Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By Amos BronsonAlcott

123 Wendell Phillips

PEOPLE’S ATTORNEY, servant of the Right!

Pleader for all shades of the solar ray,

Complexions dusky, yellow, red, or white;

Who, in thy country’s and thy time’s despite,

Hast only questioned, What will Duty say?

And followed swiftly in her narrow way:

Tipped is thy tongue with golden eloquence,

All honeyed accents fall from off thy lips,—

Each eager listener his full measure sips,

Yet runs to waste the sparkling opulence,—

The scorn of bigots, and the worldling’s flout.

If Time long held thy merit in suspense,

Hastening repentant now, with pen devout,

Impartial History dare not leave thee out.