COMMENTS.
[Contributed to Our Daily Fared
11Y BAYARD TAYLOR
[Written at St. Petersburg, Aug. 11, 1862.]
lloi tr mo, oh Fatherland! nor hour unheeding,
When lovo • 111 <1 four commingled swell the cry:
In all thy children's wounds thyself art Weeding—
Thou turnest, shuddering, from the swamps of sluughte
Thou dropp’st hot tears upon the mounds of slain;
Thy tens of thousands pour their Wood like water,
Oh God! in vain.
And still the pale ones, stricken down witlrfover,
Pray with weak arms, that once wore strong for the
That thou, irresolute and half deceiver,
Thy Saviour he!
The hour lias come: on God's eternal dial
The fateful shadow pauses at thy name:
Choose thou to live, redeemed through sorest trial,
Or die in shame!
Choose thou, to he a light among tin* nations,
Sheathing in justice power they else* might dread;
Or hear them mock thy children's lamentations,
That thou art dead!
Choose thou, to win forever Freedom’s graces,
In union chaste and pure, that none shall break;
Or vilely stoop, and still to thy embraces
The Harlot take!
Dallying with her, the path thou vainly seekest
To stable peace and honored victory:
Call to thy soul the courage of the weakest
That fights for thee!
Call to thy brow the sternness that o’erpowered
The threats of kings, ere yet thine arm had grown—
That smote the wrongs they wrought: nor he a coward
To thine alone!
The hour has come: turn not away unheeding:
A million voices lift with mine the cry;
From stabs of traitors, North and South, thou’rt Weeding-
Thou dar’st not die!
[Written at Cedareroft, Penu’a., June Ist. 18G4.J
This hot south wind, that, from the Blue Ridge Mowin'
Dies herein peaceful Pennsylvanian vales,
Still seems to surge from Battlo’s ebb and flowing
And burning gales.
But fainter, day by day, the fierce vibrations,
As southward move our armies, closing in
To that last strugglo which shall crown our patience,
And crush the sin.
Not vainly have we sighed, not vainly striven;
Our heroes’ hearts have not been pierced in vain;
God has upheld our hands, and to them given
The Nation turns no more with spirit pliant,
To court the Evil, on its falling throne:
Free, and for Freedom now, she stands, a giant,
To shield her own,
Her brow is bathed with dew from Heaven’s own fountains;
Iler lips repeat the ancieut rallying cry:
She stands erect, majestic on her mountains—
Ottb Daily Pabe.
T OGAN SQUARE, where our own Great
1J Central Fair is held, lias a varied history.
When Washington Square grew too far into the
heart of the city to be deemed a proper place
for a Totter’s Field, it was converted first into
a cattle market, and then into a city park, and
the Potter’s Field was removed, some fifty or
sixty years ago, to a distant northwestern
location, where it was thought the inarch of
improvement would never reach, and where
the occupants of nameless graves 'would be
suffered to rest until the last trump should
sound.
Thou dur'st not die!
But the city grew up to and around the new
Potter’s Field; its surrounding commons be
came covered witli fine houses, and it was a
Totter’s Field no longer, for, in due time, it
was converted into a public square, anil the
latter was peopled with deer and squirrels,
tlie former being somewhat addicted to goring
inoffensive citizens, and consequently proving
a dear bargain to the city, inasmuch as the
public treasurer was not unfrequently mulcted
in damages to pay for the little vagaries of the
municipal pets.
But great ns the change was from a grave
yard to a garden, a vastly greater mutation
was effected when sympathy with the suffer
ings of our soldiers in the field prompted good
and earnest men and women to do something
practical towards aiding the gallant braves
of the republic in their great struggle—and
lo! the result! A grand Temple of Patriotic
Benevolence has been reared, and the vast
work accomplished with a celerity and com
pleteness which suggest thoughts of the wnnd
of Prospero, or the fabled lamp of Aladdin.
Buildings that are rough in their exterior, to
be sure, but, like many of our own people who
have rough outsides, full of grace and flaming
with patriotism within, arose, and now the
ancient Potter’s field and whilom city park,
is covered with a range of structures which
contain as much storied matter as Westmins
ter Abbey, and more wealth of art and property
combined than is to be found in any enclosure
in the United States.
More evidences of good taste than were ever
crowded into a like space, in the same time,
and in the history of the world, more tokens
of that warm, patriotic, practical benevolence,
which “gives by the heartful, over and over
again, till naught is left to give,” than were
ever seen gathered together in the experience
of humanity are here. But we are engaged
in a great war, our sacrifices are groat, and it is
only proper to show that our resources are
equal to the emergency. A great war, great
sacrifices, great resources, great responses;
Jlis sword again!
She will not die.
Ml OffH GBMT CEBTBAL FAIR
The Inaugural Ceremonies of the First
Day—The Speeches Delivered.
a great country, a great people, and
not least, a Great Central Fair.
The cuts which we shall publish in an early
number of Our Jtaili/ Fare, will leave but lit
tle to be done as regards description of tlie
exterior of tlie buildings in the Square. llow
the interior looks, what it contains, and what
is done there during the daily process of the
Fair, will be described in the future numbers of
our journal. We will take the various depart
ments by turns and in detail, and endeavor to
do ample justice to all.
The Inaugural Ceremonies Yesterday.
A MAGNIFICENT SI’ECTACI.E.
Yesterday beheld the fruition of months of
anxious thought and unceasing labor of thou
sands of earnest patriotic and benevolent men,
women, anil children. The Great Central
Fair was formally opened and the ceremonies
were participated in or witnessed by from ten
thousand to fifteen thousand persons. The
scene, when the exercises were about to com
mence, was probably the most imposing ever
witnessed in Philadelphia. A stage for the
speakers and invited guests was erected near
the western end of Union avenue; behind this
stage and close against tlie western end of the
building was a platform for the use of the
singers engaged for the occasion. Viewed
from the speakers’ stage, a scene of rare
beauty was presented. To tlie right was the
splendid array of articles on the tables of the
Committee on Labor, Income and Revenue,
with the $2,500 sword to be given to the
General obtaining the largest number of votes
from subscribers of one dollar each.
On the left was the grand display of the
firemen, with all the insignia of their gener
ous profession ; while away down the vista for
a distance of five hundred feet to the eastern
end of the nave, was a most brilliant and di
versified display of costly wares, works of art
and articles of rerlu. Over all was the beau
tiful, although nude Gothic arch of the ave
nue with the glorious stars and stripes glit
tering in every direction, and mingling with
groups of arms and military equipments and
tlie banners and escutcheons of tlie different
States of the Union. The light which poured
in through the skylights in the roof made a
double row of sunshine along the huge mass
of people who thronged the avenue and waited
with what patience they could muster for the
commencement of the ceremonies of inaugu
ration. And what avast, swaying, ever-varying
kaleidoscopic mass! We shall not attempt a
description of it; but among it was a full re
presentation of the beauty, the intelligence,
the patriotism, the benevolence, and the wealtli
of Philadelphia, with largo and worthy dele
gations from New Jersey and Delaware.
But the distant sounds of the notes of Hail
Columbia strike upon the ear from the eastern