O ye women! _Remember!_ And take heed What influence ye bring to bear upon The coming generation! For ye, too, Form a strong link In the chain of our civilization! Woman, in all ages, in all climes, White and black, Have swayed an influence over the world For evil or for good, Which has swept the black tide of iniquity, Whose waters reach down to the uttermost depths Of hell; Or the gentle waves of good, freighted with A nation's blessings! Upon the waves, _whose reflex actions Are the currents that flow From heaven_! O ye women! _Remember!_ And forget not! Your great patriot and friend Left to your keeping The jewels of divine and human greatness Washed with his tears! Brightened with his love! _Remember!_ And forget not! The intertwining of your prayer extended hands Forms a stairway By which your nation hope To reach all greatness, All purity, all grandeur, And at last To follow your leader up the shining stair To heaven! As The voice of sympathy Hath a thousand tongues, Making the silent mystery of night Eloquent with gentle whisperings, So, out of the seclusion of my quiet life, To ye O ye millions of freed people, I have come! To ye my sympathies go forth to-night. Sympathies, At whose fountain head, the angel of purity sits; And from her sacred niche, beholds The coming and the going thereof. For ye Whom he called his children, were knit in With every fibre of his heart; And your wrongs echoed To the innermost chamber of his soul, To ye His loss is greatest!