Let us even pity Wendell Phillips, Antinous of Harvard, For he was a model man and such men deserve A definite pity at times. He too did his best. Secure in his own impenetrable self-knowledge, He seldom agreed with Lincoln or thought him wise; He sometimes thought that a stunning defeat would give A needed lesson to the soul of the nation, And, before, would have broken the Union as blithely as Yancey For his own side of abolition, speaking about it In many public meetings where he was heckled But usually silenced the hecklers sooner or later With his mellifluous, masculine, well-trained accents. War could hardly come too soon for a man like that And when it came, he was busy. He did his part, Being strong and active, blessed with a ready mind, And the cause being one to which he professed devotion, He spoke. He spoke well, with conviction, and frequently.