Page:Memorial services.djvu/34

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lies entombed, henceforth, to become the negro's Mecca. Oft may it be bedewed and jewelled with the tears of virtuous young men and maidens of our race, who go to pay their grateful homage to God, at the tomb of him whose sincere friendship, spotless life and incessant labors, was largely instrumental in lifting them up to the proper standard of liberty, equality and happiness.

Soon may some of us be called to meet his spirit before God, but my faith whispers that our sons and daughters, in future times, walking through the city of Boston, where Charles Sumner was born, admiring her grandeur as shown in her thrift and wealth; their appreciative sense view glorious old Bunker Hill, in the distance; find pleasure in rambling over her broad commons; delight to rest and read while in the shades of her extensive public library, yet turn from them all, at eve, to wind their way through old Cambridge, paying due regard to old Harvard, his honored alma mater; then find sweet, loving, peaceful enjoyment sitting or standing around the tomb, contemplating with full hearts and vivid memories, the greatest statesman of America, the greatest human friend, of the negro, Hon. Charles Sumner.