Oration delivered before the city authorities of Boston, on the fourth of July, 1863 / by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

  • Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Oration delivered before the city authorities of Boston, on the fourth of July, 1863 / by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    about from one profitless discontent to another, at a time when every citizen is called upon for cheerful, ready service. It is because their minds are bewil- dered, and they are no longer truly themselves. Show them the path of duty, inspire them with hope for the future, lead them upwards from the turbid stream of events to the bright translucent springs of eternal principles, strengthen their trust in humanity, and their faith in God, and you may yet restore them to their manhood and their country. At all times, and especially on this anniversary of glorious recollections and kindly enthusiasms, we should try to judge the weak and wavering souls of our brothers fairly and generously. The conditions in which our vast community of peace-loving citizens find themselves, are new and unprovided for. Our quiet burghers and farmers are in the position of river-boats blown from their moorings out upon a vast ocean, where such a typhoon is raging as no mariner who sails its waters ever before looked upon. If their beliefs change with the veering of the blast, if their trust in their fellow-men, and in the course of Divine Providence seems well-nigh shipwrecked, we must remember that they were taken unawares, and without the preparation which could fit them to struggle with these tempestuous elements. In times like these the faith is the man; and they to whom