Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Tourguénieff
By William Morton Payne (1858–1919)S
The tale of deep, time-consecrated wrong;
Quiet the hand which held the pen so long
And used so well, that men, who bought and sold
Their fellow-men, were startled to behold
Themselves arraigned for judgment in the strong
Clear light of truth—a conscience-stricken throng,
Plague-spotted, in the ranks of death enrolled.
What thou hast done, we know, but fain would know
What thou hast seen; what lesson was in life
For thee! This only? that in grief men go
Even as they came, hence; this, that woe is rife
And hope illusive; this, that with a foe
Unconquerable men wage ceaseless strife?