An angel stood and met my gaze, The tent is struck, the vision stays; O, when the room grows slowly dim, And life's last oil is nearly spent, One gush of light these eyes will brim, Only to think she came and went. TO W. L. GARRISON. "Sometime afterward, it was reported to me by the city officers, that they had ferreted out the paper and its editor; that his office was an obscure hole, his only visible auxiliary a negro boy, and his supporters a few very insignificant persons of all colors." — H. G. Otis's Letter. In a small chamber, friendless and unseen, Toiled o'er his types one poor, unlearned young man; The place was dark, unfurnitured, and mean ;· Yet there the freedom of a race began. Help came but slowly; surely no man yet Such earnest natures are the fiery pith, The compact nucleus, round which systems grow; Mass after mass becomes inspired therewith, And whirls impregnate with the central glow. O Truth! O Freedom! how are ye still born In the rude stable, in the manger nursed! What humble hands unbar those gates of morn Through which the splendors of the New Day burst! What! shall one monk, scarce known beyond his cell, Brave Luther answered YES; that thunder's swell Whatever can be known of earth we know, Sneered Europe's wise men, in their snail-shells curled ; No, said one man in Genoa, and that NO Out of the dark created this New World. Who is it will not dare himself to trust? Who is it hath not strength to stand alone? Who is it thwarts and bilks the inward MUST? He and his works, like sand, from earth are blown. Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here! To win a world; see the obedient sphere Shall we not heed the lesson taught of old, In our own single manhood to be bold, We stride the river daily at its spring, Nor, in our childish thoughtlessness, foresee What myriad vassal streams shall tribute bring, How like an equal it shall greet the sea. O small beginnings, ye are great and strong, Ye earn the crown, and wear it not in vain. THE CHANGELING. I HAD a little daughter, And she was given to me To lead me gently backward To the Heavenly Father's knee, That I, by the force of nature, I know not how others saw her, And the light of the heaven she came from Still lingered and gleamed in her hair; |