Do not invoke the avenging rod, "In after life there is no hell!" "Ye workers who have toiled so well, For love is holier than creeds; Drink from the well, the well, the well!" -George W. Bungay. EXTRACT FROM A SERMON ON THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Republican institutions have been vindicated in this experience as they never were before; and the whole history of the last four years, rounded up by this cruel stroke, seems, in the providence of God, to have been clothed, now, with an illustration, with a sympathy, with an aptness, and with a significance, such as we never could have expected nor imagined. God, I think, has said, by the voice of this event, to all nations of the earth: "Republican liberty, based upon true Christianity, is firm as the foundation of the globe." Even he who now sleeps has, by this event, been clothed with new influence. Dead, he speaks to men who now willingly hear what before they refused to listen to. Now his simple and weighty words will be gathered like those of Washington, and your children, and your children's children, shall be taught to ponder the simplicity and deep wisdom of utterances which, in their time, passed, in party heat, as idle words. Men will receive a new impulse of patriotism for his sake, and will guard with zeal the whole country which he loved so well. I swear you, on the altar of his memory, to be more faithful to the country for which he has perished. They will, as they follow his hearse, swear a new hatred to that slavery against which he warred, and which, in vanquishing him, has made him a martyr and a conqueror. I swear you, by the memory of this martyr, to hate slavery with an unappeasable hatred. They will admire and imitate the firmness of this man, his inflexible conscience for the right; and yet his gentleness, as tender as a woman's, his moderation of spirit, which not all the heat of party could inflame, nor all the jars and disturbances of this country shake out of its place. I swear you to an emulation of his justice, his moderation, and his mercy. You I can comfort; but how can I speak to that twilight million to whom his name was as the name of an angel of God? There will be wailing in places which no minister shall be able to reach. When, in hovel and in cot, in wood and in wilderness, in the field throughout the South, the dusky children, who looked upon him as that Moses whom God sent before them to lead them out of the land of bondage, learn that he has fallen, who shall comfort them? O thou Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort thy people of old, to thy care we commit the helpless, the long-wronged, and grieved. And now the martyr is moving in triumphal march, mightier than when alive. The nation rises up at every stage of his coming. Cities and states are his pall-bearers, and the cannon beats the hours with solemn progression. Dead, dead, DEAD, he yet speaketh. Is Washington dead? Is Hampden dead? Is David dead? Is any man that ever was fit to live dead? Disenthralled of flesh, and risen in the obstructed sphere where passion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His life now is grafted upon the_infinite, and will be fruitful as no earthly can be. Pass on, thou that hast overcome! Your sorrows, O people, are his peace! Your bells, and bands, and muffled drums sound triumph in his ear. Wail and weep here; God makes its echo joy and triumph there. Pass on! Four years ago, O Illinois! we took from your midst an untried man, and from among the people. We return him to you a mighty conqueror. Not thine any more, but the nation's; not ours, but the world's. Give him place, O ye prairies! In the midst of this great continent his dust shall rest, a sacred treasure to myriads who shall pilgrim to that shrine to kindle anew their zeal and patriotism. Ye winds that move over the mighty places of the West, chant his requiem! Ye people, behold a martyr whose blood, as so many articulate words, pleads for fidelity, for law, for liberty. —H. W. Beecher. FARM-YARD SONG. Over the hill the farm boy goes; In the poplar-tree above the spring The early dews are falling; Into the stone-heap darts the mink, And home to the woodland fly the crows, Cheerily calling "Co', boss! co', boss! co'! co'! co'!" Farther, farther over the hill, Faintly calling, calling still— 'Co', boss! co', boss! co'! co'!" Into the yard the farmer goes, With grateful heart, at the close of day; In the wagon-shed stand yoke and plow; The friendly sheep his welcome bleat, "Co', boss! co', boss! co'! co'! co'!" While still the cow-boy, far away, Goes seeking those that have gone astray- 66 Now to her task the milkmaid goes; The new milch heifer is quick and shy, Soothingly calling "So, boss! so, boss! so! so! so!" The cheerful milkmaid takes her stool, And sits and milks in the twilight cool, Saying, "So, so, boss! so! so!" To supper at last the farmer goes; The heavy dews are falling; The housewife's hand has turned the lock The household sinks to deep repose; But still in sleep the farm-boy goes Singing, calling ; "Co', boss! co', boss! co'! co'! co'!" And oft the milkmaid, in her dreams, Drums in the pail with the flashing streams, Murmuring, "So, boss! so!" -J. T. Trowbridge. MODULATION. 'Tis not enough the voice be sound and clear, Some, o'er the tongue the labored measures roll, Point every stop, mark every pause so strong, All affectation but creates disgust; And e'en in speaking, we may seem too just. Some placid natures fill the allotted scene He who, in earnest, studies o'er his part, In the white handkerchief and mournful drawl; 1 |