Anonymous

“ Never lit the fires of eloquence in a purer breast
Than Sumner's!
A breast that heaved with indignation
For your bitter wrongs,
And the piteous spectacle of human nature
That Taney's mandate presented
To the eyes of the world!
That,
"The black man
Has no rights the white man is bound to respect."
O! omnipotent
And omnipresent God!
Who made us in thine own image,
Breathing
Thine own pure breath
Into our dust-created bodies!
Giving of thine own life
A semblance
So great in all its purity so grand in all its fulness,
That our humanity can scarce contain it! ”

“ The jeweled crown of purity gleams!
Thy garments
Are luminous with shimmering star-light
O truth!
Thou semblance of the living God!
What have we not borne, what suffered
For thee!
Misconception
Darkens thy fair features!
Misconstruction covers thee with her shadowy mantle!
Throwing wide
The flood-gates of sorrow
That rush from the bitter fountain
Of the grieved soul!
In thy right hand is a crown
Of glory! In thy left
A crown of thorns!
Truth
Is a spirit of glory!
A body of transcendent grandeur!
Sinewy and tenacious
For the human mind to grasp! ”

“ In its rounded purity, its magnanimous
Humanity!
Subtle
In its fine intuitive sympathy!
Grand
In its lofty ideas of duty!
He
Has left us a rich inheritance not in lands
Or tenements,
But in jewels of silver, jewels of gold,
And precious stones!
Heir-looms that shall crown our lives
With honor!
These jewels
Dived for, in fathoms deep of the waters
Of tribulation,
Are our common heritage!
His
Nobility of character, caught from divine communing!
His
Devotion to truth and integrity of purpose! ”