The writings of John Greenleaf Whittier, Volume 4.
John Greenleaf Whittier, Ed.

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[134] His state-craft was the Golden Rule,
     His right of vote a sacred trust;
Clear, over threat and ridicule,
     All heard his challenge: ‘Is it just?’

And when the hour supreme had come,
     Not for himself a thought he gave;
In that last pang of martyrdom,
     His care was for the half-freed slave.

Not vainly dusky hands upbore,
     In prayer, the passing soul to heaven
Whose mercy to His suffering poor
     Was service to the Master given.

Long shall the good State's annals tell,
     Her children's children long be taught,
How, praised or blamed, he guarded well
     The trust he neither shunned nor sought.

If for one moment turned thy face,
     O Mother, from thy son, not long
He waited calmly in his place
     The sure remorse which follows wrong.

Forgiven be the State he loved
     The one brief lapse, the single blot;
Forgotten be the stain removed,
     Her righted record shows it not!

The lifted sword above her shield
     With jealous care shall guard his fame;
The pine-tree on her ancient field
     To all the winds shall speak his name.