While  dining  we  heard  the  sound  of  drums  and  a  chorus
-of  voices.  Looking  down  the  broad  avenue  we  saw  a  column
of  troops  advancing  with  steady  step  and  even  ranks.  It  was
nearly  sunset,  and  their  bayonets  were  gleaming  in  the  level
rays.  It  was  General  Potter's  brigade,  led  by  the  Fifty-Fifth
Massachusetts,  —  a  regiment  recruited  from  the  ranks  of
slavery.  Sharp  and  shrill  the  notes  of  the  fife,  stirring  the
-drum-beat,  deep  and  resonant  the  thousand  voices  singing
their  most  soul-thrilling  war-song, —

^  John  Brown's  body  lies  a  mouldering  in  the  grave.*

Mingling  with  the  chorus  were  cheers  for  Governor  Andrew
and  Abraham  Lincoln !

They  raised  their  caps,  hung  them  upon  their  bayonets.
Proud  their  bearing.  They  came  as  conquerors.  Some  of
them  had  walked  those  streets  before  as  slaves.  Now  they
were  freemen, — soldiers  of  the  Union,  defenders  of  its  flag.
Around  them  gathered  a  dusky  crowd  of  men,  women,  and
children,  dancing,  shouting,  mad  with  very  joy.  Mothers  held
up  their  little  ones  to  see  the  men  in  blue,  to  catch  a  sight
of  the  starry  flag,  with  its  crimson  folds  and  tassels  of  gold.
*^  O  dark,  sad  millions,  patiently  and  dumb,
Waiting  for  God,  your  hour  at  last  has  oome,

And  freedom's  song
Breaks  the  long  silence  of  ynir  night  of  wrong."

Up  the  avenue,  past  the  dta^ei,  with  unbroken  ranks,
they  marched,  ofiiaring  no  insult,  uttering  no  epithet,  mani-
festing no  revenge,  for  all  the  wrongs  of  centuries  heaped  upon
them  by  a  people  now  humbled  and  at  their  mercy.
81


482  THE  BOYS  OF  '61.  [Feb.
Whilo  walking  down  the  street  an  hour  later  a  ...v^nired  my
way  of  a  white  woman.  She  was  going  in  the  same  direotian,
and  kindly  volunteered  to  direct  me.
