The murmurs of a distant strife + 

Fell on a mother’s ear; + 

Her son had yielded up his life, + 

Mid scenes of wrath and fear. + 

They told her how he’d spent his breath + 

In pleading for the dumb, + 

And how the glorious martyr wreath + 

Her child had nobly won. + 

They told her of his courage high, + 

Mid brutal force and might; + 

How he had nerved himself to die + 

In battling for the right. + 

It seemed as if a fearful storm + 

Swept wildly round her soul; + 

A moment, and her fragile form + 

Bent ’neath its fierce control. + 

From lip and brow the color fled⁠— + 

But light flashed to her eye: + 

“ ’Tis well! ’tis well!” the mother said, + 

“That thus my child should die. + 

“ ’Tis well that, to his latest breath, + 

He plead for liberty; + 

Truth nerved him for the hour of death, + 

And taught him how to die. + 

“It taught him how to cast aside + 

Earth’s honors and renown; + 

To trample on her fame and pride, + 

And win a martyr’s crown.” + 