Our daily fare. (Philadelphia, Pa.) 1864-1865, June 08, 1864, Image 6
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