Words for the Hour + 

Men of the North! it is no time + 

To quit the battle-field; + 

When danger fronts your rear and van + 

It is no time to yield. + 

No time to bend the battle’s crest + 

Before the wily foe, + 

And, ostrich-like, to hide your heads + 

From the impending blow. + 

The minions of a baffled wrong + 

Are marshalling their clan, + 

Rise up! rise up, enchanted North! + 

And strike for God and man. + 

This is no time for careless ease; + 

No time for idle sleep; + 

Go light the fires in every camp, + 

And solemn sentries keep. + 

The foe ye foiled upon the field + 

Has only changed his base; + 

New dangers crowd around you + 

And stare you in the face. + 

O Northern men! within your hands + 

Is held no common trust; + 

Secure the victories won by blood + 

When treason bit the dust. + 

’Tis yours to banish from the land + 

Oppression’s iron rule; + 

And o’er the ruin’d auction-block + 

Erect the common school. + 

To wipe from labor’s branded brow + 

The curse that shamed the land; + 

And teach the Freedman how to wield + 

The ballot in his hand. + 

This is the nation’s golden hour, + 

Nerve every heart and hand, + 

To build on Justice, as a rock, + 

The future of the land. + 

True to your trust, oh, never yield + 

One citadel of right! + 

With Truth and Justice clasping hands + 

Ye yet shall win the fight! + 