs thrill Of Joy prophetic, tren-
bling on from east Ia west,
And the slave. where.er he covers
feels the s0 within him climb
TO the awful erec Of manhood, as the
energy sublime
or century surat fllilblossomed on
the thorny stem Of Time.
Through the alls OF hut and palace
shoots the ipstantaneous throe,
When the trava. ~ the Ages wrings
eafth's systems to ana fro;
AT the birth OF each nav Era. with a
recognizing start
Nation wildly looks 81 nalion, standing
with mute lips arart,
And glad Trnlh'y vet mightier cam.
child leaps beneath the future
heart
III
SO the Epsi's triumph eendcth, with
terror and chill.
Under continent TO continent. the sense
OF coming III,
And the slave, wherever ne covers,
feels his ayinpathies with God
In hot tear.drops ebbing earIhward. to-
be drunk up BY the sod,
Til a corpse craWls round unbnried,
delVing Ia the nobler clod.
~
For mankind are one IN spirit. and an
instinct hears along,
Round the earfh's electric circle, the
swift nash OF right or wrong
Whether conscious o. unconscious, yet
Hnmanity's vast frame
Through It's ocean-sundered ilbres feels
the gnsh OF Joy or shame
In the gain or loss Of one race all the
rest have equal claim.
"
Once to every man and nation comes
the moment to decide,
In the strife OF Truth with Falsehood,
for the good or evil side;
Some treat cause, Gods new Messiah,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and
the sheep upon the right
And the choice goes by forever 'tWlxt
II|NI UIINnErN anu tANN AtEAtt
vi
Hast thon chosen, Q my people, on
whose party thou shalt stand,
Ere the Doom from its worn sandals
shakes the dust against our land2
Though The cause of Evil prosper, yet
lis Truth alone IL strong,
And. albeit she wander outcast now,
see around her throng
Troops OF beautiful. tall angels, to en-
sh.sid her from all wrong.
WI
backward look across the ages and the
ueacon.momente see,
That. like peaks of some sunk conti-
nent. jnt through Obllvion's sea;
Not an ear in court or market for the
low foreboding cry
or these Crises. Gods stern winnow-
ers, from whose feet earths chan
must fly:
Never shows the choice momeptous till
the judgment hath passed by.
VIII
Careless seems the great Ayenger; his
tory's pages but record
One Aeath Rrapple in the darkness
tftxt old systems and the Word
Trr a forever on the scaffold, Wrong
forever OH the throne
Yet that scaffcld sways the future,
behind the dim unknown.
andefh God witfn lhe shadow,
keeping watch ab6ss his own.
TX
We zee dialy in the Present what III
small and what is great,
Slow OF faith how weak an arm may
turn the iron helm OF fate,
But the soul Is still oracnIar; amid the
markets din.
list the ominoua stern whisper from
the DeIphic cave Within
aThev enalave their childrens children
who make compromise with sin.
X
Slavery. the earth-born Cyclops, fellest
Of the giant brood,
Sons OF british Force and Darkness,
who have drenched the earth with
N plood
sdilshtt "a aib seIl-naade resort blind
ed by bur pureE day,
sropes In yet unbIasted regions for
his miserabIe prey N;
shah we guide his gerry fingers where
on helpless childreh playG
XII
Then TO side the Truth IL noble when
Ne share her wretched crust
Ere her cause bring fame and profit
and It's prosperous to be just.
Then II Is tho brave man chooses,
while the coward stands aside,
Soubtsng IN hi~ abieci sEslrit, till his
Lord is crDcilied.
And the multitude make virtue Of the
feitf they hed denied
Corat me Ger earth's chosen heroes
they were souls ghat stood alone,
While the men they agonixed fol