Year: 1859




himself yoke-fellow with negro Of the same age
"a smarter boy than himself, Gays the old man,
more capable, brighter and yet be was balf-star-
ved snubbed, oppressed, turned out to the ee-
ments treated like beast ard he snid to him
self (this thoughtful boy of ten years old) why
should black skin make that difference between
me and him p and he has never been able to
answer this question till to-day. His whole life
has been an effort to answer it; and If Virginia
sends him to his audit we may believe that the
Supreme Judge will hold that be has answered it
at last. Look at him there in that Armory mot
an unnecessary act Of violence, not one moment
provoked into Incorporate acton-nether by ths
death of kindred nor by the rudeness Of assalants
provoked into d Forgctfnl moment What scene
can history paint for us moro impressive Thank
God, it is American scene. Then that old
poor man, brought up at his mothers knees, and
taught, in the language of inspiration, that be
that loveth father or mother more than me is not
worthy Of me- leaves wife and children, poor
frendless, stands behind that armory wall. one
hand holding the musket, and tho other trying
the pulse of his dying son-match it in the sub
lime moments of human patience, human disinter-
estedness and human daring (applausel. Wha,
q contrast to the State of Virginia--what a reye-
lEiion Of national character. The man who inhc-
ted three wounds upon his body testfes, With
shameless pride, bearing q military title, that he
entered that Armory, saw unarmed defence
less man, who had acknowledged his surrender
and was pointed nut to him as John Brown, al
vances toward him with his sword, and woun Is
him through the body; the old man, folding his
arms, bares his head and the wretch repeats the
blow on his uncovered head ('Shame ? Shame y.
The man who asked Gould you have the heart to
strike the blow p L would have cut his head off
with another said the chivalry of Virginia.
demeanor, q proper representative of what the
Northern idea should be Could we ask better
oymbol for historyG Do you say that the world
iorgets him / tell you that such instances are
not alone. They symbolic a universal feeling
Virginia has seen the only noble heart that this
event has manifested within her borders-a Cir
throwing herself between the muskets and the de
fenceless breast o! one of the victim cinging tc
his head and neck to shield him from bayonet anC
bullet-Miss Foulke. She symbolzed the hear
of Christendom, throwing itself between Virginit





wake up to the thing and see herself in the ruff
ian, and Christianity in that humane girl. S.


much for the man. We come here to remember


his children, his wife. lie looks back on the
world he is quitting, and says to us who owe tC
him the example of such virtue I leave to you
my wife and children Let US prove worthy oil
the legacy. Let us send him a message tonight
from Boston we lay your wife and children in
the very corner of our hearts, they shall be shell
tered be sure cf it before you de- Men say
that this enterprise was hopeless. 1t was an i'm
prudent enterprise. Goethe says there are pru-
dent virtues and there higher vlrtues--virtues
that never remind us Of prudence. This is one of
the latter (applnuse). To be sure it was an i'm
prudent virtue, but we have lived many years
and we have heard Of a great many instances Of
mprudeht virtue. / have lived twenty years in
Boston. can remember a Western clergyman
of this same Mayhower bood-God be praised
that it sends out It's veins East and West to bub.
bic p .sherever it is needed for wherever there
is fierce battle to be fought Cor an idea, you
trace its lineage back to old Plymouth Rock. They
talk Of building large monument of granite, and
the question down there is where to fix its founda-
tion; well, will tell you, they may lay one cor
ner stone at Harper's Ferry and the other at Al
ton, here Lovejoy flung his life away in the fool
ish attempt so Boston said, to vindicate free
press. An Attorney General said in Faneuil
Hall, he died the fool dieth', and Boston pull
pit said the guilt Of the murder was not on tho
rnobocrats, but on the man that died. The Bos-
ton press said, what fool-what ftnatic-What
failure-what good has be done Y If you will
go to Alton to-day you will find that the repentant
city has taken up his ashes and made him more
honorable monument to the only name that gives
moral interest to Alton. Some night, ten years
hence, you won't find this platform go empty all
Boston will have found out that John Browns
enterprise was not failure. When did man ever
do moref Can you point me to a life even if it
was sixty gears long. and had statues raised to
it, that taught the American people half as much
in seventy years Of public life this Ltchfeld
schoolmaster has taught the American people in
a week Is seems to me that in judging lives,
this man, instead of being failure, has done
more to lift the American people, to hurry for
ward the settlement of great question, to touch
all hearts, to teach US ethics, than hundred men
could have done, living each one to eighty years
old. Is that failure Why, the whole world
talks about him. Every maa's heart is stirred be-
cause OF him. A great State turns rale at thu
memory of him. The whole world will yet ring
with the heroism of his attempt, lie has opened
a light upon the Bastile of America. Is that a
failure Look at that anti-slavery cateehism. his
conversation with Senator Mason. See the New
England farmer looming up great man. and the
dwarf Judges and Senators that stand about him,
and the press printing that anli-slavery catechism
to the number of 100000 copies. forcing every
American citizen to read it, Why, men say he
should remember that lead is wasted in bullets,
and is much better made into type. Well, he fred
one gun, and he has made use of the New York
Herald and Tribune for fortnight lApplause).
Has any man ever used types betterf But there
is another item. What has he done3 He has
dnne thia EAnund Rurka say that n N nation that