The most brilliant of American poets volunteer in its service.

Whittier speaks in burning verse to more than thirty thousand, in the National Era.

Your own Longfellow whispers, in every hour of trial and disappointment, "labor and wait." James Russell Lowell is reminding us that "men are more than institutions." Pierpont cheers the heart of the pilgrim in search of liberty, by singing the praises of "the north star." Bryant, too, is with us; and though chained to the car of party, and dragged on amidst a whirl of{368} political excitement, he snatches a moment for letting drop a smiling verse of sympathy for the man in chains.

The poets are with us.

It would seem almost absurd to say it, considering the use that has been made of them, that we have allies in the Ethiopian songs; those songs that constitute our national music, and without which we have no national music.