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1 Nat'l Freedman 1 (1865)

handle is hein.slavery/ntlfredm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 





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                             A MONTHLY JOURNAL







Vhe    a.ent .  N RdmRFEs elief 19s1ciato.





Vol. I.    NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 1, 1865.  No. 1.


   THE  NATIONAL   FREEDMAN   is published monthly,
 at No. 1 Mercer Street, New York, as the organ  of
 the  NATIONAL   FREEDMEN'S   RELIEF  ASsocIATIoN.
 All communications  for the  National Freedman
 should  be addressed  to  the Editor, Rev. W.  G.
 Hawkins, No. 1 Mercer Street, New York, and  must
 be accompanied  by the full address of the writer.
   Terms, per annum............     .....$1   00
   Single copies...   ...................   0 10






                  An   Appeal.
From afar there comes a voice of pleading,
  Which seems heart-full of pain and choked with tears;
It struggles up through sounds accursed of battle,
  And thrills the soul with human hopes and fears.
      An earnest, sad, far-off, soul-thrilling call,
      A tearful Macedonian cry of Paul I
 Pause thou, in thronged street or warehouse,
 Look  up from careful count of loss and gain,
 And heed, above the hum and beat of traffic,
 This voice, like many waters, full of pain,
      From struggling souls in chains who would be free,
      It calls o'er hill, and wood, and flood, to thee.
God will curse the ear that gives no heeding I
  God will curse the hands that idly fold I
The heart that's closed against a sufferer's pleading,
  That's locked with sellish, greedy, thirst for gold !
      Ah, I-leaven hath linked oppressor with oppressed,
      And sin and misery march to Fate abreast !
Think of our shattered, smitten land that's bleeding!
  Of march-wora, sickening sons, and blazing towns I
Of starving prisoners in a Southron's slave-pen I
  Of ghock and roar of battle 1-tracking hounds I
     Of foul, dank swamp land where our children die I
     Of shrouds of moss where the uncoffined lie I
           1


Nor  court the smiting rod of the Avenger-
   Say, brother, cans't thou measure arms with God?
 If thou relent,  do works meet for repentance,
   Raise up the crushed one from the broken sod.
      Strike off from soul and limb the servile chain,
      And clothe and feed these suffering sons of pain I
 And then, on fields of duty widely opening,
 The  faltering steps of millions thou may'st guide
 May'st bless by word and deed, most gently leading
 Thy  crippled brother up a path untried.
      Then groans shall die out from the burdened air,
      And songs of Peace shall drown the noise of war I

   The  above   appeal  comes  from  one  of  our
former  teachers, who   has seen  much  suffering
among   the freedmen  of South  Carolina.  These
lines were  written  upon  receiving  the appeal
for Gen.  Sherman's  Freedmen.






               Vicksbtirg,  Miss.

         HEADQ'RS  47THI REG.  U.  S. COL INF.
              VICKSBURG,   Jan. 11, 1865.
F. G.  SHAW,  Pres. N. F.  R. A., New   York.
   My  dear Sir:-At the   request of Mr. Wilkes,
I cheerfully send  you   this communication in
reference to the  work  among   the freedmen   in
this portion of the valley.  From  it I hope you
may  gather  some  suggestions  which  will be of
service to you in your future plans.
THE FREEDMEN-READINESS TO HELP THEMSELVES.
  If I  have  learned any thing  from  my  year's
labor among   the colored race in this department,


Digitized from the Rare Book Division. Princeton Univ. Library

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