My mother was greatly moved by these tragic events--the assault on Sumner and the civil war in Kansas. In _Words for the Hour_--a volume of her poems published in 1857--we find a record of her just indignation. In the “Sermon of Spring” she describes Kansas as: Wearing the green nodding plumes of the Court of the Prairie, Gyves on her free-born limbs, on her fair arms shackles, Blood on her garments, terror and grief in her features. “Tremble,” she cried, “tho’ the battle seem thine for a season, Not a drop of my blood shall be wanting to judge thee. Tremble, thou fallen from mercy ere fallen from office.” This poem, which is a long one, contains a tribute to Sumner, as do also “Tremont Temple,” “The Senator’s Return,” and “An Hour in the Senate.” I give a brief extract from the last named: Falls there no lightning from yon distant heaven To crush this man’s potential impudence? Shall not its outraged patience thunder: “Hence! Forsake the shrine where Liberty was given!” “The strong shall rule, the arm of force have sway, The helpless multitude in bonds abide--” Again the chuckle and the shake of pride-- “God’s for the stronger--so great Captains say.” * * * * * Yet, rise to answer, chafing in thy chair, With soul indignant stirred, and flushing brow. Thou art God’s candidate--speak soothly now, Let every word anticipate a prayer. Gather in thine the outstretched hands that strive To help thy pleading, agonized and dumb; Bear up the hearts whose silent sorrows come For utterance, to the voice that thou canst give. In the same volume are verses entitled “Slave Eloquence” and “Slave Suicide.” How did the children of the household feel during this period of “Sturm und Drang”? To the older ones, at least, it was a most exciting time. While we did not by any means know of all that was going on, we felt very strongly the electric current of indignation that thrilled through our home, as well as the stir of action. My father early taught us to love freedom and to hate slavery. He gave us, in brief, clear outline, the story of the aggressions of the slave power. We knew of the iniquity of the Dred Scott decision before we were in our teens. Child that I was, I was greatly moved when he repeated Lowell’s well-known lines: Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,-- Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.