APPEAL TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON.
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By the war-blackened homes that shall know them no more, We pray that his pardon be spoken.
Oh, wildly and tearfully now we implore,The return of the chief who will lead us no more; We ask but his freedom in dying!Then talk not of "justice to fall on his head,"But twine the white roses of mercy instead, Where thorns for so long have been lying.
Say, has he not borne with the prison and chain,With martyr-like patience forborne to complain, Through sickness and solitude dreary?Hushed the wail in his heart for the cause he has lost,Murmured not o'er the bier of the hopes that were crossed, Of a life rendered wretched and weary?
Ah! did he not suffer enough in the hourThat saw his cause sink, like a storm-stricken flower, His flag furled for ever and ever?The wife of his bosom sent far from his side,—
