When a great nation, like a ship at sea,
With the wroth breakers whitening at her lea,
Feels her last shudder if the Helmsman cower;
A God-like manhood be his mighty dower!”
This seems to show that the patriotic men of the literary East were not yet sure of him. In fact, it was not yet sure that there was any man anywhere who could remain sane and true through the rampant treason and raging strife.
A year later Frank Moore wrote:
“Stand like the rock that looks defiant
Far o’er the surging seas that lash its form!
Composed, determined, watchful, self-reliant,
Be master of thyself and rule the storm.”