The American Union SpeakerPhilbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
General
The American Union Speaker
Philbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
Recitations
Come, Howard, from the gloom of the prison and the taint of the
lazar-house, and show us what philanthropy can do when imbued with the
spirit of Jesus. Come, Eliot, from the thick forest where the red man
listens to the Word of Life;--come, Penn, from thy sweet counsel and
weaponless victory,--and show us what Christian zeal and Christian love
can accomplish with the rudest barbarians or the fiercest hearts. Come,
Raikes, from thy labors with the ignorant and the poor, and show us with
what an eye this Faith regards the lowest and the least of our race; and
how diligently it labors, not for the body, not for the rank, but for the
plastic soul that is to course the ages of immortality. And ye, who are a
great number,--ye nameless ones,--who have done good in your narrow
spheres, content to forego renown on earth, and seeking your reward in the
Record on High,--come and tell us how kindly a spirit, how lofty a purpose,
or how strong a courage, the Religion ye professed can breathe into the
poor, the humble, and the weak. Go forth, then, Spirit of Christianity, to
thy great work of Reform! The Past bears witness to thee in the blood of
thy martyrs, and the ashes of thy saints and heroes: the Present is hopeful
because of thee; the Future shall acknowledge thy omnipotence.
E. H. Chapin.
LIX.
NORTHERN LABORERS.
The gentleman, sir, has misconceived the spirit and tendency of Northern
institutions. He is ignorant of Northern character. He has forgotten the
history of his country. Preach insurrection to the Northern laborers! Who
are the Northern laborers? The history of your country is their history.
The renown of your country is their renown. The brightness of their doings
is emblazoned on its every page. Blot from your annals the words and the
doings of Northern laborers, and the history of your country presents but a
universal blank.
Sir, who was he that disarmed the Thunderer; wrested from his grasp the
bolts of Jove; calmed the troubled ocean; became the central sun of the
philosophical system of his age, shedding his brightness and effulgence on
the whole civilized world; whom the great and mighty of the earth delighted
to honor; who participated in the achievement of your Independence,
prominently assisted in moulding your free institutions, and the beneficial
effects of whose wisdom will be felt to the last moment of "recorded
time?" Who sir, I ask, was he? A Northern laborer, a Yankee
tallow-chandler's son,--a printer's runaway boy!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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