The Liberty Minstrel Part 1

The Liberty Minstrel.

by George W. Clark.

PREFACE.

All creation is musical--all nature speaks the language of song.

'There's music in the sighing of a reed, There's music in the gushing of a rill; There's music in _all things_, if man had ears; The _earth_ is but an _echo_ of the spheres.'

And who is not moved by music? "Who ever despises music," says Martin Luther, "I am displeased with him."

'There is a charm--a power that sways the breast, Bids every pa.s.sion revel, or be still; Inspires with rage, or all our cares dissolves; Can soothe _destruction_, and _almost soothes despair_.'

That music is capable of accomplishing vast good, and that it is a source of the most elevated and refined enjoyment when rightly cultivated and practiced, no one who understands its power or has observed its effects, will for a moment deny.

'Thou, O music! canst a.s.suage the pain and heal the wound That hath defied the skill of sager comforters; Thou dost restrain each wild emotion, Thou dost the rage of fiercest pa.s.sions chill, Or lightest up the flames of holy fire, As through the soul thy strains harmonious thrill.

Who does not desire to see the day when music in this country, _cultivated and practised by_ ALL--music of a chaste, refined and elevated style, shall go forth with its angel voice, like a spirit of love upon the wind, exerting upon all cla.s.ses of society a rich and healthful moral influence. When its wonderful power shall be made to subserve every righteous cause--to aid every humane effort for the promotion of man's social, civil and religious well-being.

It has been observed by travellers, that after a short residence in almost any of the cities of the eastern world, one would fancy "every second person a musician." During the night, the streets of these cities, particularly Rome, the capitol of Italy, are filled with all sorts of minstrelsy, and the ear is agreeably greeted with a perpetual confluence of sweet sounds. A Scotch traveller, in pa.s.sing through one of the most delightful villas of Rome, overheard a stonemason chanting something in a strain of peculiar melancholy; and on inquiry, ascertained it to be the "_Lament of Ta.s.so_." He soon learned that this celebrated piece was familiar to all the common people. Torquato Ta.s.so was an Italian poet of great merit, who was for many years deprived of liberty, and subjected to severe trials and misfortunes by the jealousy and cruelty of his patron, the Duke of Ferrara. That master-piece of music, so justly admired and so much sung by the high and low throughout all Italy, had its origin in the wrongs of Ta.s.so.

An ardent love of humanity--a deep consciousness of the injustice of slavery--a heart full of sympathy for the oppressed, and a due appreciation of the blessings of freedom, has given birth to the poetry comprising this volume. I have long desired to see these sentiments of love, of sympathy, of justice and humanity, so beautifully expressed in poetic measure, embalmed in sweet music; so that _all the people_--the rich, the poor, the young, and the old, who have hearts to feel, and tongues to move, may sing of the wrongs of slavery, and the blessings of liberty, until every human being shall recognise in his fellow an _equal_;--"a MAN and a BROTHER." Until by familiarity with these sentiments, and their influence upon their _hearts_, _the people_, whose _duty it is_, shall "undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free."

I announced, sometime since, my intention of publishing such a work.

Many have been impatiently waiting its appearance. I should have been glad to have issued it and scattered it like leaves of the forest over the land, long ago, but circ.u.mstances which I could not control, have prevented. I purpose to enlarge the work from time to time, as circ.u.mstances may require.

Let a.s.sociations of singers, having the love of liberty in their hearts, be immediately formed in every community. Let them study thoroughly, and make themselves perfectly familiar with both the poetry and the music, and enter into the _sentiment_ of the piece they perform, that they may _impress it_ upon their hearers. Above all things, let the enunciation of every word be _clear_ and _distinct_.

Most of the singing of the present day, is entirely too artificial, stiff and mechanical. It should be easy and natural; flowing directly from the soul of the performer, without affectation or display; and then singing will answer its true end, and not only please the _ear_, but affect and improve the _heart_.

To the true friends of universal freedom, the LIBERTY MINSTREL is respectfully dedicated.

G.W. CLARK.

NEW YORK, Oct. 1844.

THE

LIBERTY MINSTREL.

GONE, SOLD AND GONE.

Words by Whittier. Music by G.W. Clark.

[Music]

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings, Where the noisome insect stings, Where the fever demon strews Poison with the falling dews, Where the sickly sunbeams glare Through the hot and misty air, Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, From Virginia's hills and waters, Woe is me my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, There no mother's eye is near them, There no mother's ear can hear them; Never when the torturing lash Seams their back with many a gash, Shall a mother's kindness bless them, Or a mother's arms caress them.

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, From Virginia's hills and waters, Woe is me my stolen daughters!

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, Oh, when weary, sad, and slow, From the fields at night they go, Faint with toil, and rack'd with pain, To their cheerless homes again-- There no brother's voice shall greet them-- There no father's welcome meet them.--_Gone, &c._

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, From the tree whose shadow lay On their childhood's place of play-- From the cool spring where they drank-- Rock, and hill, and rivulet bank-- From the solemn house of prayer, And the holy counsels there.--_Gone, &c._

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, Toiling through the weary day, And at night the Spoiler's prey; Oh, that they had earlier died, Sleeping calmly, side by side, Where the tyrant's power is o'er, And the fetter galls no more!--_Gone, &c._

Gone, gone--sold and gone, To the rice-swamp dank and lone, By the holy love He beareth-- By the bruised reed He spareth-- Oh, may He, to whom alone All their cruel wrongs are known, Still their hope and refuge prove, With a more than mother's love.--_Gone, &c._

WHAT MEANS THAT SAD AND DISMAL LOOK?

Words by Geo. Russell. Arranged from "Near the Lake," by G.W.C.

[Music]

What means that sad and dismal look, And why those falling tears?

No voice is heard, no word is spoke, Yet nought but grief appears.

Ah! Mother, hast thou ever known The pain of parting ties?

Was ever infant from thee torn And sold before thine eyes?

Say, would not grief _thy_ bosom swell?

_Thy_ tears like rivers flow?

Should some rude ruffian seize and sell The child thou lovest so?

There's feeling in a _Mother's_ breast, Though _colored_ be her skin!

And though at Slavery's foul behest, She must not weep for kin.

I had a lovely, smiling child, It sat upon my knee; And oft a tedious hour beguiled, With merry heart of glee.

That child was from my bosom torn, And sold before my eyes; With outstretched arms, and looks forlorn, It uttered piteous cries.

Mother! dear Mother!--take, O take Thy helpless little one!

Ah! then I thought my heart would break; My child--my child was gone.

Long, long ago, my child they stole, But yet my grief remains; These tears flow freely--and my soul In bitterness complains.

Then ask not why "my dismal look,"