Achsa White Sprague [1827-1861] was born and lived in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. A near prodigy, she began teaching in the stone school by age 12. But at 20, she contracted a mysterious disease and spent seven years bedridden. Then, in one day, she was completely cured. She publicly attributed the miraculous recover to an angelic visitation. News of the phenomena spread and she was soon in demand as a medium and lectured throughout the United States and Canada on Spiritualism, issuing again and again the proclamation, "They Still Live," a phrase which was apparently often repeated by spirits who appeared during her seances.
She published fairly prolifically, but nearly all her self-published writings are rare due to their ephemeral nature and "economical" construction by a local printer.
By the 1850's, her interests broadened and she became a vocal supporter of women's suffrage, prison reform, and the abolition of slavery. She died at just 34 years old, her tombstone reading, "I Still Live."
The present, published just after her death, is a fascinating piece of abolitionist writing. In it, she riffed on her phrase, "I Still Live," and used it in a variety of ways, interpreting almost like a pesher. She claims the founders fathers still live, and that they still call from the grave for America to fulfill their vision of a land of liberty and opportunity for all, including slaves. And America itself still lives, the original trajectory of America was still alive in the hearts of true patriots, and that those killed in war and as part of the slave trade still live, and that they call from the grave for justice and liberty. And finally, it served as a word of hope to those who had lost loved ones in the War.
Very scarce with no copies in the auction record and no copies on the market at the time of cataloguing. Her diary sold at Swann some years ago for over $10,000.
And those three words have mightier meaning still -
"America its mission shall fulfill"-
And when the world repeats those words for thee,
They ring the watchword of true Liberty.
"Still, still I live," great Webster well might say,
In that strange hour in which he passed away,
"Still, still I live," may Washington repeat
From hallowed Vernon's beautiful retreat,
"Still, still I love: for these my later sons
Shall falter never till the victory's won;
Till Freedom weeps no more low at her shrine,
Till Liberty shall lift her eye divine,
And wave her star-bright banner through the sky,
And wake the eagle on his eyrie high,
Till leagued oppression finds its own made grave,
And Freedom's piercing eye beholds no slave.
Till every living soul that walks in the land,
Shall raise towards Heaven in majesty its hand,
And lifting, toward the blue, o'er-arching sky,
A calm, a clear, a freedom loving eye,
Shall give alone to God the bended knee,
And link his loyal name with Liberty,"
Thought, mind and soul to Virtue's cause will give,
Not words but acts repeating, "I still live."
Sprague, Achsa White. I Still Live. A Poem for the Times. To the Brave and Loyal Hearts, Offering their Lives at the Shrine of Liberty, is this Little Voice for Freedom Dedicated with the Deepest Gratitude and Earnest Prayers of its Author. Oswego. Oliphant & Brther. Steam Job Printers. 1862. 19pp
A good copy with original lithographed wraps, small loss at lower left and upper right with tears, stain, and the remaining sheets dog-eared. Solid, generally clean, and complete.