_You_ have no oath registered in Heaven
to destroy the Government, while _I_ shall have the most solemn one to
'preserve, protect and defend' it. _You_ can forbear the _assault_ upon
it; _I_ can _not_ shrink from the _defense_ of it----"
Again he paused, and the crowd hung spellbound as he began his closing
paragraph in tender persuasive accents throbbing with emotion, his clear
voice breaking for the first time:
"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds
of affection. The mystic chords of memory stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all
over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again
touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
The closing words fell from his sensitive lips with the sad dreamy eyes
blinded by tears.
At last he had touched the hearts of all. The sincerity and beauty of
the simple appeal for the moment hushed bitterness and passion and the
cheer was universal.
The black-robed figure of the venerable Chief Justice stepped forward
with extended open Bible. His bony, trembling fingers and cadaverous
intellectual face gave the last touch of dramatic contrast between the
old and new regimes.
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