Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
172 LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
it; when the crowned heads of the old world were
saying among themselves, aha! aha! the great republican
bubble is about to burst and free government
to vanish; when the loyal armies of the
Union were melting away like the snows of winter
under a summer sun; when every morning
saw dead soldiers, at every northern railroad station,
and stumps of men, maimed, mutilated, armless,
and legless, confronted us at every corner;
when churches, halls, and houses were draped
with the weeds of mourning; when the very air
was heavy with sorrow and aged eyes swam in
young tears for the slain; when the hearts of
strong men were failing them for fear of coming
disaster; when the recruiting sergeants, with drum
and fife, with banner and badge, foot sore and
weary, were marching our streets from morning
till night, calling for men, more men to go to the
front, and fill up the gaps made by rebel powder
and pestilence; when the fate of the republic
trembled in the balance and the star-spangled
banner drooped at its staff heavy with blood—
Abraham Lincoln called, aye, the country in its
extremity called, upon the colored man to reach
out his iron arm and clutch with steel fingers that
faltering flag, and he came, he came! full two
hundred thousand strong, and from that hour the
power of rebellion was broken and the tide of
battle turned in favor of loyalty, liberty, and union."