Glad as a soul in pain, who hears from heaven The angels singing of his sins forgiven, And, wondering, sees His prison opening to their golden keys, He rose a Man who laid him down a Slave, Shook from his locks the ashes of the grave, And onward trod Into the glorious liberty of God. He cast the symbols of his shame away; And passing where the sleeping Milcho lay, Though back and limb Smarted with wrong, he prayed, "God pardon him!" So went he forth: but in God's time he came To light on Uilline's hills a holy flame; And, dying, gave The land a Saint that lost him as a Slave. O, dark, sad millions, patiently and dumb Waiting for God, your hour, at last, has come, And Freedom's song Breaks the long silence of your night of wrong! Arise, and flee! shake off the vile restraint Of ages! but, like Ballymena's saint, The oppressor spare, Heap only on his head the coals of prayer. Go forth, like him! like him return again, To bless the land whereon, in bitter pain, Ye toiled at first, And heal with Freedom what your Slavery cursed. [6] _By special permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company._ THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION From the address delivered before Congress on February 12, 1878, presenting to the re-United States, on behalf of Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, Carpenter's painting--The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet. BY JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD Let us pause to consider the actors in that scene. In force of character, in thoroughness and breadth of culture, in experience of public affairs, and in national reputation, the Cabinet that sat around that council-board has had no superior, perhaps no equal in our history. Seward, the finished scholar, the consummate orator, the great leader of the Senate, had come to crown his career with those achievements which placed him in the first rank of modern diplomatists. Chase, with a culture and a fame of massive grandeur, stood as the rock and pillar of the public credit, the noble embodiment of the public faith. Stanton was there, a very Titan of strength, the great organizer of victory. Eminent lawyers, men of business, leaders of states and leaders of men, completed the group.