Produced by hekula03, David King, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive.) Transcriber's Note: This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the underscore character as _italic_. Oration on Charles Sumner, Addressed to Colored People. Oration On Charles Sumner, Addressed To Colored People. "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me: Write! Blessed are the dead which die In the Lord! That they may rest from their labors, And their works Do follow them."--REV. xiv., 13. By EVANGELINE. ALBANY: WEED, PARSONS & CO., PRINTERS. 1874. CHARLES SUMNER. In Memoriam. The nation's heart is sad! Her best beloved son, The great and good! Has winged his flight from earth, And white robed angels Shift the gorgeous scenery of the sky To let his soul pass onward To his God! Who sent his messenger to bid him "Come." Sumner is dead! Oh! many moons must come And many go Ere we be comforted again, Or hush the sighs That follow him up the golden stair, Echoing through all the shining corridors Of heaven, Where our beloved one has gone to rest! Sumner is dead! Oh, sad refrain! In which the teeming earth Doth find a voice, And nature's gentle hands Are laid within the clasping of our own; Stilling the joyous songs of long silent Birds, That no awakening sound disturb our grief! She casts her snow white mantle O'er the whispering grass! And hushes the hasty footfall Of coming spring! Calling to the swift March wind To carry along the golden clouds To waiting angels The mournful tidings of our woe!