A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,

In

Plying her needle and thread,

Stitch! stitch! stitch!

poverty, hunger, and dirt,

And still, with a voice of dolorous pitch, She sang the " Song of the Shirt."

And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank

For sometimes falling there!

VII.

"Work- work work! From weary chime to chime! Work-work — work,

As prisoners work for crime !
Band, and gusset, and seam,

Seam, and gusset, and band,

Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed, As well as the weary hand.

Before I knew the woes of want,
And the walk that costs a meal!

X.

"O! but for one short hour

A respite, however brief!

No blessed leisure for love or hope,
But only time for grief!

A little weeping would ease my heart,
But in their briny bed

My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!"

XI.

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread:
Stitch! stitch! stitch!

In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch ·
Would that its tone could reach the rich!
She sang this "Song of the Shirt."

The following remarks are from a speech on the proposed amendment of the Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the United States, delivered in the Senate of the United States, April 8, 1864.

See in Index, ARCHANGEL, DEFENSE or DEFENCE, PARLIAMENTARY, GILES, SUMNER.

There is

1. MR. PRESIDENT, thus stands the case. nothing in the Constitution on which slavery can rest, or find any the least support. Even on the face of that instrument it is an outlaw; but if we look further into its provisions, we find at least four distinct sources of

power, which, if executed, must render slavery impossible, while the pre'amble makes them all vital for freedom: first, the power to provide for the common defense and general welfare; secondly, the power to raise armies and maintain navies; thirdly, the power to guarantee to every State a republican form of government; and, fourthly, the power to secure liberty to every person restrained without due process of law.

2. But all these provisions are something more than powers; they are duties also. And yet we are constantly and painfully reminded in this chamber that our pending measures against slavery are unconstitutional. Sir, this is an immense mistake. Nothing against slavery can be unconstitutional. It is only hesitation which is unconstitutional.

3. And yet slavery still exists, in defiance of all these requirements of the Constitution; nay, more, in defiance of reason and justice, which can never be disobeyed with impunity, — it exists, the perpetual spoiler of human rights and disturber of the public peace, degrading master as well as slave, corrupting society, weakening government, impoverishing the very soil itself, and impairing the natural resources of the country. Such an outrage, so offensive in every respect, not only to the Constitution, but also to the whole system of order by which the universe is governed, is plainly a national nuisance, which for the general welfare, and in the name of justice, ought to be abated.

4. But at this moment, when it menaces the national life, it will not be enough to treat slavery merely as a nuisance; for it is much more. It is a public enemy and traitor wherever it shows itself, to be subdued, in the discharge of solemn guarantees of government and of personal rights, and in the exercise of unquestionable and indefeasible rights of self-defense. All now admit that in the rebel States it is a public enemy

and traitor, so that the rebellion may be seen in slavery, and slavery may be seen in the rebellion.

5. Embattled armies now stand face to face, on the one side fighting for slavery. The gauntlet that has been flung down we have yet taken up only in part. In abolishing slavery entirely we take up the gauntlet entirely. Then can we look with confidence to the blessings of Almighty God upon our arms. " "Till America comes into this measure," said John Jay during the Revolution, "her prayers to Heaven will be impious." So long as we sustain slavery, so long as we hesitate to strike at it, the heavy battalions of our armies will fail in power. Sir Giles Overreach found his sword, as he attempted to draw it, "glued with orphans' tears."* Let not our soldiers find their swords "glued" with the tears of the slave.

6. There is one question, and only one, which rises in our path. I refer, of course, to the question of compensation under the shameful assumption that there can be property in man; an assumption which often intrudes into these debates. Sir, parliamentary law must be observed; but if an outburst of indignant hisses were ever justifiable in a parliamentary assembly it ought to break forth at every mention of this proposition. Impious toward God and insulting toward man, it is disowned alike by the conscience and the reason; nor is there any softness of argument or phrase by which its essential wickedness can be disguised. The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God; but it is kindred folly to say that there is no Man. The first is atheism, and the second is like unto the first.

*The words quoted are from Massinger's play of " A New Way to pay Old Debts," where Sir Giles Overreach exclaims, —

"Some undone widow sits upon mine arm

And takes away the use of 't; and my sword,
Glued to its scabbard with wronged orphans' tears,
Will not be drawn."