6 umphant acclamations in the camp of an enemy, as anxiously they enquired, “ What meaneth the noise of this great shout ? ” So listen and inquire, thousands of earnest, thoughtful minds, loyal to their country and to God, as they hear the shout which goes up from the camp and country of their friends. But rarely in our history has the shout of exultant joy risen from our loyal country with more of enthusiastic heartiness than upon the announcement of the recent Federal victories. Private griefs have been forgotten in public joy. Public officers have congratulated the people, and the people one another. The tongues of steeples which have been silent for years, save to call the peaceful citizens to the house of prayer, to speak the stirring tones of alarm, or the- sad ones of mourning, have startled us with the victor’s voice. Cannon, whose thunders have for many years spoken only of the glory of the half-forgotten dead, now proclaim the triumphs of the living generation. Telegraphs have been electric with the joy of one section hastening to swell that of another. Eyes of tender women and of strong men have alike been suffused with tears of joy. The swells of the prairie, the ridges of the Alleghanies, and the hills of New England, have echoed back the shout of twenty States. As the sounds die away over the broad ocean, to wake and echo again over the bogs of Ireland, the plains of Hungary, and the mountains of Italy, there are thousands who ask with solemn emphasis, not as partizans, but as men standing in the presence of Him in whose likeness they were made, looking to the unborn generations whose destiny they aid to decide, “ What meaneth the noise of this great shout?” And now, since we have been
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