Men! whose boast it is that ye

Come of fathers brave and free,

If there breathe on earth a slave,

Are ye truly free and brave?

If ye do not feel the chain,

When it works a brother’s pain,

Are ye not base slaves indeed,

Slaves unworthy to be freed?

Is true freedom but to break

Fetters for our own dear sake,

And with leathern hearts forget

That we owe mankind a debt?

No! true freedom is to share

All the chains our brothers wear,

And with heart and hand to be

Earnest to make others free.

They are slaves, who fear to speak

For the fallen and the weak;

They are slaves, who will not choose

Hatred, scoffing, and abuse,

Rather than, in silence, shrink

From the truth they needs must think;

They are slaves, who dare not be

In the right with two or three.