John Brown

JOHN BROWN.

The following lines were written by Mrs. Elizabeth C. Moore, of this city, soon after the execution of John Brown, while, as she writes, she had her "blue-eyed, laughing baby" on her knee, the the bay entering into the spirit of the poem with his baby cooing. The baby was named after Wendell Philips, showing Mrs. Moore's strong anti-slavery leaning.

Sleep on, noble champion.
In the grave of the blest:
Thou hast fought thy last battle;
Then rest, hero, rest.

Thou wilt live in the heart
Of many a slave,
Though thy body be mold'ring
In a New England grave.

'Twas for freedom to them
Thou gavest thy last breath,
And faced with such courage
The scaffold and death.

Me thinks I now see
That brave little band,
Fighting for freedom
With heart and with hand.

They thought not of death
They saw not their fall;
Their watchword was freedom,
For one and for all.

That watchword was borne
Upon every mind
Echoed and re-echoed
All over the land.

The South was aroused
And re-echoed the cry,
"For Slavery of Secession,
We'll fight till we die."

The Northmen replied
"The Union we'll save,
E'en though to maintain it
We free every slave."

Ah! now they're beginning
To stand in the light,
And fight like John Brown,
For freedom and right.

All honor to thy name,
For the conflict, brave one,
The day thou wert hung
Was for freedom begun.