5. Mere sentiment all this, some may say. But it is sentiment, true sentiment, that has moved the world. Sentiment fought the war, and sentiment has reunited us. When the war was closed, it was proposed to give Governor Andrew, who had sacrificed health and strength and property in his public duties, some immediately lucrative office. A friend asked him if he would take such a place. "No," said he; "I have stood as high priest between the horns of the altar, and I have poured out upon it the best blood of Massachusetts, and I cannot take money for that." Mere sentiment truly, but the sentiment which ennobles and uplifts mankind. 6. So I say that the sentiment manifested by your presence here, brethren of Virginia, sitting side by side with those who wore the blue, tells us that, if war should break again upon the country, the sons of Virginia and Massachusetts would, as in the olden days, stand once more shoulder to shoulder, with no distinction in the colors that they wear. It is fraught with tidings of peace on earth, and you may read its meaning in the words on yonder picture, "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable!" - HENRY CABOT LODGE. This selection is from an address delivered June 17, 1887, at Faneuil Hall, Boston, to a body of Confederate Veterans whose visit to the North was that day celebrated by a banquet in their honor. VI. THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 1. Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was Oh, say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave brave? 2. On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream; 'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 3. And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle's confu sion A home and a country should leave us no more? steps' pollution; No refuge could save the hireling and slave grave; And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 4. Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved homes and war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the Heavenrescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation. |