Oh! come back, deluded, mistaken sons of freedom's soil! Come back, ye whose fathers shed their blood to consecrate our land to liberty, for ever! Let your base and calculating political leaders deceive you no more! Be no longer tools for their use and to be only used for their aggrandizement! Come back to the country that loved you and has so long given you its protection! Come, acknowledge your wrong—seek protection under our starry flag, and fight for it. You shall receive its protection, and be once more ranked as the sons of Columbia.
As she ceased singing, she turned to Hayward and said:
"Do you not admire the song?"
"I admire the singer, lady, but you must excuse me if I do not speak with regard to the sentiment, before you."
"You admire candor. Why not express your sentiments before me? You look like a gentleman, and I love occasionally to meet a gentleman, even in the rebel ranks."
"No doubt our views are different, lady. But I trust we will not be enemies nevertheless."
"We may not be personal enemies here. But if you will change that uniform you wear, for that of a Union officer, I will promise that we will be friends."
"I could not consistently do so at present, lady!"
"Why not?"
"When my country is in danger, do I not share it? Thus to take this off, would be to endanger myself and my country's cause."