Page:Harris Dickson--The unpopular history of the United States.djvu/170

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The Unpopular History of the United States


steady tread, moving forward, forward, forward, to the final triumph of mankind.

Did you ever hear this piece of poetry by a country editor in Mississippi?


"Onward, upward, press the peoples
To that pure, exalted plane,
Where no throne shall cast a shadow
And no slave shall wear a chain.

"They are lighting fires of freedom
On a million altar stones,
With the torches they have kindled
At the blaze of burning thrones."

We couldn't keep our hands off this war. This war would not keep hands off us. I'm perfectly willing to hoe my own row, and let the other fellow hoe his. But Divine Right wants to cultivate the whole field, and makes no bones about it. I'm nothing but a hard-headed, striped-pants Yankee, but some facts are so plain that you can't shut your eyes to 'em. If we sit down, with both hands in our pockets, and let Divine Right organize all Eu-

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