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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:04:34 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:04:34 -0700 |
| commit | b7e27efee7a7d3b2ba13bd125f8f25b3d3f43fdd (patch) | |
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diff --git a/45674-h/45674-h.htm b/45674-h/45674-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc33639 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/45674-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8791 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Prison Poetry, by H. P. McKnight. + </title> + + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + + <style type="text/css"> + +div.sum {page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always;} + +div.break {page-break-before: always;} + +body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + + h1,h2,h3 {text-align: center; + clear: both;} + +p {margin-top: 0.2em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0em; + text-indent: 1.5em;} + +.pf1 {margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; + margin-left: 45%; + margin-bottom: 0em; + text-indent: 0em;} + +.pf2 {margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; + margin-left: 55%; + margin-bottom: 0em; + text-indent: 0em;} + +.pn {margin-top: 0.2em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0em; + text-indent: 0em;} + +.pt {margin-top: 0.2em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 5%; + text-indent: -1em;} + +.p01 {margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 10%; + text-indent: -1.5em;} + +.p02 {margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 1em; 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+ margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both;} + +hr.dec1 {width: 20%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: 40%; + margin-right: 40%; + clear: both;} + +hr.dec2 {width: 20%; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; + margin-left: 40%; + margin-right: 40%; + clear: both;} + +hr.dec3 {width: 20%; + margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: 40%; + margin-right: 40%; + clear: both;} + +hr.dec4 {width: 20%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: 40%; + margin-right: 40%; + clear: both;} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%;} + +table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto;} + + .tdlh {text-align: left; + vertical-align: top;} + + .tdll {text-align: left; + vertical-align: bottom;} + + .tdcl {text-align: center; + vertical-align: bottom;} + + .tdrl {text-align: right; + vertical-align: bottom;} + +#toc1 {width: 90%; + line-height: 1em; + margin-top: 1em;} + + +#t01 {width: 90%; + line-height: 1em; + margin-top: 0em;} + + .tdr {text-align: right;} + + .tdc {text-align: center;} + +.pagenum {visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 94%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; + text-align: center;} + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45674 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="300" height="403" alt="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="sum"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-001a.jpg" width="250" height="55" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="pn center small"><i>COPYRIGHT,<br /> +BY H. P. M'KNIGHT,<br /> +A. D. 1896.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-001b.jpg" width="250" height="55" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div> + +<h1 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap large">Prison Poetry,</span><br /> +<span class="little">BY</span><br /> +<span class="small">H. P. McKNIGHT</span></i>.</h1> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-003.jpg" width="200" height="80" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<div class="break"> + +<p class="pn p2"> +<span class="smcap"><i>In leisure moments cast a look<br /> +Upon the pages of this book;<br /> +And if your thoughts they should engage,<br /> +Just think of me who wrote this page.<br /> +And if by chance, in your time of leisure,<br /> +You, in these pages, should find pleasure,<br /> +Then dart your mind up to this cell,<br /> +For here I live in an earthly HELL.</i></span><br /> +</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<div class="break"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>DEDICATION.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">Go forth, thou little volume,<br /> +I leave thee to thy fate!</p> + +<p class="p02">To those who read thee faithfully<br /> +Thy leaves I dedicate.</p> + +<p class="p01">But if your fate should be so sad<br /> +As mine who thee have writ,</p> + +<p class="p02">I'd be so vexed to think that I<br /> +Had made such a poor "hit."</p> + +<p class="p01">But if by chance you meet a friend<br /> +Along life's road so dreary,</p> + +<p class="p02">Just cheer his mind till he is blind,<br /> +And never make him weary.</p> + +<p class="p01">Teach him the way, the live-long day,<br /> +To lend a helping hand,</p> + +<p class="p02">And never turn or even spurn<br /> +Those wrecked on life's hard strand.</p> + + +<p class="p01">If chance should be you return to me,<br /> +Along with harvest's golden,</p> + +<p class="p02">I'll vouch for thee to all who see,<br /> +That thou wilt not embolden.</p> + +<p class="p01">And now go forth, thou little book,<br /> +I leave thee to thy fate!</p> + +<p class="p02">To those who read thee faithfully<br /> +Thy leaves I dedicate.</p> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>PREFACE.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pn p2">In the preparation of the verses that fill these pages I have +been helped by some of the prisoners of this institution. The +donors have been somewhat few, for which I return thanks; +but each and every verse is a fair representation of the +many phases that the mind of a prisoner passes through, and of +his true sentiment. Those that have been donated by my fellow +prisoners are accredited to them by either their name or serial +number. Some of the verses have been published in our prison +"<span class="smcap">News</span>," but inasmuch as they have reached only an inconsiderable +few outside the prison walls, I prepare this little +volume and hand it to the wide, wide world. My motto, in so +doing, is:</p> + +<p>May you who enjoy the blessings of liberty and worldly freedom, +partake with us of our solitary musings, and enjoy our +noblest thoughts and resolutions, as well as for us to enjoy +yours; and that you may know that we are not devoid of true, +manly, noble principle simply because we are cast—some justly, +others unjustly—into prison.</p> + +<p>May we exchange greetings with you all—shake—and if by +chance I have been fortunate enough to interest you, I am well +compensated; but if I have been more fortunate, and given you—even +one of you—a line of noble, good thoughts and advice—I +say, "May the seed fall on good ground and bring forth good +fruit; may it not be wasted upon barren rock." In my work on +"Crime and Criminals" many of these verses will appear in the +"Appendix."</p> + +<p class="pf1">Very truly yours,</p> + +<p class="pf2">H. P. McKNIGHT,</p> + +<table id="t01" summary="t01"> + + <tr> + <td>A. D. 1896.</td> + <td class="tdr">O. P., Columbus, O., U. S. A.</td> + </tr> + +</table> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>INTRODUCTION.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pn">True models of poetic art.<br /> +Should please the ear and touch the heart:<br /> +Stamp on the plastic mind of youth<br /> +Due reverence for Eternal Truth.<br /> +Paint field and flower in nature's hues,<br /> +Give to the world the heart's best news,<br /> +Or, lightly tripping o'er the page,<br /> +Rejuvenate the blood of age.<br /> +The sacred Muse should ne'er descend.<br /> +Vice to guild, nor wound a friend.<br /> +Heaven gave no man poetic art,<br /> +Save to improve the human heart.</p> + +<p class="pn p2">You may not find, in coming page,<br /> +The ripened wisdom of the age:<br /> +Yet you <i>will</i> find, untrained by art,<br /> +The deathless music of the heart:<br /> +And truth shall caress each flaming line.<br /> +Inspired by The Tuneful Nine;<br /> +No fear of man nor greed of praise<br /> +Shall make or mar our tuneful lays;<br /> +We simply voice the ripest thought<br /> +Of prisoned souls with meaning fraught.<br /> +Yours it is to praise or blame<br /> +My effort to deserve a name!</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> + +<div class="sum"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>CONTENTS.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<table id="toc1" summary="cont1"> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"> </td> + <td colspan="3" class="tdc"><span class="little">PAGE.</span></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic to Warden and Mrs. Coffin,</td> + <td class="tdcl">By</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">95</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic to Chaplain and Mrs. Winget,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdrl">185</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic (Initial),</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic to Capt. J. C. Langenberger,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic to Dr. H. R. Parker,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Acrostic to Harry Smith,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A tribute to Capt. Geo. W. Hess,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">" "</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Letter From Home,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">24138</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Memorial Ode,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">111</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Prisoner's Thanksgiving,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">21</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Prisoner's Lamentation,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">64</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Prayer For Justice,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Prison Vision,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">107</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Query,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Morse</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">70</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">A Sad Warning,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">147</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">An Appreciated Friend,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">115</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Be Lenient to the Errant One,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Birthday Musings,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Coming In and Going Out,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Carr</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">51</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Conclusion,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Dreams,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Ella Ree's Revenge,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">178</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Erratic Musings of Unfettered Thought,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">36</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Forget? No, Never!</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Freedom,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">God Bless Them,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Guilt's Queries and Truth's Replies,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">42</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Hope,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Law</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Hope—Eternity,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">How To Be Happy In Prison,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">22700</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">In Prison,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Influence,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Law</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Kindness,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Roth</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Lines To My Cell,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">112</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Lines To My Wife,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Love's Victim,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">63</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Last Night In the Dungeon,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">39</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Midnight Musings,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">69</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Mother,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Overstreet</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">My Lawyer,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Gilbert</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">145</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">My Mother,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Carr</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">110</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">My Prison Garden,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Our Board of Managers,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">66</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">One and a Few,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">21069</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">68</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Out of the Depths,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Prison Pains,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Prisoners,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Perfect Peace,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Reflections,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">44</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Rhyme and Reason,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">16</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Stray Thoughts,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">72</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Salome's Revenge,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">142</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">She Loves Me Yet,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Soul Sculpture,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Doane</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Storms of Life,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Law</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Prisoner Released,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Col. Parsons</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Convict's Prayer,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Great "O. P."</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Fall of Sodom,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">80</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh"> " " " Canto Second,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">80</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">There Is No Death,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Murderer's Dream,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">182</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Prisoner's Mother,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Mrs. Wirick</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Reformer,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Law</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Under Dog,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Barker</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">46</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Phantom Boat,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">169</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">To A Departed Idol,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">92</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Tribute to Dr. G. A. Tharp,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">" "</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Tribute to the Wolfe Sisters,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">91</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Tribute to the Wolfe Sisters,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">82</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Tribute to Capt. Joseph Smith Acheson,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Tribute to Capt. L. H. Wells,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Van Weighs</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">67</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Mind's the Standard of the Man,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">190</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">The Author's Farewell,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">193</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Two Letters,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Harrison</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">86</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Weight and Immortality of Words,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">McKnight</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">53</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Which Loved Her Best,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">57</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Wine vs. Water,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td> + <td class="tdcl">-</td> + <td class="tdll">75</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="tdlh">Would They Know,</td> + <td class="tdcl">"</td> + <td class="tdll">Collier</td> + <td class="tdrl"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a><br /><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a><br /><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<p class="pn center p4 large">PRISON POETRY.</p> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>PRELUDE.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pn">If you prefer the sounding line,<br /> +Go read some master of the Nine!<br /> +Good taste perhaps you will display;<br /> +Let others read my simple lay<br /> +That gushes from an honest heart<br /> +Unawed by fear, unstrained by art.<br /> +I ne'er will prostitute my Muse<br /> +The rich to praise, nor poor abuse;<br /> +But simply sing as best I can<br /> +Whate'er may bless my fellow man;<br /> +I dare not stain a single page<br /> +With outbursts of unreasoning rage,<br /> +But if one sorrow I can soothe<br /> +Or one his rugged pathway smooth;<br /> +One pain relieve, one joy impart,<br /> +'Twill ease the burden of a heart<br /> +That has known for weary years<br /> +No solace save unbidden tears.<br /> +Hard is the heart that will refuse<br /> +Due merit to the Prison Muse.<br /> +May heaven watch the prisoner's weal<br /> +And mankind for his sorrow feel!</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-014.jpg" width="300" height="154" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a><br /><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">My Prison Garden.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p03"> +In this mind's garden thoughts shall grow,<br /> +And in their freshness bud and blow;<br /> +Thoughts to which love has beauty lent<br /> +And memories sweet of sentiment.<br /> +Now, if I cultivate them right good,<br /> +They'll furnish me with my mind's food.<br /> +My enemies may my corpus hail,<br /> +While onward, upward, thoughts will sail<br /> +To realms above, where all is peace,<br /> +And where the soul may rest with ease.<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Rhyme and Reason.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl0">In contravention of the laws of right,</p> +<p class="pl0">Man's cruel passion and his guilty might,</p> +<p class="pl0">Has bound me tightly with a galling chain</p> +<p class="pl0">Of heaped-up malice and unjust disdain!</p> +<p class="pl0">From front rank lawyer to a felon's cell,</p> +<p class="pl0">Through perjured villains, not by sin I fell!</p> +<p class="pl0">By fiat law my body was consigned</p> +<p class="pl0">To this grim cell for guilty ones designed.</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet I'm no convict—I have never known</p> +<p class="pl0">The deep remorse by guilty wretches shown!</p> +<p class="pl0">I am a martyr—doomed by adverse fate</p> +<p class="pl0">To brave the billows of malicious hate!</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet I am free, for Nature's august plan</p> +<p class="pl0">Makes MIND not <i>matter</i> constitute the MAN.</p> + +<p class="pl2">Tho' men may curse me and cast out my name,</p> +<p class="pl0">Like some vile bauble on the sea of shame;</p> +<p class="pl0">Brand me as murderer or catiff thief,</p> +<p class="pl0">Or atheistic infidel—steepid in unbelief;</p> +<p class="pl0">Foe to all that's pure and good—wretch unfit to live;</p> +<p class="pl0">Outlaw whom no honest man can even pity give!</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>Yet my soul will still defy your prison bolts and bars,</p> +<p class="pl0">And soaring far on eager wings beyond the faintest stars,</p> +<p class="pl0">Live in a world to you unknown, where only poet soul</p> +<p class="pl0">Can bask in beauty undefiled by cankering control!</p> +<p class="pl0">In vain is all your hate and scorn—vain your prison blight;</p> +<p class="pl0">God loves me, and I feel assured that all will yet be right!</p> +<p class="pl0">I know one law—a perfect law, by Nature's self designed—</p> +<p class="pl0">'Tis Heaven's dearest gift to man—The Freedom of the Mind!</p> + +<p class="pl4">If minds and hearts were easy read as faces we can see,</p> +<p class="pl0">Society would lose its dread and many a prisoner free!</p> +<p class="pl0">But what, alas! do people care what's in another's brain?</p> +<p class="pl0">They only seek to hide their share of misery and pain.</p> +<p class="pl0">Were all compelled to truthful be and show their inner life—</p> +<p class="pl0">Great heavens! what a jamboree of sin and shame and strife!</p> +<p class="pli">How few would measure half a span if Mind alone we closely scan!</p> +<p class="pl0">Where is the man on this broad earth, so pure, so good, so true,</p> +<p class="pl0">That never gave an action birth he dared not bring to view?</p> +<p class="pl0">The Christ alone was sinless here, none other lives aright;</p> +<p class="pl0">All human goodness springs from fear of death's approaching night!</p> +<p class="pl0">There is no soul so white I know but what temptation's power</p> +<p class="pl0">Its purity can overthrow and all its good deflower!</p> +<p class="pli">Disguise the truth as best we can, he <i>errs</i> the most who most is <i>Man!</i></p> + +<p class="pl2">Come, let us take a journey, with cathode rays supplied,</p> +<p class="pl0">And view the greatest and good in all their pomp and pride!</p> +<p class="pl0">Examine first the churches, where the godly crew</p> +<p class="pl0">Teach poor erring mortals what is best to do.</p> +<p class="pl0">They tell us human nature is <i>once</i> and always wrong,</p> +<p class="pl0">And prove man's deep depravity in sermon or by song.</p> +<p class="pl0">All natural passion is denounced as deep and deadly sin,</p> +<p class="pl0">And <i>truth</i> and <i>virtue</i> painted as graces hard to win.</p> +<p class="pl0">Heaven, they tell us, is a place with blisses running o'er;</p> +<p class="pl0">Hell, a lake of torture, where fiery billows roar!</p> +<p class="pl0">A choice eternal all must make between their birth and death;</p> +<p class="pl0">It may be made in early life or with expiring breath!</p> +<p class="pl0">But how this choice must be made each gives a separate plan,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>That clearly proves how narrow is the erring mind of Man.</p> + +<p class="pl2">One tells us naught but good pursue, all evil to eschew;</p> +<p class="pl0">Another swears without God's grace no mortal thus can do;</p> +<p class="pl0">One bids us work salvation out with trembling and with fear,</p> +<p class="pl0">Another swears that God's elect should never shed a tear;</p> +<p class="pl0">One says all must live the life Jesus lived on earth.</p> +<p class="pl0">Another says it can't be done without a Second Birth!</p> +<p class="pl0">Some say <i>work</i>, others <i>trust</i>, others still say <i>wait</i>;</p> +<p class="pl0">Some deem us mere automatons, saved or lost by <i>Fate!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Some, with philanthropic views, declare all must be saved,</p> +<p class="pl0">Since Christ, the Perfect Offering for <i>all</i>, death's horrors braved!</p> +<p class="pl0">Since Christians never will agree, 'tis best that every man</p> +<p class="pl0">Should listen to his conscience, and do the best he can!</p> +<p class="pl0">God ever <i>has</i> and <i>will</i> do right! In His Eternal Plan</p> +<p class="pl0">The time will come to set <i>aright</i> the numerous wrongs of <i>Man!</i></p> + +<p class="pl2">See yonder's pompous deacon, with diamonds clear and bright;</p> +<p class="pl0">He looks a model Christian—just turn on him your light.</p> +<p class="pl0">Great heavens! what a medley of <i>cant</i> and sin and shame!</p> +<p class="pl0">If the half we see was ever told 'twould ruin his good name!</p> +<p class="pl0">But turn on yonder pastor your strange, mysterious light;</p> +<p class="pl0">I know he is a real good man, who loves Eternal Right.</p> +<p class="pl0">Ye holy saints, protect us! <i>he</i> too has gone amiss!</p> +<p class="pl0">When Siren Voice allured him with a seductive kiss!</p> +<p class="pl0">If half the prayers we utter be not a sounding lie,</p> +<p class="pl0">It is but little marvel that we are doomed to die!</p> +<p class="pl0">For each will plead forgiveness for thought or action done,</p> +<p class="pl0">And <i>none</i> by spotless merit eternal bliss hath won.</p> +<p class="pl0">Then gently judge your fellow, his failings lightly scan;</p> +<p class="pl0">Like you, he can not corner <i>all</i> the brains of man!</p> + +<p class="pl2">See, yonder is our Congress, where wits and fools unite,</p> +<p class="pl0">To declare by the nation's statute what <i>is</i> fundamental right!</p> +<p class="pl0">They yell of patriotism and the majesty of Law,</p> +<p class="pl0">And are for once unanimous—their salaries to draw!</p> +<p class="pl0">Alas! alas! 'tis ever thus within our halls of State;</p> +<p class="pl0">Sweet Justice is blacklisted—the <i>dollar</i> is too great.</p> +<p class="pl0">Aye, even on judicial bench, where justice should be done,</p> +<p class="pl0">How scattering are the cases where <i>Right</i> the victory won!</p> +<p class="pl0">Lawyers, judge and jury <i>exparte</i> view the case—</p> +<p class="pl0">An angel would be ruined in the defendant's place!</p> +<p class="pl0">In vain is protestation, in vain a blameless life;</p> +<p class="pl0">Some <i>must be</i> doomed to prison when prejudice is rife!</p> +<p class="pl0">Law must keep its servants in stations high and proud,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>Tho' every hour should furnish a coffin and a shroud!</p> + +<p class="pl2">The modern Shylock of today, unlike his friend of old,</p> +<p class="pl0">Demands the pound of quivering flesh and <i>all</i> his victim's gold;</p> +<p class="pl0">Nor feels content until he sees his victim's hated face</p> +<p class="pl0">Behind a wall of rock and steel in garments of disgrace.</p> +<p class="pl0">Then he will raise his dainty hands and loud applaud the law</p> +<p class="pl0">That <i>can</i> protect such beings, who live without a flaw.</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>He</i> has no pity for the weak, who thro' temptation fall,</p> +<p class="pl0">But freely spends his <i>time</i> and <i>means</i> the guileless to enthrall.</p> +<p class="pl0">He heaps <i>his</i> mighty wrath and scorn on every evil done,</p> +<p class="pl0">And speaks in tones of pure disgust of poverty's pale son.</p> +<p class="pl0">But if you bid him look within and study his own heart,</p> +<p class="pl0">He has a task herculean—'tis such a <i>tiny</i> part!</p> +<p class="pl0">And as for Mind—ye angels! in fair creation's plan</p> +<p class="pl0">'Twas given to his victim, and left him <i>half a man!</i></p> + +<p class="pl2">The modern Clytemnestra no dagger needs to use;</p> +<p class="pl0">She slays her Agamemnon within your <i>legal</i> pews,</p> +<p class="pl0">Since judges now are willing to sunder marriage ties,</p> +<p class="pl0">And juries are so truculent when blushing beauty lies.</p> +<p class="pl0">Or if she be a <i>Helen</i>, and Paris suits her taste,</p> +<p class="pl0">She hastes without compunction to lay her honor waste.</p> +<p class="pl0">"Society" allows her to have "a special friend,"</p> +<p class="pl0">And a husband is <i>so</i> handy her good name to defend!</p> +<p class="pl0">But alas! Aspasia <i>no mercy</i> need expect;</p> +<p class="pl0">Her Pericles <i>lionized</i>, but none <i>her</i> worth detect!</p> +<p class="pl0">And as for poor Thargelia <i>none</i> will take <i>her</i> part;</p> +<p class="pl0">She lives a social outcast, with broken, bleeding heart;</p> +<p class="pl0">But each base seducer, in our social plan.</p> +<p class="pl0">Makes poor, trusting woman bear the sins of <i>Man!</i></p> + +<p class="pl2">Many men are now misjudged, and meet an awful fate,</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose innocence is published, but alas, it is too late!</p> +<p class="pl0">Many, too, are breathing freedom's precious air</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose vile conduct merits prison dress and fare.</p> +<p class="pl0">Only <i>little</i> rascals in your prisons <i>die</i>,</p> +<p class="pl0">While <i>stupendous</i> villians liberty can buy!</p> +<p class="pl0">Each one strives with fervor his neighbor to outshine,</p> +<p class="pl0">And he who has the most of gold is reckoned half divine.</p> +<p class="pl0">You scatter dark temptations around the poor man's path,</p> +<p class="pl0">And when he falls you pour on him <i>all</i> your vicious wrath.</p> +<p class="pl0">Poverty in public lives all her deeds are seen;</p> +<p class="pl0">Wealth can build a castle her <i>wickedness</i> to screen.</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet many a noble woman and kingly man is found</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>As toilers in your factories or tillers of the ground!</p> + +<p class="pl2">If cathode rays were freely used to bring to human sight</p> +<p class="pl0">The dirty methods villians use to <i>damn</i> Eternal Right,</p> +<p class="pl0">Many men would be set free and others take their place</p> +<p class="pl0">Who now can roll in luxury and laugh at their disgrace.</p> +<p class="pl0">A judge and jury now can sit and <i>hang</i> a man at will,</p> +<p class="pl0">But they say 'tis open <i>murder</i> if but <i>one</i> dares kill!</p> +<p class="pl0">Take a ring of brass and plate it o'er with gold,</p> +<p class="pl0">And 'tis only <i>business</i> when the fraud is sold!</p> +<p class="pl0">Adulterate both food and drink, deal in deadly pills;</p> +<p class="pl0">Law will aid your <i>robbery</i> and collect your bills!</p> +<p class="pl0">Give to your profession but a sounding name,</p> +<p class="pl0">Then cut up the devil without fear or shame.</p> +<p class="pl0">Be sure to call it <i>business</i> whatever you may do,</p> +<p class="pl0">And if you have sufficient <i>gall</i> that will pull you through.</p> + +<p class="pl2">Now throughout this prison rays cathodal dart,</p> +<p class="pl0">And read the hidden secrets of each convict heart.</p> +<p class="pl0">Some have wrought vile deeds, and wrought them o'er and o'er,</p> +<p class="pl0">That surely proves them rotten to their inmost core.</p> +<p class="pl0">And here are wretched fiends, who with consumate art,</p> +<p class="pl0">Ravish every instinct of the human heart.</p> +<p class="pl0">Some men of wit and letters, cultured and refined,</p> +<p class="pl0">Others moral lepers, with heart and conscience blind.</p> +<p class="pl0">From drawing room and brothel, farm and city slum,</p> +<p class="pl0">Some by acts of justice, some through perjury come;</p> +<p class="pl0">The innocent and guilty, callow youth and age,</p> +<p class="pl0">All can be imprisoned in this Christian age!</p> +<p class="pl0">But they who seek for liberty no innocence must plead—</p> +<p class="pl0">Gold, and plenty of it, will be all they need.</p> + +<p class="pl2">Some young souls are making, for a stated time,</p> +<p class="pl0">This, their maiden effort, on the sea of crime.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, Christians, teach them early what to me is plain;</p> +<p class="pl0">Crime ever <i>has</i> and ever <i>will</i> result in lasting pain.</p> +<p class="pl0">Do not be <i>too</i> lenient, nor <i>too</i> soon forgive,</p> +<p class="pl0">Lest all <i>vice</i> should flourish and no <i>virtue</i> live.</p> +<p class="pl0">Society demands it, the <i>guilty</i> should atone—</p> +<p class="pl0">But take care you punish those, and those <i>alone!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Keep them in your prisons till by <i>virtue</i> shown</p> +<p class="pl0">They will know what <i>is</i> and what is <i>not</i> their own.</p> +<p class="pl0">But let all be careful lest by <i>word</i> or <i>act</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Those who should <i>reform</i> them from their <i>good</i> subtract.</p> +<p class="pl0">Rule them wisely, gently—by some <i>humane</i> plan,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>All their faults to conquer as best becomes a MAN.</p> + +<p class="pl2">When your work is finished and their habits changed,</p> +<p class="pl0"> them honest labor, by the State arranged;</p> +<p class="pl0">Show them honest labor <i>can</i> a living gain,</p> +<p class="pl0">While the <i>social outcast</i> harvests <i>want</i> and <i>shame!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Treat them fairly, kindly; teach them all the true</p> +<p class="pl0">Will be friendly with them while <i>the right</i> they do.</p> +<p class="pl0">Both principle and policy declare this course is wise;</p> +<p class="pl0">Then why longer act the fool and wisdom's voice despise?</p> +<p class="pl0">Crime never <i>can</i> nor <i>will</i> decrease until in <i>Wisdom's School</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Men learn the noted lesson, "Right <i>through</i> Law should Rule."</p> +<p class="pl0">All tried plans are failures, this none dares deny;</p> +<p class="pl0">Now give <i>Common Sense</i> a show and failure dare defy.</p> +<p class="pl0">Do <i>this</i>, and lash and pistol, now your sole defense,</p> +<p class="pl0">Shall give place to Reason and plain Common Sense!</p> + +<p class="pl2">Courts are far too careless when they give men life</p> +<p class="pl0">For offense unnoticed save in time of strife.</p> +<p class="pl0">Naught but some poor chicken or a ham he stole—</p> +<p class="pl0">Shall the devil purchase at such price a soul?</p> +<p class="pl0">If such petty crimes as this deserve such prison fare,</p> +<p class="pl0">Come now, honest reader, what is <i>your</i> just share?</p> +<p class="pl0">Was that old Greek right, who, tho' a man of sense,</p> +<p class="pl0">Could mete out death to all for each small offense?</p> +<p class="pl0">Apply his heartless rule, and can you truly say</p> +<p class="pl0">Any man or woman would be left to slay?</p> +<p class="pl0">Man is only mortal, and to sin is prone;</p> +<p class="pl0">Never cure another's faults till you quit your own.</p> +<p class="pl0">Many are convicted by the <i>press</i> at large;</p> +<p class="pl0">The Public Mind is rarely Heaven's peculiar charge.</p> + +<p class="pl2">Bring the judge and jury who declared my fate</p> +<p class="pl0">For the shining dollars furnished them by hate,</p> +<p class="pl0">And their guilty conscience by my own arrange,</p> +<p class="pl0">And then tell me frankly if my fate should change!</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet I had sooner die behind these bars of steel</p> +<p class="pl0">Than to have a heart of stone that <i>could</i> not feel!</p> +<p class="pl0">I know such human tigers, who fatten on distress,</p> +<p class="pl0">Never <i>can</i> and <i>never</i> will enjoy one hour of rest!</p> +<p class="pl0">Until all hate and malice, all greed and other sin</p> +<p class="pl0">Is burned by awful torture to leave them pure within!</p> +<p class="pl0">God <i>will</i> forgive each penitent whate'er his sin may be,</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose heart is overflowing with <i>love</i> for bond and free.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh listen! brothers, listen—'tis Jehovah's plan—</p> +<p class="pl0">And a <i>time is fixed</i> to right the wrongs of Man.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Freedom.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01 p1">How sweet thou art, O freedom.<br /> +To every human heart—</p> +<p class="p01">Man's privilege most sacred.<br /> +His being's noblest part.</p> +<p class="p01">Thou priceless, great possession,<br /> +Without thee life were done!</p> +<p class="p02">Its sun gone down forever,<br /> +For thou and life are one.</p> + +<p class="p01 p1">How dear thou art, O freedom—<br /> +Our birthright here below!</p> +<p class="p01">Chief blessing of all blessings<br /> +Kind heaven doth bestow.</p> +<p class="p01">Deprived by dark misfortune<br /> +Of every other joy,</p> +<p class="p02">Naught while thou still remainest<br /> +Can happiness destroy.</p> + +<p class="p01 p1">But thou, O prison penance,<br /> +Dark shadow by life's board!</p> +<p class="p01">Of all that men hold mournful<br /> +Thou art the fullest stored.</p> +<p class="p01">There's naught on earth worth having<br /> +If't must be shared with thee—</p> +<p class="p02">O happy, holy freedom!<br /> +O heaven, set me free.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-021.jpg" width="300" height="192" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>God Bless Them</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01 p1">God bless the mothers of this land!<br /> +They are so good and true;</p> +<p class="p01">And all the sisters of their band,<br /> +They are so noble, too.</p> +<p class="p01">If we don't treat them with respect,<br /> +And court their wholesome 'fluence,</p> +<p class="p02">Our morals will not be correct,<br /> +And we will suffer hence.</p> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p>If women are not treated with respect, and made to exercise +an influence over the social world, the standard of private virtue +and public opinion will be lowered, and the morals of men will +suffer.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Forget? No, Never!</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01 p1">There are things we'll not remember,<br /> +And much will be forgot,</p> +<p class="p01">As in the bleak December<br /> +When our coffee was not hot;</p> +<p class="p01">When the butter was much younger,<br /> +When the bread was sour and dry;</p> +<p class="p01">When are felt the pangs of hunger,<br /> +With regrets and many a sigh.</p> +<p class="p01">How the memory used to vex us<br /> +As 'twould o'er our senses steal;</p> +<p class="p01">How we wished they might "annex" us,<br /> +So we'd get one good square meal.</p> +<p class="p01">Other things may be forgot<br /> +In this busy, hustling age,</p> +<p class="p01">But one thing we ne'er can blot<br /> +From off our memory's page,</p> +<p class="p01">That we never can forget<br /> +In a hundred months of Junes;</p> +<p class="p01">It will long our memories fret—<br /> +<i>Those prunes—those rotten, wormy prunes</i>.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Mother.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY OVERSTREET.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Who is it, in this life so drear,<br /> +That pines for the wandering boy,</p> +<p class="p01">And ever ready with words of cheer<br /> +To turn sad thoughts to joy?</p> +<p class="p04">Mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">Who is it, when all others do forsake<br /> +And leave us to our grief,</p> +<p class="p01">That will for long hours lie awake<br /> +And pray for our relief?</p> +<p class="p04">Mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">Who is it, when the world laughs on<br /> +And gives our sighs no thought,</p> +<p class="p01">That thinks of the boy who looks upon<br /> +This life that's come to naught?</p> +<p class="p04">Mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">Who is it, when from prison freed—<br /> +The boy goes forth so sadly—</p> +<p class="p01">That receives him in his hour of need<br /> +With tears of joy—yea, gladly?</p> +<p class="p04">Mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">Who is it, when the end has come,<br /> +Looks fondly on her child,</p> +<p class="p01">And prays to God for a happy home<br /> +For the boy that's been so wild?</p> +<p class="p04">Mother.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-023.jpg" width="300" height="124" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Prisoner's Thanksgiving.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">What if the gold of the corn lands<br /> +Is faded to somber grey?</p> +<p class="p01">And what if the down of the thistle<br /> +Is ripened and scattered away?</p> +<p class="p01">There's a crowning golden harvest,<br /> +There's turkey the heart to cheer,</p> +<p class="p02">There's a basket from home with plenty of "pone,"<br /> +Tho' 'tis bathed in a mother's tear.</p> + +<p class="p01">What 'f our friends are far from us<br /> +And they know not where we are?</p> +<p class="p01">What if those who are dearest<br /> +Live ever away so far?</p> +<p class="p01">There's room for us by th' fireside,<br /> +Where in childhood days we'd play;</p> +<p class="p02">'Tis comfort to think, tho' we stand on the brink,<br /> +That we will be there some day.</p> + +<p class="p01">What if our hearts are lonely<br /> +As we toil in our enemy's hand?</p> +<p class="p01">What if our sad looks betray us<br /> +As we take a true manly stand?</p> +<p class="p01">There's a coming golden harvest,<br /> +There's a time when we all'll meet,</p> +<p class="p02">When prison locks and iron bars<br /> +Will fail to ther pris'n'r keep.</p> + +<p class="p01">What care we for the pang at heart?<br /> +'Twill all be gone some day;</p> +<p class="p01">And then tho' our enemies'ld crush us,<br /> +They'll be scattered far away.</p> +<p class="p01">Tho' this is a sad Thanksgiving,<br /> +A better one's coming our way,</p> +<p class="p02">When we'll all be home to share in the "pone"<br /> +And hear our angeled sister pray.</p> + +<p class="p01">What if the gold of the corn lands<br /> +Is faded to somber grey?</p> +<p class="p02">And what if the down of the thistle<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>Is ripened and scattered away?</p> + +<p class="p01">Away to the east in a far off land<br /> +There's turkey the heart to cheer.</p> +<p class="p01">Where the dear ones are partaking<br /> +And thinking of one that's here;</p> +<p class="p01">There's father and mother and +sister and brother, all so far away.</p> +<p class="p02">There's a blessed time a-coming—<br /> +The prisoner's Thanksgiving day.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Hope—Eternity.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">The heart bowed down with silent grief.<br /> +Despair its portals soon assails.</p> +<p class="p05">Oh! let such moments be but brief<br /> +When spirit lost o'er man prevails;</p> +<p class="p05">Think not of friend who, false, betrayed.<br /> +Nor sweetheart's change, nor colder wife—</p> +<p class="p06">Recall those oaths when passion prayed<br /> +For vengeance and for foeman's life.</p> + +<p class="p05">We pass dear friends but once this way:<br /> +Our judge, accusers and our foe.</p> +<p class="p05">If false to God and man they play.<br /> +Not thou, but they, shall suffer woe.</p> +<p class="p05">All stay is short; the longest span<br /> +Counts less than raindrops in the sea.</p> +<p class="p06">Arouse thee, then, despairing man.<br /> +And hail with hope—Eternity!</p> + +<p class="p05">Glows in thy cell a fragrant bloom,<br /> +Plucked from thy guardian angel's wreath.</p> +<p class="p05">Do thou but nurture it with prayer<br /> +And water it with tears of faith.</p> +<p class="p05">To humble hearts its petals ope,<br /> +Revealing bliss to streaming eye—</p> +<p class="p06">Immortal blooms this rose of hope,<br /> +God's flower of life—Eternity.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-003.jpg" width="200" height="80" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The Prisoner's Mother.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY MRS. S. E. WIRICK.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">To be a prisoner's mother<br /> +Is to feel a piercing dart</p> +<p class="p06">That sets the mind a-whirling<br /> +And almost cleaves the heart.</p> + +<p class="p05">To be a prisoner's mother<br /> +Is, upon a holiday,</p> +<p class="p06">To visit him in prison,<br /> +Then part and go away.</p> + +<p class="p05">To be a prisoner's mother<br /> +'Tis, inside the lonely wall,</p> +<p class="p06">To say, "Farewell, my darling"—<br /> +Oh, I almost faint and fall.</p> + +<p class="p05">No resting place but heaven,<br /> +No happy morn that dawns;</p> +<p class="p06">Our home so drear and lonely<br /> +Because our boy is gone.</p> + +<p class="p05">An empty bed, a missing plate,<br /> +A grief that inward burns;</p> +<p class="p06">No balm on earth to heal our hearts<br /> +Until our boy returns.</p> + +<p class="p07">"Honor and shame from no condition rise;<br /> +Act well your part, there all the honor lies."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-026.jpg" width="300" height="184" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><a name="How_To_Be_Happy_In_Prison" id="How_To_Be_Happy_In_Prison"><span class="smcap"><i>How To Be Happy In Prison.</i></span></a></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY NO. 22700</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p03">Do what is right, and day by day<br /> +Teach yourself that work is play<br /> +Of brain and muscle, rightly used—<br /> +And hurtful only when abused;<br /> +Deep interest take in all you do;<br /> +'Twill others please, as well as you.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Relieve a fellow prisoner's need;<br /> +Righteous counsel always heed;<br /> +Be not suspicious or unjust—<br /> +Few men betray a perfect trust;<br /> +He trusts the most whose heart is pure,<br /> +And generous thought will malice cure.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Brood not o'er the ills of life;<br /> +Give no cause for needless strife;<br /> +Tomb the past with all its sin;<br /> +Purify yourself within;<br /> +Rear your standard, be a <span class="smcap">MAN</span>,<br /> +And do whatever good you can.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Some, perhaps, will misconstrue<br /> +All you say and all you do,<br /> +But when conscience is at rest<br /> +Happiness will fill the breast—<br /> +'Twill be a sweet red-letter day<br /> +When we all shall act that way.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-027.jpg" width="300" height="156" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>In Prison.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">That which the world miscals a jail<br /> +A private closet is to me;</p> +<p class="p01">Whilst a good conscience is my bail,<br /> +And innocence my liberty:</p> +<p class="p01">Locks, bars and solitude together met</p> +<p class="p02">Make me no prisoner, but an anchoret.</p> + +<p class="p01">I, whilst I wisht to be retired,<br /> +Into this private room was turned,</p> +<p class="p01">As if their wisdoms had conspired<br /> +The salamander should be burned;</p> +<p class="p01">Or, like those sophists that would drown a fish,</p> +<p class="p02">I am constrained to suffer what I wish.</p> + +<p class="p01">These manacles upon my arm<br /> +I as my mistress' favors wear;</p> +<p class="p01">And for to keep my ankles warm<br /> +I have some iron shackles there;</p> +<p class="p01">These walls are but my garrison; this cell,</p> +<p class="p02">Which men call jail, doth prove my citadel.</p> + +<p class="p01">I'm in the cabinet lockt up,<br /> +Like some high-prized margarite,</p> +<p class="p01">Or, like the Great Mogul or Pope,<br /> +Am cloistered up from public sight:</p> +<p class="p01">Retiredness is a piece of majesty,</p> +<p class="p02">And thus, proud Sultan, I'm as great as thee.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-028.jpg" width="300" height="151" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Erratic Musings of Unfettered Thought.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">[BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.]</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pn">Is living thought, proud condor of the mind,<br /> +By walls of rock and iron bars confined,<br /> +Innate divinity by human courts enslaved,<br /> +And right eternal by a dust-worm braved?<br /> +Think you the spirit's rapid flight to mar<br /> +With dungeon torture and by iron bar?<br /> +Can rock-ribbed walls and bars of steel<br /> +Deprive man of the power to feel?<br /> +Can you the stream of Lethe roll<br /> +In maddening torrents o'er the soul,<br /> +Pluck from my brow love's garland fair<br /> +And brand me "Victim of despair?"<br /> +No! weakling son of vengeful fate,<br /> +God grants to none a power so great.<br /> +My body is your lawful prey,<br /> +Poor lump of spirit-crumbling clay;<br /> +Seize, chain and manacle each part,<br /> +Aye, even starve my bleeding heart,<br /> +But know that for Creative Thought<br /> +All fetters by one's self is wrought.<br /> +Mind, glorious Mind—Jehovah's sleepless breath,<br /> +Can know no bondage and can feel no death.<br /> +In yon fair regions of unreached repose<br /> +Eternal Beauty's flower-chalice glows,<br /> +Filled to the brim with satisfying wine,<br /> +Ambrosial nectar of the Tuneful Nine.<br /> +My muse can reach it on external wings<br /> +And drink till all the heart within me sings!<br /> +I scale the lofty heights, by virtue shown,<br /> +And from Eternal Wisdom seek my own.<br /> +There, far above the struggling world of fate,<br /> +I greet true freedom and am wisely great.<br /> +'Tis mine in bright elysian fields to roam,<br /> +Pluck jeweled treasure from the sleeping gnome;<br /> +Bid ocean deeps their mysteries reveal,<br /> +Or, soaring far above the world of space,<br /> +Gain raptured visions of the Holy Place;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>Admire and measure every glittering throne,<br /> +Count heavenly treasure as my own,<br /> +Make august angels bow beneath my rod,<br /> +And even dare to mould the mind of God;<br /> +O radiant fields of pure, untrammeled Thought,<br /> +With what sweet incense are thy zephyrs fraught;<br /> +How clear the view, from thy exalted height,<br /> +Of human errors and unerring right;<br /> +'Tis thou alone my laboring Muse can teach<br /> +The perfect measure of her powers to reach;<br /> +She cons these fragments of a Truth sublime,<br /> +And art stands ready with appropriate rhyme<br /> +To trim each sentence and each word to place<br /> +In melting numbers of seductive grace;<br /> +Since first Jehovah, bending low to earth,<br /> +Breathed in man's nostrils an eternal birth,<br /> +The rain drop falling, from the heavy cloud,<br /> +In waiting dust, finds ready shroud,<br /> +And there commingling fills each separate cell,<br /> +Yet still remains as pure as when it fell:<br /> +To man appearing but a dampened clod,<br /> +'Tis chambered favor of a gracious God;<br /> +And serves his purpose till He calls above<br /> +This liquid semblance of Immortal Love,<br /> +There <i>not</i> to perish, but return again<br /> +To deck the forest and adorn the plain;<br /> +All nature feels its fructifying power<br /> +In laughing streamlets and in nodding flower;<br /> +The rain drop typifies the Pure Indwelling God,<br /> +That permeates our being, to animate a clod;<br /> +Give birth to all emotion, consistent with His plan,<br /> +And with unmeasured tenderness weep the fall of man.<br /> +From every nodding flower, from every whispering breeze<br /> +From mountain's lofty height, from towering trees,<br /> +From softly twinkling star, from lightning's giddy flash,<br /> +From the softest twitter of a bird and thunder's awful crash,<br /> +From hills the ants may call their own,<br /> +From crested elders 'round their throne,<br /> +From babbling brook, from storm-lashed wave,<br /> +From nature smiling, nature grave,<br /> +From earth and air, from sky and sea,<br /> +There comes the self same voice to me,<br /> +Like softest note of cooing dove,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>And sweetly whispers, "<span class="smcap">God is Love</span>."<br /> +All nature is obedient to heaven's august plan,<br /> +And none will dare rebellion, save ever-erring man.<br /> +He, of a dual nature—purity and lust—<br /> +Defies his Great Creator and thus betrays his trust.<br /> +Thrones within his being the hydra-headed sin,<br /> +All his joy to murder and create <i>hell within</i>;<br /> +Self-conscienceness completes the triple blow<br /> +While memories of happier years augments his hapless woe.<br /> +Whatever then of pleasure his wounded spirit knows<br /> +From the fountain of bitter repentance it onward, onward flows,<br /> +His own environment, be it either fair or fell,<br /> +Must <i>now</i> embower his heaven, or will create his hell.<br /> +Contentment, peace, or pleasure he must create anew<br /> +By sowing seeds of virtue where vice so lately grew.<br /> +He learns he must not do whatever man can do,<br /> +But recognize the limits of the just and true.<br /> +Law is his <i>Alma mater</i>, the measure of his right,<br /> +The barrier Jehovah set to curb irreverent flight;<br /> +He has the truest liberty who recognizes law;<br /> +'Tis made to shield his virtues and on his vices war;<br /> +He who denies humanity lives for himself alone<br /> +All history to hush, all culture to disown;<br /> +And quickly he relapses into a barbarous state,<br /> +Where only force and prowess can make the unit great.<br /> +None so lost to <i>virtue</i>, none so devoid of art,<br /> +As he who fails to capture the <i>empire of a heart</i>;<br /> +He who knows not sympathy feels no fellow's woe,<br /> +Will never feel the rapture of happiness below;<br /> +God planted seeds of pity in every human breast,<br /> +And he who loses most of woe secures most of rest:<br /> +Love is man's <i>all</i>, his conqueror, his cordial and wine,<br /> +The measure of his inner life that stamps him as divine.<br /> +How circumscribed the circle God allots to man,<br /> +His home is but an acre, his life is but a span;<br /> +And yet within that circle his influence is so great<br /> +He wakes the cooing notes of <i>love</i> or feeds the fires of hate;<br /> +His influence is potential within a circle small,<br /> +But beyond the limit of the same he does no good at all;<br /> +All thought, all power with which our being teems,<br /> +Is action predicated on events or on dreams.<br /> +All we have seen or heard, all we now can feel,<br /> +Leaves an imprint on the heart that the future must reveal:<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>The vain are truly lonely, they long to be admired,<br /> +One wishes to be understood, another well attired,<br /> +This hushed by useless longings or fashion's changing art,<br /> +That sweetest of all poems, <i>the music of the heart</i>.<br /> +But he who solves life's mystery is never quite alone,<br /> +All ages is his playground and solitude his throne;<br /> +He walks in subtle converse with all the mighty dead,<br /> +Gathering priceless jewels their wit or wisdom bred.<br /> +The watchtowers of his thought o'erlooks the struggling mass,<br /> +While events both past and present before his vision pass.<br /> +He sees the weary captive tugging at his chain;<br /> +The weather-beaten sailor plough the raging main;<br /> +The swarthy burden bearer in forest, mine and field;<br /> +The merchant's soiled ledgers, the soldier's brazen shield;<br /> +The child with glittering toy, the maiden at her glass;<br /> +The ruler of an empire, the leader of the mass;<br /> +The student in his study, the priest on bended knee;<br /> +The teacher with his ferrule, the aged human tree,<br /> +All fondly dream of freedom, yet all beneath the ban,<br /> +Each in a separate prison presided o'er by <i>man</i>;<br /> +Sees <i>nature</i> and <i>morality</i> are ever waging war,<br /> +The first as god of freedom, the latter lord of law.<br /> +Sees culture raise her barriers between polite and rude,<br /> +And hears <i>Religion</i> thunder, "Cover up the nude!"<br /> +Knows man in every station to be a willing slave,<br /> +The football of his passion, the dupe of every knave.<br /> +Yet hears him boast his freedom, laud his reasoning power;<br /> +Rule all he can with iron hand, and <i>finite</i> judgment shower;<br /> +Sees all the devious, hidden paths by sinful mortals trod<br /> +Where <i>human</i> law and custom dare ostracise a god;<br /> +Yet knows a germ of goodness, deep in the human breast,<br /> +Is living in the worst of men however much depressed.<br /> +Knows life is but the unit of God's Eternal Plan,<br /> +And learns to <i>pity</i>, not to blame, poor ever-erring man!<br /> +In each created atom sees faultless beauty glow<br /> +And God's Eternal purpose in onward sequence flow.<br /> +Views all souls as living harps, whose seeming dissonance<br /> +Is but apparent and not real; and believes, perchance,<br /> +God will mend each shattered chord, tune the quivering lyre,<br /> +And from out each soul shall bring a music sweeter, higher<br /> +Than earthly ears have ever heard or earthly lips essayed;<br /> +Such music as the ransomed sing in innocence arrayed;<br /> +While all the universe entranced shall wondering inquire:<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>"Is this the fruitage of <i>His</i> woe? Is this his soul's desire?<br /> +Is this the harp so late unstrung? Is this poor fallen man?<br /> +Ah! can it be that all was wrought obedient to God's plan"?</p> + +<p class="pn p1">Nature will o'er matter bear imperial sway,<br /> +And all not immortal must in time decay;<br /> +Man's tenement is mortal, but himself divine;<br /> +Which should he most cherish, the jewel or its shrine?<br /> +Yet when vice allures him with seductive ray,<br /> +Gives he not to passion undisputed sway?<br /> +Dreams he not of beauty who, with open arms,<br /> +Calls for lust to enter and revel 'mid her charms?<br /> +Is his eye not captive? Do not his senses thrill?<br /> +What is left the tempted one save his feeble will?<br /> +If that will prove recreant to Jehovah's trust,<br /> +Pays he not the penalty in self-consuming lust?<br /> +Must his spirit suffer through unending years<br /> +For the shame he purchased with agonizing tears?<br /> +Life is but a shoe-broom, Nature is God's book<br /> +And he's the aptest scholar who all her laws can brook!<br /> +If love of right was constant man could well defy<br /> +All of sin's allurements and unspotted die!<br /> +<i>One</i> such man has lived who, with a faith sublime,<br /> +Crucified the temple where he dwelt in time,<br /> +And entered heaven victorious without the aid of grace,<br /> +The marvel of all centuries, the Savior of the race;<br /> +But had His will but weakened, Jesus, too, had fell,<br /> +And man without Redemption sank tottering into hell;<br /> +All would be good did not true goodness claim<br /> +Such earnest noble effort from a will so tame;<br /> +<i>Crime</i> is but a sequence of misguided will<br /> +Inherent moral defect and <i>surrounding</i> ill.<br /> +Man's innate love of beauty and his dread of pain,<br /> +His ever raging thirst for power and his greed for gain<br /> +Alternately do sway him with resistless power,<br /> +The spotless blossoms of the soul, until he only yearns<br /> +For the ever hideous lust that blackens as it burns.<br /> +Guilt comes not, thundering on the wings of time,<br /> +With vice-distorted feature and the leer of crime,<br /> +But like enchanting vision from a pagan dream,<br /> +Or softly echoed cadence of a whispering stream,<br /> +She steals upon us gently, with ever-changing art,<br /> +And usurps an empire—the waiting human heart!<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Her outward form is beauty, her voice with Passion tense,<br /> +She only craves the privilege to gratify each sense;<br /> +All apparent pleasures 'round her path are spread,<br /> +But, alas! you seize the flower to find its fragrance fled;<br /> +But still pursuing, row with bated breath,<br /> +You clasp her to your bosom and—embrace a death!<br /> +Then, conscience stricken, you the wreck survey,<br /> +And with shuddering sorrow—humbly kneel to pray;<br /> +While the pitying angels on their pinions bear<br /> +The ever sacred burden of repentant prayer,<br /> +And almighty love descending reasserts control,<br /> +And mercy in the guise of grace has won a human <i>soul</i>;<br /> +But contrast a moment, with this heavenly plan,<br /> +The awful brutal conduct of exacting <span class="smcap">Man</span>.<br /> +See yon martial champion riding on the flood<br /> +Of a frightful carnage and a sea of blood;<br /> +His path is strewn with many a ghastly sight,<br /> +Dead and dismembered bodies and defenseless fright!<br /> +Yet all the people with a loud acclaim<br /> +Pronounce <i>him</i> "<i>Hero</i>," and accord him Fame!<br /> +True, he butchers thousands in a cruel war,<br /> +Yet you deem him <i>guiltless</i>, he obeyed <i>your</i> law.<br /> +But if your angered brother slay a single man,<br /> +<i>Him</i> you brand a "Murderer," worthy of your ban;<br /> +And with zeal unbounded you wage relentless war<br /> +Until he falls, a victim to rage-created law.<br /> +As if a useless <i>murderer</i>, sanctioned by the state,<br /> +Was less the fruitage of revenge than one new-born of hate;<br /> +Perchance in some fair aiden, some far distant sphere<br /> +Your poor hapless victim these just words may hear:<br /> +"Thou art now forgiven, poor misguided son!<br /> +"Tho' tranced with dire passion thou hast slain but one.<br /> +"Thou hast made atonement, breathed a fiery breath<br /> +"Of a deep repentance and an awful death!<br /> +"Place on him the raiment—whiter far than snow,<br /> +"And teach his untried lips to sing the song the angels know.<br /> +"But as to yonder soldier who for the bauble fame<br /> +"Led unbattled thousands without fear or shame;<br /> +"And with banners flying to the bugle's chime<br /> +"Hurled obedient legions into conscious crime—<br /> +"All the tears he showed, <i>all</i> the blood he shed,<br /> +"Now in molten fire shall circle 'round his head,<br /> +"And all shall learn the lesson, that horror-breeding war<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>"Will <i>never</i> meet the sanction of Jehovah's law!"<br /> +This is no fancy picture, nor idle dream of youth,<br /> +But, if I know the laws of God, it is the solemn truth".</p> + +<p class="pn p1">Behold a homeless wanderer, poor and thinly clad,<br /> +To biting cold a victim, with hunger almost mad,<br /> +Entering yonder mansion, dares to boldly steal<br /> +What none should e'er deny a dog—the pittance of a meal!<br /> +See the greedy sleuth-hounds of the outraged law<br /> +Wage against this robber an unrelenting war;<br /> +While <i>Christian</i> judge and jury, with ready wit, declare<br /> +His crime an awful outrage, that merits prison fare!<br /> +But he who rears his costly domes<br /> +O'er wreck and ruin of human homes,<br /> +Plants in the breast a raging thirst<br /> +And leaves his victims doubly cursed,<br /> +Can roll in luxury, loll in pride<br /> +And, with <i>the law</i>, his gain divide!<br /> +Tho' every dime he pays the state<br /> +A thousand cost in wakened hate!</p> + +<p class="pn p1">A simple youth by passion lured,<br /> +And of but little wisdom steward,<br /> +Meets with a maid of witching grace<br /> +And dalliance ends in dire disgrace!<br /> +In prison stripes you teach the fool<br /> +That he must <i>love</i> by <i>human</i> rule!<br /> +Yet you rear great, costly piles<br /> +Where soiled doves may ply their wiles<br /> +And lead to an unhallowed bed<br /> +The lustful brute you lately wed.<br /> +If passion will assert her power<br /> +None shall dare a maid deflower<br /> +Unless so <i>licensed</i> by the state<br /> +In wedlock's bonds his lust to sate!<br /> +And, if marriage prove a bane,<br /> +<i>Divorce</i>, for cash, will ease his pain!<br /> +Then to your haunts of sin he hies<br /> +And laws of God and man defies<br /> +By casting, in a barren sea,<br /> +The germ of <i>life</i> that is to be!<br /> +'Tis true this evil you decry—<br /> +And raise your taxes mountain high!<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>As if the more the state shall gain<br /> +The less will virtue feel the strain!—<br /> +You legalize <i>divorce</i> and <i>fraud</i>,<br /> +And each <i>successful</i> scoundrel laud,<br /> +Unmindful tho' he gain his wealth<br /> +By open plunder or by stealth.<br /> +In vain his hapless victims cry,<br /> +His <i>gold</i> can legal silence buy!<br /> +But if through stress of penury's strife<br /> +One makes a shipwreck of his life,<br /> +You prisons build and place within<br /> +This fruitage of a law-made sin,<br /> +To linger till the cowering slave<br /> +Shall fill—unwept—a pauper's grave.<br /> +And scarce a line of obscure print<br /> +At this dark tragedy will hint;<br /> +But if your millioned puppy dies<br /> +What wailings rend the astonished skies!<br /> +What sabled hue and lengthened train<br /> +Attest your deep regret and pain!<br /> +How yon cathedral's vaulted arch<br /> +Will echo with his funeral march;<br /> +What flowers will deck his costly tomb;<br /> +What tapers rob the grave of gloom;<br /> +While columns, nay, whole papers tell<br /> +How <i>great</i> a man today has fell.<br /> +Deluded mortals! raise your eyes<br /> +To yon fair regions of the skies,<br /> +Where <i>justice</i> sits, each cause to try<br /> +Beneath Omniscience's searching eye;<br /> +Your "<i>convict</i>," on low bended knee,<br /> +Pleads "guilty"—and they set him free;<br /> +And angels crown, with loud acclaim,<br /> +The man you deemed a living shame!<br /> +Your <i>Croesus</i>, with uplifted eye,<br /> +(Still conscious of his station high)<br /> +Deigns to repeat, with growing stress,<br /> +How from defeat he wrung success;<br /> +Tells, with a proudly swelling heart,<br /> +Of millions spent on sculptured art;<br /> +And millions more on lordly hall,<br /> +The eye and heart of man to thrall;<br /> +Tells how a church and college new<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>From <i>his</i> donation quickly grew;<br /> +Tells how—in cushioned pew—he knelt<br /> +And begged God other hearts to melt,<br /> +Until each child of man should be,<br /> +Like his dear self, from error free;<br /> +All this they hear your idol tell—<br /> +And cast him headlong into hell!<br /> +While heaven bows her head with awe<br /> +In sanction of Jehovah's law.</p> + +<p class="pn p1">What mighty solons fill your halls of state!<br /> +(Poor gibbering parrots with an empty pate),<br /> +Who deem all prisons of but little use<br /> +Not founded on starvation and abuse.<br /> +They lock poor pris'ners in a loathsome cell,<br /> +While lash and pistol drives them on to hell;<br /> +They crush his manhood and his soul debase,<br /> +Blot out ambition and his name disgrace,<br /> +Yet wonder greatly that such humane plan<br /> +Makes not an angel of each convict man.<br /> +These truthful samples of your legal page<br /> +Condemn your judgment and disgrace your age—<br /> +Too oft repeated, who will dare to say<br /> +To what dark horrors they may pave the way?<br /> +Pause! ere the records that now strew your path<br /> +Invite the vengeance of Jehovah's wrath;<br /> +Relearn the lesson early taught mankind,<br /> +"To God give reverence and to man be kind."<br /> +Be this your motto, and each setting sun<br /> +Will kiss the feature of a work begun;<br /> +Time cannot tarnish and no heart can blame<br /> +Your noble effort to deserve a name;<br /> +Heaven will applaud you, and the smile<br /> +Of happiness the hours beguile,<br /> +Why pay such homage to mere human laws?<br /> +Dread you man's censure or admire applause?<br /> +Are you forgetful that the crown of fame<br /> +Is purchased torture and expiring shame?<br /> +Think you man's plaudits or his causeless hate<br /> +Can either ope or close the pearly gate?<br /> +Who ever placed in man implicit trust,<br /> +Nor saw his idol, soon or late, in dust?<br /> +Why thus pursue an ever fading wraith?<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>'Tis God, and God alone, deserves your faith.<br /> +Survey all things with comprehensive view,<br /> +Admire all beauty and enthrone the true;<br /> +Know every mortal, tho' a separate soul,<br /> +Is but a fragment of the mighty whole<br /> +That fills a niche in God's eternal plan,<br /> +All for the welfare of ungrateful man;<br /> +Learn that in many a loathsome cell<br /> +A prisoned genius or a saint may dwell,<br /> +Whose power, developed by an act of love,<br /> +May lead a million to the Courts above.<br /> +Shall it be yours to touch that vibrant chord<br /> +And share the honor of the great reward?<br /> +What heaven endorses that alone can stand;<br /> +All else is stubble, built on shifting sand,<br /> +That shall vanish 'mid the fire and flood<br /> +Like tiny snowflakes in a sea of blood.<br /> +Oh, could my Muse, by some exalted flight,<br /> +Portray her knowledge of Eternal Right—<br /> +Breathe in soft accents to the listening ear<br /> +The melting music which my soul can hear,<br /> +Some would declare my reason half dethroned<br /> +Before my fancy to such heights had flown;<br /> +Yet could such see as I have seen the scroll<br /> +Where God has written "Destiny of Soul,"<br /> +They much would wonder how my Muse<br /> +Could dare suppress such glorious news.<br /> +What pen can picture or what brush can paint<br /> +The endless rapture of a raptured saint?<br /> +Words are too feeble; they but tell in part<br /> +The truthful language of a human heart;<br /> +But, Oh, when spirit from its cumbering clay<br /> +Shall rise triumphant to the realms of day,<br /> +What strains seraphic from our lips shall break<br /> +Till all creation shall to bliss awake!<br /> +O bliss supernal! when our lips shall meet—<br /> +The lips long buried—and our souls shall greet<br /> +The loved and cherished of those earlier years.<br /> +Ere pain had turned each quivering chord to tears,<br /> +And life was smiling in her morning hours<br /> +And love was conscious of her magic powers.<br /> +Oh, sweet reunion on the crystal strand!<br /> +When we shall fondly clasp the waiting hand<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>Of buried jewels distance hides from view,<br /> +And all the plighted vows of life renew,<br /> +Then shall we learn the truthfulness of love,<br /> +When hearts like ours, renewed in youth, above<br /> +All passion and the cloying cares of earth<br /> +Shall wake to rapture with a Second Birth!</p> + +<p class="pn p1"> +O hearts estranged, forgive and be forgiven!<br /> +Your cruel coldness has already driven<br /> +The angel sweetness from your speaking eye,<br /> +And suffered everything, save pride, to die.<br /> +O cradle, in the lap of everlasting sleep<br /> +The dark, fierce passions that now rudely sweep<br /> +The sounding chambers of the suffering soul,<br /> +Where Hate's tumultuous torrents hourly roll,<br /> +And blacken what was once so white and fair,<br /> +When spotless Innocence was centered there!<br /> +Oh, keep no kisses for my cold, dead brow—<br /> +I am so lonely—let me feel them now.<br /> +When dreamless sleep is mine I never more can need<br /> +The tenderness for which tonight I plead;<br /> +My wayworn spirit and my thorn-pierced feet<br /> +The piteous pleadings of my lips repeat.<br /> +Oh, shall I plead and plead with you in vain<br /> +To bring love's sunlight to my soul again?<br /> +Shall acts repented, bred of undue haste,<br /> +Lay all my stock of future pleasures waste?<br /> +Bid me to draw a servile, galling chain,<br /> +Nor wish to murmur, nor murmur to complain?<br /> +Will you deprive my hungry soul of love,<br /> +Nor leave one spark of happiness above?<br /> +Oh, what base deed has these my fingers wrought<br /> +To wake a malice with each vengeance fraught?<br /> +If I have sinned and disobeyed your laws,<br /> +Discarded fashion and despised applause,<br /> +Have I not suffered all a man can know,<br /> +And drank the bitterest dregs of human woe?<br /> +Think you my proud and haughty soul to cower<br /> +With scorpion lashes of tempestuous power?<br /> +Go scourge the ocean with puny lash,<br /> +Or raze a mountain with a feather's crash!<br /> +Why thus torment my swift declining age<br /> +With useless torture of unreasoning rage?<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>'Twere best to sound the caverns of my soul<br /> +And learn the being whom you dare control!<br /> +'Twill teach you wisdom in a single hour<br /> +And rob your malice of its wasting power!<br /> +For heaven has writ upon each poet soul<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Deal gently with him and his all control</span>."<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>INFLUENCE.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY SAM LAW.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p08">When e'er a noble deed is wrought,<br /> +When e'er is spoke a noble thought,</p> +<p class="p09">Our hearts, in glad surprise,<br /> +To higher levels rise.</p> + +<p class="p08">The sleeping purpose wakes in us,<br /> +Arousing power or genius,</p> +<p class="p09">And from their exercise<br /> +Is born good enterprise.</p> + +<p class="p08">Honor to those whose words or deeds<br /> +Thus help us in our prison needs,</p> +<p class="p09">And by their overflow<br /> +Raise us from what is low.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="300" height="181" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Perfect Peace.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pn">["Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace."—Isaiah xxvi, 3.]</p> + + +<p class="p20 p1"> +Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin,<br /> +The blood of Jesus whispers peace within;<br /> +Peace, perfect peace, for loved ones far away;<br /> +In Jesus' keeping we are safe and they.<br /> +Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging 'round,<br /> +On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found;<br /> +Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown;<br /> +Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.<br /> +Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours;<br /> +Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.<br /> +It is enough, earth's struggles soon shall cease,<br /> +And Jesus calls to Heaven's own perfect peace.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Be Lenient to the Errant One.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p08"> +Like phantoms weird of troubled dream,<br /> +In they come—a ceaseless stream—<br /> +The callow youth, the aged sire,<br /> +To reap the fruit of Satan's hire.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">With pallid brow and rueful face<br /> +They view their garments of disgrace,<br /> +And oft in eyes unused to weep<br /> +Unbidden tears will slowly creep.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Be lenient with the blighted crowd;<br /> +Some come, perhaps, to greet a shroud;<br /> +Some, perhaps, will go outside<br /> +And yet become a nation's pride.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">If by kindness you reclaim<br /> +A single soul from crime and shame,<br /> +God will reward the noble deed<br /> +And aid you in the hour of need.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2><a name="Last_Night_in_the_Dungeon" id="Last_Night_in_the_Dungeon"><span class="smcap"><i>Last Night in the Dungeon.</i></span></a></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">The darkness of Hades and a vile, deathly smell<br /> +Is all that I feel stealing over my senses,</p> +<p class="p02">As lingering alone in this cold dungeon cell,<br /> +Shut away from the world, where hearts' blood condenses.<br /> +I feel 'tis too much for slight, trivial offenses.</p> + +<p class="p01">Shut away from the dear ones, the loved ones on earth,<br /> +I suffer the tortures that no man can tell</p> +<p class="p02">Till he's taken away from fireside and hearth<br /> +And sees the sad visions of a dungeon cell—<br /> +Then he feels that vile man can create a real hell.</p> + +<p class="p01">As I sit here alone, my head throbbing and aching,<br /> +And listen to hear if the keeper is near,</p> +<p class="p02">My thoughts they roam back to little ones taking<br /> +Caresses so sweet from a mother so dear—<br /> +Then I'm prompted to ask, "Do they think of me here?"</p> + +<p class="p01">But when in my heart I feel a slight flutter,<br /> +I know there is sympathy somewhere about;</p> +<p class="p02">I then to myself do silently mutter,<br /> +"They have love for me still, and there is no doubt:"<br /> +Aye, love for me still, and this I've found out.</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, down on the damp and cold stony floor,<br /> +Without either pillow, or blanket, or gown,</p> +<p class="p02">I stretch my weak body right close to the door,<br /> +And there, in sweet sleep, my vision to drown—<br /> +Then, when I awake, I'm not so cast down.</p> + +<p class="p01">There is nothing so sweet and perfectly soothing<br /> +To one who is placed in a cold dungeon cell,</p> +<p class="p02">As the thought that yet there are dear ones a-wooing<br /> +The one who's imprisoned in a dark, dreary dell—<br /> +I muttered, while sleeping, "'Tis well, ah, 'tis well."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, when I awoke and proceeded to think,<br /> +Cold, stiffened and hungry, with tongue parched from thirst,</p> +<p class="p02">I seek but in vain for food and for drink,<br /> +But bread and poor water, the same as at first—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>Aye, dry bread and bad water, the same as at first.</p> + +<p class="p01">Then my heart sank within me, so weak and so pale,<br /> +As I gazed on the keeper of dungeon and jail</p> +<p class="p02">And begged for a drink of pure Adams' ale,<br /> +As he held in his hand a full water pail—<br /> +But the answer came back, "Your plea it must fail."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, giving it up in pure desperation,<br /> +I try to surpass the curse of damnation</p> +<p class="p02">That springs to my lips ere I can but control<br /> +The blood that is boiled by such torturing droll—<br /> +Then I whisper, "Be still! Some one loves this poor soul."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, staid by the love of those dear ones at home,<br /> +I steady myself and go swimming along;</p> +<p class="p01">I brave the hard life of a dark dungeon cell<br /> +And I come out victorious, all perfect and well—<br /> +Then I meet them again and go home there to dwell.</p> +<p class="p21">'T is well! Ah, 't is well!</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><a name="HOPE" id="HOPE"><i>HOPE.</i></a></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY SAM LAW.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">The world may change from old to new,—<br /> +From new to old again,—</p> +<p class="p05">Yet Hope and Heaven, forever true,<br /> +Within man's heart remain.</p> +<p class="p05">The dreams that bless the weary soul,<br /> +The struggle of the strong,</p> +<p class="p05">Are steps toward some happy goal,</p> +<p class="p06">The story of Hope's song.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-043.jpg" width="300" height="122" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Would They Know?</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY 25700.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">If, amid these prison shadows,<br /> +These pale lips should breathe their last,</p> +<p class="p06">Would my friends regret the summons,<br /> +And forgive my guilty past?</p> + +<p class="p05">Would they know the dire temptations<br /> +I had met and nobly braved</p> +<p class="p06">Ere the tears in guilty passion<br /> +My pale cheeks in torrents laved?</p> + +<p class="p05">Would they know how oft and earnest<br /> +I had plead before the throne</p> +<p class="p06">For the place my crime made vacant<br /> +In the bosom of my own?</p> + +<p class="p05">Would these hours of retribution<br /> +Prove sufficient for my sin?</p> +<p class="p06">Would the gates of glory open<br /> +To let this weary wanderer in?</p> + +<p class="p05">Hear, Oh, hear! From yonder heaven<br /> +Speaks the Lamb once crucified;</p> +<p class="p06">"Look up, sad one; never falter;<br /> +For such sinners once I died."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Guilt's Queries and Truth's Replies.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pn center">GUILT.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Will the fountain of life, now bathed in tears,<br /> +Ebb and flow ten weary years?<br /> +Will the soul escape the horrible blight<br /> +That stalks in prison's gruesome night?</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">TRUTH.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Trust, weary one, alone in <span class="smcap">Me</span>;<br /> +Living or dead, thou shalt be free<br /> +From prison blight and sin's alarms,<br /> +While closely nestling in my arms.</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">GUILT.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Will the absent ones I love the best<br /> +'Neath heaven's smile serenely rest?<br /> +Will every branch of the family tree<br /> +Still bud and bloom till I am free?</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">TRUTH.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">If they lean upon my breast<br /> +I will give thy loved ones rest;<br /> +If death a single jewel steal<br /> +Heaven its presence it shall reveal.</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">GUILT.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">While prayers ascend from sacred fane<br /> +Shall penitent tears be shed in vain?<br /> +Will Christ ascend to a prison cell<br /> +And deign in a convict heart to dwell?</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">TRUTH.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">None will I spurn who pardon crave—<br /> +I came on earth the lost to save:<br /> +He loves the most whose debt is large—<br /> +That soul is heaven's peculiar charge.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p class="pn center p1">GUILT.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">If ever again I shall be free<br /> +Will the wreck of my life still haunted be?<br /> +Will the much loved friends in the days of yore<br /> +Spurn me from their open door?</p> + +<p class="pn center p1">TRUTH.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Those who bathe in Calvary's stream<br /> +Sin regard as a hideous dream;<br /> +My children clothed in white by me<br /> +A welcome meet where'er they be.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Letter From Home.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY NO. 24138.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">I am far from the land where my loved ones are dwelling;<br /> +Between rolls the sea, with its billows and foam;</p> +<p class="p02">Yet my heart with fondest emotions is swelling<br /> +As I read the dear letter they've sent me from home.</p> + +<p class="p01">For I fancy I see the brown cottage again,<br /> +And the garden where sweetly the red roses blow;</p> +<p class="p02">I kneel by a grave in the shade of the glen,<br /> +Where slumbers the dear one I lost long ago.</p> + +<p class="p01">And oft to my heart, when in solitude straying,<br /> +Fond memory recalls the bright days of yore,</p> +<p class="p02">And I sigh for the fields, where the children are playing,<br /> +The hills and the valley I may never see more.</p> + +<p class="p01">Long years have I wandered, alone and a stranger,<br /> +And dark is the pathway o'er which I must roam,</p> +<p class="p02">But I know there is <span class="smcap">One</span> who can shield me from danger,<br /> +And his blessing I ask on the dear ones at home.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The Reformer.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY SAM LAW.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">All grim and soiled and brown with tan,<br /> +I saw a strong one in his wrath</p> +<p class="p02">Smiting the godless shrines of man<br /> +Along his path.</p> + +<p class="p01">I looked: aside the dust cloud rolled—<br /> +The Master seemed the Builder too;</p> +<p class="p02">Upspringing from the ruined Old<br /> +I saw the New.</p> + +<p class="p01">Through prison walls, like heaven-sent hope,<br /> +Fresh breezes blew and sunbeams strayed,</p> +<p class="p02">And with the idle gallows rope<br /> +The young child played.</p> + +<p class="p01">Where the doomed victim in his cell<br /> +Had counted o'er the weary hours</p> +<p class="p02">Glad school girls, answering to the bell,<br /> +Came crowned with flowers.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Reflections.</i></span></h2> + +<p class="p01">How pleasant it is to be at home,<br /> +Surrounded by those we love;</p> +<p class="p01">How sweet to list to words of cheer</p> +<p class="p02">That softly fall on the listening ear<br /> +Like the notes of a cooing dove.</p> + +<p class="p01">How the soft caress of a loving hand<br /> +Can dry the eyes that weep!</p> +<p class="p01">How the mind is eased and the pulses thrill</p> +<p class="p02">As we feel the strength of a loving will<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>That rocks our grief to sleep.</p> + +<p class="p01">How soft that hand has ever been<br /> +When sickness laid us low,</p> +<p class="p01">How its soft caress could summon rest</p> +<p class="p02">And bring relief to the laboring breast,<br /> +And cool the fever's glow.</p> + +<p class="p01">How soft the light in love-lit eye,<br /> +That welcomes our safe return;</p> +<p class="p01">How the tender kiss and warm embrace</p> +<p class="p02">Can soothe the pain of late disgrace<br /> +When fate has been too stern.</p> + +<p class="p01">God bless the home where love abides—<br /> +'Tis the dearest spot on earth!</p> +<p class="p01">Be it hovel or palace, or great or small,</p> +<p class="p02">It holds man's hope, his joy, his all,<br /> +And heaven gave it birth!</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The Prisoner Released.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY COL. H. C. PARSONS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p22">I could stand and look at the stars all night—</p> +<p class="pl0">Where tides run in wreaths to the rivers and rills,</p> +<p class="pl0">Where the sea breezes play with the wind from the hills—</p> +<p class="pl0">Where by land and by sea man can go where he wills—</p> +<p class="p22">I'm a free man again, and a free man of right.</p> + +<p class="p22 p1">I could stand and look at the stars all night,</p> +<p class="pl0">For months that were years they have prisoned my stars;</p> +<p class="pl0">My silver-veiled Venus and red-hooded Mars</p> +<p class="pl0">Were fettered and framed by the merciless bars,</p> +<p class="p22">That shaded their glory or shivered their light.</p> + +<p class="p22 p1">I will stand and look at the stars all night;</p> +<p class="pl0">I will wait in the shadow and lee of the tower</p> +<p class="pl0">Till morning shall come, with his magical power—</p> +<p class="pl0">Perhaps in the flame of that wonderful hour</p> +<p class="p22">The prison shall tremble and pass from my sight.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Prison Pains.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Oh! to be heart hungry,<br /> +To feel that never again</p> +<p class="p02">Shall the heart pulsate with rapture<br /> +To the music of love's strain!</p> + +<p class="p01">To feel o'er the senses stealing<br /> +A grief for words too deep,</p> +<p class="p02">And know the heart's best instincts<br /> +Are locked in fathomless sleep.</p> + +<p class="p01">To hear the piteous wailings<br /> +That rise from an empty heart,</p> +<p class="p02">While every breath is torture<br /> +And every thought a dart.</p> + +<p class="p01">Oh, list to the wondrous music<br /> +As it floats from the world above:</p> +<p class="p02">"There is balm for the broken-hearted:<br /> +The gift of my Son is—love."</p> + +<p class="p01">Aye, prayer to heaven ascending,<br /> +Tho' winged from a convict cell,</p> +<p class="p02">Shall find in heaven a welcome<br /> +No tongue can ever tell.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The under Dog.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY BARKER.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">I know that the world—the great, big world,<br /> +From the peasant up to the king,</p> +<p class="p02">Has a different tale from the tale I tell<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>And a different song to sing.</p> + +<p class="p01">But for me—and I care not a single fig<br /> +If they say I was wrong or am right—</p> +<p class="p02">I shall always go in for the weaker dog,<br /> +For the under dog in the fight.</p> + +<p class="p01">I know that the world—the great, big world—<br /> +Will never a moment stop</p> +<p class="p02">To see which dog may be in the fault,<br /> +But will shout for the dog on top.</p> + +<p class="p01">But for me—I never shall pause to ask<br /> +Which dog may be in the right—</p> +<p class="p02">For my own heart will beat, while it beats at all,<br /> +For the under dog in the fight.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Kindness.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY ROTH.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">A kind word for the prisoner,<br /> +A smile to cheer his heart,</p> +<p class="p06">For he bears a grievous burden,<br /> +Tho' he bravely plays his part.</p> + +<p class="p05">From the world he hides his sorrows,<br /> +Stifles the groan of distress</p> +<p class="p06">That struggles oft for utterance<br /> +Beneath his convict dress.</p> + +<p class="p05">The alert night watch could tell<br /> +Of the burning sighs they hear</p> +<p class="p06">While making midnight rounds<br /> +Through corridors so drear.</p> + +<p class="p05">Then cheer his lot with kindness,<br /> +E'en though he be depraved:</p> +<p class="p06">If, wakened from his blindness,<br /> +The worst one may be saved.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">There Is No Death.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">There is no death! The feeble body, slumbering,<br /> +Seems but to waste and fade away;</p> +<p class="p02">In future years that God is numbering<br /> +'Twill spring from slumber and decay.</p> + +<p class="p01">And clothed with beauty everlasting,<br /> +With not a stain of earth to mar,</p> +<p class="p02">'Twill voice a music more entrancing<br /> +Than anthem of the morning star.</p> + +<p class="p01">A thing of beauty is immortal;<br /> +Each line once lost to mortal sight,</p> +<p class="p02">Soars upward to heaven's august portal,<br /> +Glad to escape earth's cankering night.</p> + +<p class="p01">Earth's best and brightest can not perish—<br /> +Death is decreed alone to strife.</p> +<p class="p02">The good we love and fondly cherish<br /> +God has endowed with endless life.</p> + +<p class="p01">Grieve not for those now calmly sleeping,<br /> +Rocked by the slow, revolving earth:</p> +<p class="p02">Angelic hosts around them sweeping<br /> +Shall wake them to an endless birth.</p> + +<p class="p01">In heaven above there is no seeming:<br /> +God feeds immortal souls on bliss;</p> +<p class="p02">On earth we linger, sadly dreaming,<br /> +Till death awakes us with a kiss.</p> + +<p class="p01">Then fear thee not death's friendly slumbers:<br /> +Guardian angels watch thy rest;</p> +<p class="p02">Jehovah all thy days shall number<br /> +And do for thee whate'er is best.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Dreams.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">Dreams are but glimpses of the power<br /> +Deep hidden in the human soul</p> +<p class="p06">That, like some enchanted flower,<br /> +Withers 'neath reason's stern control.</p> + +<p class="p05">They come not as invited guests<br /> +To while away the tedious hours—</p> +<p class="p06">Are they not lights from heaven sent<br /> +To teach the soul its wondrous powers?</p> + +<p class="p05">And best they love to lead us back<br /> +O'er scenes to memory doubly dear,</p> +<p class="p06">For those we, waking, love the most<br /> +In dreams will seem most near.</p> + +<p class="p05">While reason sleeps the soul, awake,<br /> +Lives o'er each precious hour,</p> +<p class="p06">And woos us with a gentle strain<br /> +Of pathos and of power.</p> + +<p class="p05">Dreams index to our waking thought<br /> +Plans on which the heart is set,</p> +<p class="p06">And he who heeds their warning voice<br /> +Has in life least to regret.</p> + +<p class="p05">In waking hours we sow the seed,<br /> +In dreams we reap the grain:</p> +<p class="p06">Sometimes the harvest all is joy,<br /> +Sometimes, alas! 'tis pain.</p> + +<p class="p05">What marvel then that sleep is sweet,<br /> +If dreams bring bliss to view—</p> +<p class="p06">Perhaps the afterglow of death<br /> +Will prove most dreams are not untrue.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">The Great "O. P."</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">"Forward, march!" the left foot first,<br /> +The heel down mighty hard,</p> +<p class="p01">Your head erect and turned to the left,<br /> +As you slyly watch the guard.</p> +<p class="p01">Tramp, tramp, three times each day,<br /> +Back and forth to our meals,</p> +<p class="p02">While the fellow behind, with his "State brogans,"<br /> +Scrapes the skin all off our heels.</p> + +<p class="p01">The visitors in amaze at us gaze<br /> +As we march gayly by,</p> +<p class="p01">The ladies fair, with many a stare,<br /> +Will slyly say, "O my!"</p> +<p class="p01">Some "Hayseed" old, with a chronic cold,<br /> +Will suddenly say, "I swow!</p> +<p class="p02">There goes the man—do you see him Ann?—<br /> +What took our brindle cow!"</p> + +<p class="p01">They say we are "cut-throats" and "robbers,"<br /> +And would be worse if we could;</p> +<p class="p01">But it's false—we're noble-hearted patriots,<br /> +Here for our country's good,</p> +<p class="p01">And the honor came to us, you know:<br /> +We didn't go to it—</p> +<p class="p02">In other words, we were forced here<br /> +To "do" our little "bit."</p> + +<p class="p01">Uncle Sam's domain has been ransacked<br /> +For men with blue-blooded veins,</p> +<p class="p01">For we don't want any persons here<br /> +With any mortal stains.</p> +<p class="p01">We are all old sons of Irish lords—<br /> +Or at least we'd like to be—</p> +<p class="p02">But instead we are only "cons," you know,<br /> +Doing time in the great "O. P."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Coming in and Going Out.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY CARR.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">Coming in to penal slavery,<br /> +Coming in from liberty;</p> +<p class="p05">Going out to joy and freedom,<br /> +Going out the world to see;</p> +<p class="p05">Coming in, oh, how unhappy!<br /> +Going out with many a doubt—</p> +<p class="p06">Endless stream of wretched mortals<br /> +Coming in and going out.</p> + +<p class="p05">From the many charms of home life,<br /> +From beneath the humble cot,</p> +<p class="p05">To this penal institution<br /> +Where the felon mortal's brought</p> +<p class="p05">From some distant homes perhaps torn<br /> +Because grim justice took a fit—</p> +<p class="p06">Coming in with sighs and sadness,<br /> +A bondsman for his life or "bit."</p> + +<p class="p05">Far his loving wife and children,<br /> +While their eyes with tears are wet;</p> +<p class="p05">Though his family needs him daily.<br /> +And there are bills that must be met,</p> +<p class="p05">To this convict world about us,<br /> +With its heartless woe and din,</p> +<p class="p06">Endless stream of restless mortals<br /> +Adding to its load of sin.</p> + +<p class="p05">Time goes on so very slowly,<br /> +Though we try hard not to grieve</p> +<p class="p05">For the dear old family homestead<br /> +And for those we're forced to leave;</p> +<p class="p05">Weary are we very often,<br /> +Weary when we try to win</p> +<p class="p06">News of those who loved us dearly<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Ere we took this step in sin.</p> + +<p class="p05">Coming in, alas! to never<br /> +See the outside world again!</p> +<p class="p05">Some there are that have my pity:<br /> +Naught for them but toil and pain;</p> +<p class="p05">Doomed life's golden hours to fritter<br /> +Far from home and friends most dear—</p> +<p class="p06">God's pity on the poor full-termer<br /> +Coming in to die, we fear.</p> + +<p class="p05">Coming in to serve our sentence,<br /> +Going out, we hope, to cheer;</p> +<p class="p05">Coming in to do hard labor,<br /> +Going out to family dear—</p> +<p class="p05">Careless stream of wretched mortals<br /> +From all stations 'long life's route—</p> +<p class="p06">Hovel, mansion and the hamlet—<br /> +Coming in and going out.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Soul Sculpture.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY BISHOP DOANE.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Sculptures of life are we as we stand,<br /> +With our souls uncarved before us,</p> +<p class="p01">Waiting the hour when, at God's command,<br /> +Our life dream shall pass o'er us.</p> +<p class="p01">If we carve it, then, on the yielding stone<br /> +With many a sharp incision,</p> +<p class="p02">Its heavenly beauty shall be our own,<br /> +Our lives the angel vision.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-055.jpg" width="400" height="111" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Weight and Immortality of Words.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p08"> +Who knows how heavy his words may be,<br /> +Or watches, when he has set them free,<br /> +Their poising, their flight, their rise and fall<br /> +In the world of thought? We are careless all.<br /> +<br /> +We fathom our own, not another's mind.<br /> +And are all near-sighted among our kind,<br /> +While words of ours and words of theirs<br /> +Are meeting and wrestling unawares.<br /> +<br /> +Words are types of our moral trend,<br /> +The blooms of our daily lives, that lend<br /> +To others the fragrance of what we are—<br /> +The outward semblance that goes afar.<br /> +<br /> +The part of ourselves that is not our own,<br /> +When set afloat in the vast unknown,<br /> +The something we give to the moving wheels<br /> +Of the mighty force that grows and feels.<br /> +<br /> +No words are lost as they float away:<br /> +On some life ever they rest and weigh,<br /> +Unbound in public or depths obscure<br /> +Their immortality is secure.<br /> +<br /> +Deep in our hearts we often find<br /> +Words lips long closed have left behind:<br /> +They live in the chambers of the brain,<br /> +The source of endless joy or pain.<br /> +<br /> +Words may be soft as evening air<br /> +Or fierce as sultry noonday's glare,<br /> +But soft or fierce, be sure they rest<br /> +A curse or blessing in some one's breast.<br /> +<br /> +How deep soever their meaning may lie,<br /> +Not every soul will pass them by!<br /> +No anger, nor passion, nor malice so great<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>But a match 'twill meet in a world of hate.<br /> +<br /> +No love so deep, no word so kind<br /> +But lodges at last in a kindred mind,<br /> +No thought so vast, nor high nor low<br /> +But a parallel meets in a world of woe.<br /> +<br /> +A heedless word a heart may break,<br /> +A thoughtful one a fortune make;<br /> +One, hurl a soul in endless night;<br /> +Another, lead to heaven's delight.<br /> +<br /> +One word may nerve a murderer's arm,<br /> +Another still a raging storm—<br /> +One, sow the seeds of endless strife;<br /> +Another, sanctify a life.<br /> +<br /> +Our words outline the feeble tongue<br /> +From which their outward being sprung,<br /> +Or, written on the stainless page,<br /> +They live to bless or curse an age.<br /> +<br /> +How careful, then, ought we to be<br /> +Before we let such engines free!<br /> +Once free, no power can call them back,<br /> +Nor human genius trace their track.<br /> +<br /> +We loose them 'mid the wide expanse<br /> +'Neath joyous spell or sorrow's trance,<br /> +But if their fruitage all could know<br /> +We would not deem them half so low.<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-057.jpg" width="400" height="196" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Which Loved Her Best?</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p08"> +Two votaries of love's maddening dream<br /> +At twilight sat beside a stream,<br /> +Each painting scenes of future bliss,<br /> +Dependent on their darling's kiss.<br /> +<br /> +Both were young and both were fair,<br /> +With noble hearts and manly air,<br /> +And both were members of a band<br /> +Who bled to free his native land.<br /> +<br /> +Each was bound both heart and soul<br /> +Beneath fair Nellie's sweet control,<br /> +Yet they were friends both true and tried,<br /> +If such ere lived, if such ere died.<br /> +<br /> +Each loved her much, yet neither knew<br /> +How well each loved her, nor how true,<br /> +For each was dreaming of the hour<br /> +That <i>he</i> would cull this priceless flower.<br /> +<br /> +At last Ned turned and gayly said,<br /> +"Next Wednesday I and Nellie wed—<br /> +God knows I am the happiest man<br /> +In all this joyous Western land.<br /> +<br /> +"I could not keep this back from you—<br /> +That would be unjust—untrue.<br /> +I feel whatever shall betide<br /> +That <i>you</i> will e'er defend my bride."<br /> +<br /> +Harvey turned aside his face,<br /> +Lest his friend should see some trace<br /> +Of the anguish and despair<br /> +The hopeless suffering mirrored there.<br /> +<br /> +Each word had sunk within his heart<br /> +Like adder's tooth or poisoned dart;<br /> +Joyful love and hope had fled,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>And left his withered heart—stone dead.<br /> +<br /> +He raised his haggard face above<br /> +Until an angel mother's love<br /> +Sent comfort to her suffering child,<br /> +That made him calm and meek and mild.<br /> +<br /> +By memories of the tented field<br /> +Where patriots died, but dared not yield,<br /> +He knew that Ned his arm had lent<br /> +To stop steel for his bosom meant,<br /> +<br /> +And oft had watched beside his bed<br /> +When others in dismay had fled;<br /> +When he spoke, his voice was low<br /> +And soft as rippling streamlets flow:<br /> +<br /> +"I wish you peace and joy, Ned;<br /> +You best deserve this queen to wed.<br /> +I only crave in future life<br /> +To serve you and your peerless wife."<br /> +<br /> +The loyal look in Harvey's eyes<br /> +Was to Ned a new surprise;<br /> +And in a moment all was plain—<br /> +His friend's devotion and his pain.<br /> +<br /> +They stood and wrung each others hand<br /> +To reinforce their friendship's band—<br /> +Their hearts were full, their eyes were wet,<br /> +Yet who can such a scene regret?<br /> +<br /> +Their friendship stood the cruel test,<br /> +And sank triumphant into rest;<br /> +They parted, but to meet again<br /> +Where life was torture, memory pain.<br /> +<br /> +One year passed, and war had swept<br /> +O'er the spot where these two wept,<br /> +While they, with Meig's galland band,<br /> +Were held by Santa Anna's hand.<br /> +<br /> +Behind Satillo's gloomy walls,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>Whose history stoutest heart appalls,<br /> +Here base deeds were hourly wrought<br /> +With hell's intensest malice fraught.<br /> +<br /> +Two hundred patriots true and tried<br /> +To Santa Anna's shame here died<br /> +Simply because they leapt the wall<br /> +And strove to go beyond recall!<br /> +<br /> +Ned and his comrades planned their flight<br /> +While careless sentries slept at night,<br /> +And in safety reached the distant plain<br /> +Where hope and life revived again.<br /> +<br /> +Across the arid plain they sped,<br /> +Half clothed, half starved and almost dead;<br /> +Without a guide to lead them right<br /> +They toiled by day and prayed by night.<br /> +<br /> +The blistering soil bold cactus bred<br /> +Till every toil-worn foot was bled,<br /> +And one by one the hapless band<br /> +Fell prostrate on the glittering sand.<br /> +<br /> +Pursuing soldiers found them thus,<br /> +And drug and drove them to the "truss,"<br /> +There to await the "tortures grand"<br /> +That Santa Anna would command.<br /> +<br /> +"Nine of ten shall now be shot;<br /> +Choose the guilty dogs by lot:<br /> +This law for ages now untold<br /> +Has defied both fraud and gold!"<br /> +<br /> +<i>Nine black</i> beans and <i>one</i> snow <i>white</i><br /> +Were placed within a box at night—<br /> +Every captive must draw one,<br /> +Blindfolded, ere the work begun.<br /> +<br /> +If <i>white</i>, he lived, if black, he died—<br /> +Thus were the Texas patriots tried!<br /> +By sons of Gantimozin's race—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>Man's caricature and heaven's disgrace!<br /> +<br /> +Harvey drew one of faultless white,<br /> +Ned drew one as black as night.<br /> +"I'm lost—oh, God, my wife!" Ned gasped,<br /> +As Harvey sprang his hand to clasp.<br /> +<br /> +"Not so," he cried, "your bean is white—<br /> +See, mine is <i>black</i>, thank God! 'tis right!"<br /> +E'er Ned could draw a conscious breath—<br /> +Harvey had met a hero's death!<br /> +<br /> +Which loved her best, the man who <i>died</i><br /> +Or he who <i>lived</i> to cheer his bride?<br /> +Please answer me; O heart, awake—<br /> +Such liberty I dare not take.<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><a name="The_Storms_of_Life" id="The_Storms_of_Life"><span class="smcap"><i>The Storms of Life.</i></span></a></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY SAM LAW.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">The oak strikes deeper as his boughs<br /> +By furious blasts are driven;</p> +<p class="p05">So life's vicissitudes the more<br /> +Have fixed my heart in heaven.</p> +<p class="p05">All gracious Lord, whate'er my lot<br /> +In other times may be,</p> +<p class="p06">I'll welcome still the heaviest grief<br /> +That brings me near to Thee.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Love's Victim.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">She was no dainty city belle,<br /> +Half art and half deceit,</p> +<p class="p02">And yet no fairer vision<br /> +The human eye could greet.</p> + +<p class="p01">Naught knew she of city life<br /> +Or fashion's changing art—</p> +<p class="p02">Nature created her a belle<br /> +And blessed her with a heart.</p> + +<p class="p01">Her eyes were large and soulful,<br /> +Her face divinely fair;</p> +<p class="p02">Her form was lithe and graceful<br /> +And a golden dream her hair.</p> + +<p class="p01">Her voice was full of melody:<br /> +Each tone to listening ear</p> +<p class="p02">Seemed to awake such music<br /> +As angels delight to hear.</p> + +<p class="p01">Beautiful, pure and guileless,<br /> +With the faith of a trusting child,</p> +<p class="p02">She worshiped the God of nature<br /> +With a spirit undefiled.</p> + +<p class="p01">She lived with honest parents<br /> +In a home on the mountain side,</p> +<p class="p02">Where peace and plenty lingered<br /> +And love was true and tried.</p> + +<p class="p01">Parental duress was unknown,<br /> +For love's restraints are mild:</p> +<p class="p02">A mother's love and father's hope<br /> +Were centered in this child.</p> + +<p class="p01">The acknowledged belle of the mountain,<br /> +She spurned the coquette's art,</p> +<p class="p02">Determining never to promise<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>Her hand without her heart.</p> + +<p class="p01">She could not love her suitors<br /> +With the love a wife should give,</p> +<p class="p02">And deemed it sin without such love<br /> +In wedlock's bonds to live.</p> + +<p class="p01">The idol of many a noble heart,<br /> +None dared their suit to press:</p> +<p class="p02">Thus they wound the gentle spirit<br /> +That pitied, but could not bless.</p> + +<p class="p01">Grateful for each friendly smile<br /> +That o'er her face would beam,</p> +<p class="p02">She reigned an empress absolute<br /> +In each fond lover's dream.</p> + +<p class="p01">A petted child of fashion,<br /> +The heir to boundless wealth,</p> +<p class="p02">Came one day among them<br /> +To recruit his waning health.</p> + +<p class="p01">These hospitable mountain people<br /> +Welcomed the haggard boy,</p> +<p class="p02">And strove to make his visit<br /> +One radiant scene of joy.</p> + +<p class="p01">They bade their darling daughter<br /> +To be the stranger's guide,</p> +<p class="p02">And show him all the beauties<br /> +Of her loved mountain side.</p> + +<p class="p01">Together they scaled the mountains,<br /> +With many a merry shout;</p> +<p class="p02">Together they garnered the flowers<br /> +Or angled the nimble trout.</p> + +<p class="p01">He spake of his home in the city,<br /> +Of the wealth he soon would own;</p> +<p class="p02">Promised to make Lenora his wife<br /> +Ere the summer days had flown.</p> + +<p class="p01">Lenora loved this stranger<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>With a soul-absorbing love,</p> +<p class="p02">And trembled 'neath his caresses<br /> +As helpless as a dove.</p> + +<p class="p01">He was a master of the art<br /> +That robs the halls of Truth</p> +<p class="p02">To gain what passion courts,<br /> +Tho' it blasts the hopes of youth.</p> + +<p class="p01">His honied words of flattery,<br /> +Uttered with seductive art,</p> +<p class="p02">Were music to the listening ear<br /> +And soon deceived the heart.</p> + +<p class="p01">Lenora confided in his worth,<br /> +Receiving each promise as truth—</p> +<p class="p02">How could she doubt her only love<br /> +In the trustful hours of youth?</p> + +<p class="p01">Assured of an early marriage,<br /> +She yielded to him one day</p> +<p class="p02">That priceless germ of innocence<br /> +And fell—to trust a prey.</p> + +<p class="p01">She hoped this sacrifice would gain<br /> +Her lover's every thought;</p> +<p class="p02">This were a boon, if death could buy.<br /> +She deemed not dearly bought.</p> + +<p class="p01">Little she dreamed that fatal hour<br /> +That love had sped the dart</p> +<p class="p02">That stamped her as an outcast,<br /> +With a withered, broken heart.</p> + +<p class="p01">Eugene went to his city home,<br /> +Swearing to soon return</p> +<p class="p02">And claim as wife the girl he knew<br /> +His parents proud would spurn.</p> + +<p class="p01">Summer and autumn days passed by<br /> +And the winter's cold set in,</p> +<p class="p02">Yet the recreant lover came not<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>To the child he taught to sin.</p> + +<p class="p01">A mother's ever watchful eye<br /> +Discovered her daughter's shame,</p> +<p class="p02">Heard her story with breaking heart,<br /> +But uttered no word of blame.</p> + +<p class="p01">She knew her daughter's downfall<br /> +Was the fruit of love beguiled,</p> +<p class="p02">But hated the heartless stranger<br /> +Who ruined her trusting child.</p> + +<p class="p01">God alone can measure the pain<br /> +That child and mother felt,</p> +<p class="p02">As, locked in lingering embrace,<br /> +In agony they knelt</p> + +<p class="p01">And poured in heaven's listening ear<br /> +Their heart-destroying grief;</p> +<p class="p02">And who so bold as to deny<br /> +That Heaven sent relief?</p> + +<p class="p01">The father learned his daughter's sin<br /> +And drove her from his door.</p> +<p class="p02">"Go!" he said, "you guilty wretch,<br /> +You are my child no more."</p> + +<p class="p01">Stung by these cruel, terrible words,<br /> +She fled in wild affright</p> +<p class="p02">In search of the heartless lover,<br /> +Her fearful wrongs to right.</p> + +<p class="p01">She tracked the guilty miscreant down,<br /> +And he, to save his name,</p> +<p class="p02">Hid her till her child was born<br /> +In a house of doubtful fame.</p> + +<p class="p01">The world looked on the helpless child<br /> +With cold, unpitying eye.</p> +<p class="p02">The villian bade his dupe go home,<br /> +"Repent of her sin and die."</p> + +<p class="p01">She heard, and from her glittering eye<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>No tear of anguish sped—</p> +<p class="p02">With dagger drawn she reached his side,<br /> +And struck the villain <i>dead!</i></p> + +<p class="p01">With her babe she sought her father's door<br /> +And pled with a piteous cry</p> +<p class="p02">A shelter for her hapless babe<br /> +While the storm was raging high.</p> + +<p class="p01">"Begone, you wretch!" the father cried,<br /> +"I curse the hour that gave</p> +<p class="p02">Birth to a wretch whose sin has laid<br /> +My wife within the grave."</p> + +<p class="p01">"My mother dead! and I still live?<br /> +Ah! whither shall I fly?</p> +<p class="p02">O God! protect my hapless babe,<br /> +And suffer me to die."</p> + +<p class="p01">The storm increased; she wandered on<br /> +Almost till break of day,</p> +<p class="p02">Till weary, wet and almost dead,<br /> +She knelt in the path to pray.</p> + +<p class="p01">The sky was lit from end to end<br /> +By the lightning's awful glare,</p> +<p class="p02">And a falling tree pinned both to earth<br /> +As they knelt in the act of prayer!</p> + +<p class="p01">They found them thus in the morning light,<br /> +And the father's grief was wild.</p> +<p class="p02">He tenderly looked on the touching scene<br /> +And at last forgave his child!</p> + +<p class="p01">They buried Lenora and her nameless babe<br /> +Close beside her mother's clay,</p> +<p class="p02">And each one spake in kindly tones<br /> +Of the hapless ones that day.</p> + +<p class="p01">The arm that sent the dagger home<br /> +Was nerved by a brain dethroned:</p> +<p class="p02">'Tis Lenora's was an awful deed,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>But her terrible death atoned.</p> + +<p class="p01">Aye, let us hope the much-wronged child<br /> +Has reached a home above</p> +<p class="p02">Where babes can live who have no name<br /> +And 'tis not sin to love.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Prisoner's Lamentation.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">A poor convict in his cell lay dying:<br /> +He thought of home and loved ones dear,</p> +<p class="p02">He asked his cell-mate, in a whisper,<br /> +"Do you think the end is drawing near?"</p> + +<p class="p01">"If I should die before I see them<br /> +Tell them how I longed tonight</p> +<p class="p02">To have my mother's blessed care<br /> +To leave this world of sin and strife."</p> + +<p class="p01">Oh! how he longed to see his mother<br /> +And the cottage on the hill—</p> +<p class="p02">"<i>God bless them all</i>," I heard him whisper,<br /> +As with tears his eyes did fill.</p> + +<p class="p01">"Will they think of me—a prisoner—<br /> +I, who was once their pride and joy?</p> +<p class="p02">While I sleep in the churchyard yonder<br /> +Will they think of their wayward boy?</p> + +<p class="p01">"I know I've caused them lots of trouble<br /> +In wild and reckless boyish day,</p> +<p class="p02">But I hope that God will now forgive me<br /> +When from this earth I'm called away.</p> + +<p class="p01">"I know it broke my mother's heart<br /> +When she heard of me, her wayward son,</p> +<p class="p02">Who five long years did serve in prison<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>For a highway robbery he had done.</p> + +<p class="p01">"Has Sister "Minn," whom I used to play with<br /> +In days of youth, forgotten me?</p> +<p class="p02">If she has, I vow I can not blame her,<br /> +For I've caused her pain and shame, not glee.</p> + +<p class="p01">"There's but one wish I now shall mention—<br /> +That Mother's days may be days of joy,</p> +<p class="p02">And when she asks for me in prison<br /> +Speak mildly of her convict boy.</p> + +<p class="p01">"Here, take this to my dear old mother!<br /> +I know 'tis but a lock of hair,</p> +<p class="p02">But it's all I've got to give her now—<br /> +I know she'll treasure it with care."</p> + +<p class="p01">And when he handed me the keepsake<br /> +His spark of life had nearly fled.</p> +<p class="p02">He clenched my hand and uttered "<i>Mother!</i>"<br /> +And a poor convict there lay dead.</p> + +<p class="p01">May all young men now take fair warning<br /> +From one who's had experience long:</p> +<p class="p02">Guard strong against temptation's dawning—<br /> +Cast off evil and do no wrong.</p> + +<p class="p01">In your younger days <i>court</i> good, <i>shun</i> evil;<br /> +Be careful who you companions choose;</p> +<p class="p02">When you make life's start then do not cavil—<br /> +March manfully on to win, not lose.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-068.jpg" width="300" height="149" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Our Board of Managers.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1">Long have we lived in misery and woe;</p> +<p class="pl0">Long have we suffered from "kindness" cold as snow;</p> +<p class="pl0">Long has pernicious influence been kept</p> +<p class="pl0">Hovering 'round our misery, while in dungeons we have slept.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Long have we suffered from want of human care:</p> +<p class="pl0">Long have we been bearded as the tiger in his lair:</p> +<p class="pl0">Long have we went hungry for want of proper food,</p> +<p class="pl0">And felt the sting of th' master's lash, as o'er our task we stood.</p> + +<p class="pl1">As the dark and gloomy cloud, that hovered o'er our past,</p> +<p class="pl0">Has been wafted off by humane hands—'tis swept away at last.</p> +<p class="pl0">We now emerge from darkness into a welcome light,</p> +<p class="pl0">And live in brighter future hopes—a day made out of night.</p> + +<p class="pl1">We hail you, noble, honest men, whose hearts beat five as one,</p> +<p class="pl0">Thus far in your prison work your duty you have done;</p> +<p class="pl0">Eternal God will always right the brutal wrongs of man,</p> +<p class="pl0">And therefore He did send you here to do the best you can.</p> + +<p class="pl1">A Cherrington, for the chairman, is a master stroke, you know.</p> +<p class="pl0">And a Rose is always welcome, 'cause virtue he will sow;</p> +<p class="pl0">A McConica, of democrat fame, is a power behind the throne,</p> +<p class="pl0">While a Hoffman, sent from Cleveland, is a father to the home;</p> +<p class="pl0">A Muscroft from old "Cincy" is a rattler for the place;</p> +<p class="pl0">They all do join their hands and thoughts and duty bravely face,</p> +<p class="pl1">While a McAdow records their acts with a gentlemanly grace.</p> + +<p class="pl1">They issue mandates right and left and order what is just;</p> +<p class="pl0">They raise poor fallen, helpless man to a place of welcome trust;</p> +<p class="pl0">They seek to lead him on the way to a nobler, better life,</p> +<p class="pl0">And restore him to his children and his broken hearted wife.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Their Coffin always sits close by to lend a helping hand,</p> +<p class="pl0">And faithfully their trust does keep—a leader of their band.</p> +<p class="pl0">Well they know the awful fruitage of each harsh and brutal plan</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>Is to rouse the lurking tiger in the breast of erring man.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Now they rule, whose every impulse ripened by enlightened thought,</p> +<p class="pl0">And it leads to many actions that with highest good is fraught.</p> +<p class="pl0">And they use with great discretion measures that are just and kind,</p> +<p class="pl1">Hoping to reform the erring through the agency of mind.</p> + +<p class="pl1">They have learned the useful lesson taught men from the power above,</p> +<p class="pl0">That the greatest force in nature is the power of inspired love.</p> +<p class="pl0">They have learned that rank dissension from all evil nature flows,</p> +<p class="pl0">And they deem that man the greatest who can ease most mortal woes.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Let us ever sing enchanting of our now official corps</p> +<p class="pl0">As they lift us from dark ruin as it has been heretofore.</p> +<p class="pl0">See! the clouds so lately darkening o'er the prisoner's gloomy past,</p> +<p class="pl0">Mercy's hand is fast dispelling—<span class="smcap">Reason</span> <i>takes the reins at last!</i></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>A TRIBUTE TO<br /> +<span class="smcap small">Assistant Deputy Warden L. H. Wells</span></i>.</h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1">Comrade, may the God of heaven ease the maddening pain</p> +<p class="pl0">That has swept across your bosom since your son was slain;</p> +<p class="pl0">Think not of him as a mortal mouldering into dust;—</p> +<p class="pl0">God, too, loved him and, my comrade, He betrays no trust.</p> + +<p class="pl1">You shall see him when the morning breaks above the night of death,</p> +<p class="pl0">And your parting, O, my comrade, will but seem a passing breath.</p> +<p class="pl0">Well I know the awful pressure grief exerts upon the soul,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>But I know it will but whiten what it can't control.</p> + +<p class="pl1">You have met on field of battle many a gallant foe,</p> +<p class="pl0">And, with patriotism burning, gave them blow for blow,</p> +<p class="pl0">You have fought till every rebel bent the suppliant knee,</p> +<p class="pl0">And the land you loved and cherished once again was free.</p> + +<p class="pl1">You despise no gallant fellow who once wore the blue</p> +<p class="pl0">When it cost both blood and treasure if a man was true.</p> +<p class="pl0">You forgive the trivial errors of that noble band,</p> +<p class="pl0">And you meet a loyal comrade with extended hand.</p> + +<p class="pl1">You have friends in every station where your worth is known;</p> +<p class="pl0">You have showered acts of kindness that but few have known.</p> +<p class="pl0">Since your advent in this prison you have daily won</p> +<p class="pl0">Hearts that ever will remember <i>acts of kindness nobly done</i>.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Comrade, time is passing swiftly, and Jehovah his reveille</p> +<p class="pl0">Soon will sound upon the hilltops of a vast eternity.</p> +<p class="pl0">May we gather with our comrades on that ever beautiful shore</p> +<p class="pl0">And, like conquering heroes, listen to Heaven's plaudits ever more.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>One and a Few.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY 21069.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Of all the pet pleasures so pleasing to man<br /> +In his present degenerate state,</p> +<p class="p02">I doubt if there's any can make him so glad<br /> +As the one I'm about to relate.</p> + +<p class="p01">While here he's confined he's troubled in mind<br /> +With his "fifteen" or "twenty" to do,</p> +<p class="p02">And he longs for the day when he boldly can say:<br /> +"I've only got one and a few."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then keep a strong heart. With courage don't part,<br /> +But manfully fight your way through;</p> +<p class="p02">Be it "five" or it "ten" or twice that again,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>'Twill come down to "one and a few."</p> + +<p class="p01">How often at night when I sit in my cell,<br /> +After working quite hard all the day,</p> +<p class="p02">My memory goes back to the time that I fell,<br /> +For the "bit" which I now have to stay.</p> + +<p class="p01">And sometimes, I own, while sitting alone<br /> +I feel sad and disconsolate, too;</p> +<p class="p02">But it makes me feel gay when I think I can say,<br /> +"I've only got one and a few."</p> + +<p class="p01">Oh, many's a home that's cheerless tonight,<br /> +And many's the mother feels drear;</p> +<p class="p02">When she thinks of the one far away from her sight<br /> +It causes her many a tear.</p> + +<p class="p01">Though others may cleave to her, you are the same;<br /> +Misfortune but makes her more true;</p> +<p class="p02">She may now be quite sad, but won't she feel glad<br /> +When you've only got "one and a few?"</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, don't be discouraged. No matter how long<br /> +In this prison you may have to stay,</p> +<p class="p02">You know that to worry and fret is quite wrong,<br /> +Far better drive dull care away.</p> + +<p class="p01">Old Time is the boy your "bit" to destroy<br /> +As he jogs along, contented and true;</p> +<p class="p02">And so, in the end, you'll find he's the friend<br /> +That brought you to "one and a few."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Midnight Musings.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">'Tis midnight! The sentry's muffled tread<br /> +Is heard within these walls:</p> +<p class="p06">As silent as the living dead<br /> +He makes his regular calls.</p> + +<p class="p05">I try to sleep, but all in vain;<br /> +I try to close—I weep,</p> +<p class="p06">I hear that muffled tread again—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>The sentries on me peep.</p> + +<p class="p05">I hear a voice so clear and plain—<br /> +It calls to me aloud—</p> +<p class="p06">It calls to me again, again;<br /> +That voice comes from a shroud.</p> + +<p class="p05">Hist! Hist! vile heart, be still! No fear,<br /> +My angel sister's voice I hear!</p> +<p class="p06">It speaks to me in accents clear<br /> +And bids me shun a vile career.</p> + +<p class="p05">She bids me meet her once again<br /> +And live in Heaven's fairest clime.</p> +<p class="p06">Nor shall her pleading be in vain—<br /> +<i>Resolved</i>, I'll do no crime.</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, could I feel her warm embrace<br /> +As when, in days of old,</p> +<p class="p06">I gazed into her angeled face—<br /> +It gave happiness untold.</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, let me live my boyhood days<br /> +As in the time gone by!</p> +<p class="p06">And let me consecrate her ways<br /> +When for this boy she'd cry.</p> + +<p class="p05">But, hist! again the muffled tread<br /> +Comes gliding, silent as the dead,</p> +<p class="p06">Along the beat within these walls—<br /> +Hark! Hark! again dear sister calls.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Query.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY MORSE.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">When the long weary days are over<br /> +And the front gates open to you,</p> +<p class="p06">Are you again to be a wild rover?<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>What are you going to do?</p> + +<p class="p05">Have you plans or dreams for the future?<br /> +Have the days any brightness for you?</p> +<p class="p06">Will you be a poor homeless creature?<br /> +What are you going to do?</p> + +<p class="p05">Should your old-time friends forsake you—<br /> +Those who were strong and true—</p> +<p class="p06">And leave you helpless, homeless—<br /> +What are you going to do?</p> + +<p class="p05">But you have one friend who is faithful,<br /> +Who is always kind and true.</p> +<p class="p06">Read His word and study His gospel—<br /> +He'll tell you what to do.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Stray Thoughts.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p03"> +In the fathomless depths of the mighty deep<br /> +What wonders live, what mysteries sleep!<br /> +What mind can name the sightless things<br /> +That live in the ocean's hidden springs,<br /> +Where treasures heaped on treasures lie,<br /> +Forever secure from the human eye;<br /> +Where creatures sport, that God alone<br /> +Can know their joy or hear their moan?<br /> +<br /> +Who knows but the bride of the Dublin Bay<br /> +May walk in the ocean's depths today,<br /> +Arm in arm with her own dear Roy<br /> +In the conscious flush of honeymoon joy?<br /> +Who knows but the hearts that sadly yearned<br /> +For the gallant ship that never returned,<br /> +Have met, in the ocean's unknown bed,<br /> +The loved, tho' lost, we all thought dead?<br /> +<br /> +Science has proved the human frame<br /> +Is water and salt by another name!<br /> +Hydrography yet may teach mankind<br /> +The open door of heaven to find.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"Davie Jones' locker" may prove to be<br /> +Instinct with life, by death set free!<br /> +Knew we the tongue of the deep sea shell<br /> +What wondrous news its notes might tell!<br /> +<br /> +The myriad stars in yonder skies<br /> +May be the beams of death-freed eyes<br /> +That watch us from an unknown shore,<br /> +Still faithful to the vows of yore!<br /> +The vaulted blue of heaven may be<br /> +The looking glass of the mighty sea,<br /> +Where deathless souls their vigils keep<br /> +O'er fast decaying world, asleep.<br /> +<br /> +Atlantis, the fabled city of old,<br /> +Whose gates inspired poets behold,<br /> +May now be resting beneath the wave,<br /> +Triumphant o'er a watery grave!<br /> +Its pearly gates and glittering spires<br /> +Arouse the poet's mad desires.<br /> +He sees—and sings in tongue unknown—<br /> +The mysteries by the Muses shown.<br /> +<br /> +Conducted by a sybil fair,<br /> +He penetrates each demon lair<br /> +And pictures hell, in golden speech,<br /> +Beyond imagination's reach.<br /> +To highest heaven his thought has flown<br /> +And measured and admired the throne;<br /> +Made angels bow beneath his rod<br /> +And dared to mould the mind of God!<br /> +<br /> +Who knows but legends the Muses tell<br /> +Are truths encased in a mighty dream?<br /> +Who knows but the angels of earth and air<br /> +Are the beautiful nymphs beside each stream?<br /> +Each singing bird and nodding flower<br /> +May be imbued with potent power;<br /> +And stars an influence, too, may wield<br /> +And bless or curse our natal hour!<br /> +<br /> +Who knows but what we call a brute<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>Is with immortal reason blest?<br /> +Who knows man is alone divine<br /> +And destined to immortal rest?<br /> +Theorize and reason as we may,<br /> +How little we can really know;<br /> +We only learn to live, then die,<br /> +And who may say to what we go?<br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY SAM LAW.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p03"> +Art thou so good, so free from sin<br /> +That thou should'st judge thy fellow men?<br /> +Look well to self before the stone,<br /> +Aimed at thy brother's faults, be thrown,</p> +<p class="p21">Behold in thee<br /> +A Pharisee.</p> + +<p class="pl1">If thou art not so low, perchance thou'rt only so from circumstance;</p> +<p class="pl0">Perhaps, if tempted, thou would'st fall. Thy nature's sinful, after all.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Thou knowest not, most righteous scribe,<br /> +The struggles, trials, patience tried;<br /> +The battles fought, the vict'ries gained,<br /> +The bleeding heart, the soul tear-stained,</p> +<p class="p21">More human be,<br /> +Have charity.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The Convict's Prayer.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY 21269.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p03">At midnight, in a prison cell,<br /> +On bended knee the convict fell,<br /> +And poured in heaven's listing ear<br /> +A prayer for those he held most dear.<br /> +<br /> +Oh, God; defend my absent wife,<br /> +Whose breaking heart and blighted life<br /> +Spring not from conscious guilt within,<br /> +But from a reckless husband's sin.<br /> +<br /> +Spare her, indulgent heaven, the blow,<br /> +That oft has laid an angel low;<br /> +Still may her ever angel face<br /> +Reflect the presence of Thy grace.<br /> +<br /> +Be it well pleasing in Thy sight<br /> +That she may rear my babes aright,<br /> +And teach them, in the bloom of youth,<br /> +The laws of kindness and of truth.<br /> +<br /> +Help me discharge, on every hand,<br /> +The duties right and law demand;<br /> +And may I live to dwell once more<br /> +Honored among the friends of yore.<br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Wine vs. Water.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1">There stood two glasses, filled to the brim,</p> +<p class="pl0">On a rich man's table, rim to rim,</p> +<p class="pl0">One was ruddy and red as blood,</p> +<p class="pl0">And one as clear as the crystal flood.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Said the glass of wine to the paler brother:</p> +<p class="pl0">"Let us tell the tales of the past to each other.</p> +<p class="pl0">I can tell of banquet, revel and mirth,</p> +<p class="pl0">And the proudest and grandest souls on earth</p> +<p class="pl0">Fell under my touch as though struck by blight,</p> +<p class="pl0">Where I was a king, for I ruled in night.</p> +<p class="pl0">From the heads of kings I have torn the crown;</p> +<p class="pl0">From the heights of fame I have hurled men down.</p> +<p class="pl0">I have blasted many an honored name;</p> +<p class="pl0">I have taken virtue and given shame.</p> +<p class="pl0">I have tempted youth with a sip, a taste</p> +<p class="pl0">That has made his future a barren waste.</p> +<p class="pl0">Far greater than a king am I,</p> +<p class="pl0">Or than any army beneath the sky.</p> +<p class="pl0">I have made the arm of the driver fail,</p> +<p class="pl0">And sent the train from the iron rail.</p> +<p class="pl0">I have made good ships go down at sea,</p> +<p class="pl0">And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me,</p> +<p class="pl0">For they said, "Behold! how great you be!"</p> +<p class="pl0">Fame, strength, wealth, genius before me fall,</p> +<p class="pl0">For my might and power are over all.</p> +<p class="pl0">Ho! ho! pale brother," laughed the wine,</p> +<p class="pl0">"Can you boast of deeds so great as mine?"</p> + +<p class="pl1">The water said proudly, "I cannot boast</p> +<p class="pl0">Of a king dethroned or a murdered host;</p> +<p class="pl0">But I can tell of a heart once sad,</p> +<p class="pl0">By my crystal drops made light and glad—</p> +<p class="pl0">Of thirsts I've quenched, of brows I've laved;</p> +<p class="pl0">Of hands I've cooled and souls I've saved;</p> +<p class="pl0">I've leaped thro' the valley, dashed down the mountain,</p> +<p class="pl0">Formed beautiful rivers and played in fountain,</p> +<p class="pl0">Slept in the sunshine and dropped from the sky</p> +<p class="pl0">And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye.</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>I've eased the hot forehead of fever and pain,</p> +<p class="pl0">I've made the parched meadows grow fertile with grain;</p> +<p class="pl0">I can tell of the powerful wheel of the mill</p> +<p class="pl0">That ground out flower and turned at my will;</p> +<p class="pl0">I can tell of manhood, debased by you.</p> +<p class="pl0">That I lifted up and crowned anew.</p> +<p class="pl0">I cheer, I help, I strengthen and aid;</p> +<p class="pl0">I gladden the heart of man and maid;</p> +<p class="pl0">I set your close-chained captive free</p> +<p class="pl0">And all are better for knowing me."</p> + +<p class="pl1">These are the tales they told each other—</p> +<p class="pl0">The glass of wine and its paler brother—</p> +<p class="pl0">As they sat together, filled to the brim.</p> +<p class="pl0">On the rich man's table, rim to rim.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>The Fall of Sodom.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1">Thou sin-cursed city of the stricken plain,</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose heinous lust all after time shall shame,</p> +<p class="pl0">'Twas thine to rouse Jehovah's awful ire,</p> +<p class="pl0">And test the strength of Heaven's revengeful fire.</p> +<p class="pl0">Thy senseless lust and crime had spread</p> +<p class="pl0">Till virtue, hope and shame had fled;</p> +<p class="pl0">Degraded youth and tottering age</p> +<p class="pl0">Could not appease thy senseless rage;</p> +<p class="pl0">Thy leacherous sons, that roamed at night,</p> +<p class="pl0">Were human only to the sight;</p> +<p class="pl0">Their motto was hell's direst fruit:</p> +<p class="pl0">"Debase the <i>man</i>, exhalt the <i>brute!</i>"</p> +<p class="pl0">One man alone of all thy teeming millions sate,</p> +<p class="pl0">And pondered on thy sin with deathless hate;</p> +<p class="pl0">His righteous soul was vexed from day to day,</p> +<p class="pl0">And strove in vain to turn you from your way.</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>He</i> dwelt among you as a child of God,</p> +<p class="pl0">And in the path of honored wedlock trod.</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>You</i>, dead to nature and to nature's voice,</p> +<p class="pl0">Spurned woman and made man your choice!</p> +<p class="pl0">And desecrated, with your impious lust,</p> +<p class="pl0">The masterpiece God had formed from dust!</p> +<p class="pl0">Till woman, shorn of all her natural power,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>Was cast aside, like some discarded flower,</p> +<p class="pl0">And stormed insulted heaven with hourly cry,</p> +<p class="pl0">Till God beheld you with His searching eye,</p> +<p class="pl0">And sent His angels in avenging haste</p> +<p class="pl0">Your sin to punish and your land to waste.</p> +<p class="pl0">The son of Horan met these at the gate,</p> +<p class="pl0">And begged them at his frugal board to wait;</p> +<p class="pl0">At first refused, they after turn aside,</p> +<p class="pl0">And 'neath a righteous roof content abide.</p> +<p class="pl0">They share his food and list with eager ear</p> +<p class="pl0">As Lot recounts each nightly scene of fear;</p> +<p class="pl0">When lust runs riot in the open streets,</p> +<p class="pl0">And man with man in strange communion meets.</p> +<p class="pl0">The men of Sodom learn, with kindling eye,</p> +<p class="pl0">The stranger's presence, and in haste draw nigh.</p> +<p class="pl0">Men, young and old, with equal ardor burn,</p> +<p class="pl0">And, with unholy lust, towards these strangers yearn.</p> +<p class="pl0">They call the patriarch with an angry shout,</p> +<p class="pl0">And bid him bring the hallowed strangers out,</p> +<p class="pl0">That they may satisfy their lawless lust</p> +<p class="pl0">And trample decency in sinful dust.</p> +<p class="pl0">He, taught from infancy in Mosaic Law,</p> +<p class="pl0">Regarded heaven's High Ruler still with awe;</p> +<p class="pl0">And shuddered with indignant fear</p> +<p class="pl0">As these vile shouts assailed his ear.</p> +<p class="pl0">He left his house and closed the door behind,</p> +<p class="pl0">And to the rabble thus he eased his mind:</p> +<p class="pl0">"Ye men of Sodom! <i>once</i> in life do right,</p> +<p class="pl0">Nor do this wickedness in heaven's sight!</p> +<p class="pl0">Two virgin daughters 'neath my roof reside,</p> +<p class="pl0">Till now a father's care and mother's pride;</p> +<p class="pl0">Take them and do whatever you deem right,</p> +<p class="pl0">But lay no impious hand upon my guests tonight.</p> +<p class="pl0">The laws of hospitality, by Moses taught,</p> +<p class="pl0">Harms not a stranger whom our roof has sought.</p> +<p class="pl0">They know the law, who now reside within,</p> +<p class="pl0">And with horror view your awful sin!"</p> +<p class="pl0">"Ye men of Sodom! who this stranger gave</p> +<p class="pl0">The right to judge us and our will to brave?</p> +<p class="pl0">We kindly took a homeless wanderer in,</p> +<p class="pl0">And dare he brand our greatest pleasure sin?</p> +<p class="pl0">Shall empty words defy our proud behest,</p> +<p class="pl0">Or useless offering prevent our guest?</p> +<p class="pl0">Ten thousand 'No's' will pierce his dastard breast,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>And treat him tenfold worse than all the rest!"</p> +<p class="pl0">Thus spake their leader, and with angry roar</p> +<p class="pl0">The o'er wrought friends assail the door;</p> +<p class="pl0">Lot, backward hurled, could hardly stand,</p> +<p class="pl0">Till snatched within by angel hand,</p> +<p class="pl0">The maddened crowd no longer wait,</p> +<p class="pl0">But headlong rush to meet their fate!</p> +<p class="pl0">The ready angels rise, with godlike mind,</p> +<p class="pl0">And strike the guilty wretches blind:</p> +<p class="pl0">In vain they strive to reach and force the door,</p> +<p class="pl0">Their useless orbs are blasted evermore!</p> +<p class="pl0">"Go seek thy children, Lot, in eager haste,</p> +<p class="pl0">And bid them not a precious moment waste.</p> +<p class="pl0">God will destroy this sin-accursed place,</p> +<p class="pl0">And wipe from earth its faintest trace!"</p> +<p class="pl0">Lot, thus commanded, found each one that night,</p> +<p class="pl0">And faithfully portrayed their awful plight;</p> +<p class="pl0">But he, to them, seemed as a man that mocked,</p> +<p class="pl0">And left them sorely grieved and doubly shocked.</p> +<p class="pl0">The morn arose! The angels cautioned Lot</p> +<p class="pl0">To wife and daughters take and tarry not;</p> +<p class="pl0">And as they lingered took them by the hand</p> +<p class="pl0">And led them from the endangered land.</p> +<p class="pl0">"Flee to the mountains and no hind'rance brook,</p> +<p class="pl0">Nor backward turn a long, admiring look.</p> +<p class="pl0">The wretch who dares this mandate to defy</p> +<p class="pl0">Shall, 'neath Jehovah's hand, in torture die!"</p> +<p class="pl0">This stern command was heard by trembling Lot</p> +<p class="pl0">With deep repugnance, for it pleased him not.</p> +<p class="pl0">"Nay, nay, my lord; but if before thy face</p> +<p class="pl0">Thy trembling servant dares to plead for grace,</p> +<p class="pl0">Command me that I now may turn aside</p> +<p class="pl0">And in your little city safe reside.</p> +<p class="pl0">Thus may I keep my soul alive this day</p> +<p class="pl0">Nor after fall to mountain beasts a prey."</p> +<p class="pl0">The heavenly strangers, with an august nod,</p> +<p class="pl0">Agree to lift from Zoar Jehovah's rod.</p> +<p class="pl0">The rescued quartette Zoarward bend,</p> +<p class="pl0">While hope and fear alternate tend.</p> +<p class="pl0">With mien majestic, yes, with hasty tread,</p> +<p class="pl0">Their trembling flight their aged father led.</p> +<p class="pl0">Next came the virgins, able scarce to stand,</p> +<p class="pl0">And followed by their mother, last of all the band.</p> +<p class="pl0">She yet to Sodom and its idols clave,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>And dared Jehovah's awful wrath to brave;</p> +<p class="pl0">One look she sought, her weary journey to beguile,</p> +<p class="pl0">And in a moment stood transfixed—<i>a Salty Pile!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">The more obedient trio onward fly,</p> +<p class="pl0">Until the opening gates of Zoar greet the eye.</p> +<p class="pl0">Now, with full hearts, they reach the calm retreat,</p> +<p class="pl0">And cordial welcome from King Bela meet.</p> + +<p class="pn center p1 small">END OF FIRST CANTO.</p> + + +<h3 class="p2"><span class="smcap"><i>The Fall of Sodom—Canto Second.</i></span></h3> + +<p class="pl1">From Bera's palace, and from Sodom's shrine,</p> +<p class="pl0">A thousand scintillating rays of beauty shine;</p> +<p class="pl0">The gorgeous parapets of beaten burnished gold</p> +<p class="pl0">Enlightened fancy can with awe behold.</p> +<p class="pl0">Those marble walls of rainbow-tinted hue,</p> +<p class="pl0">Please and instruct and yet astound the view.</p> +<p class="pl0">Each curve of beauty and each line of grace</p> +<p class="pl0">Relates some annal of the ancient place.</p> +<p class="pl0">Upon these sculptured walls each Sodomite may trace</p> +<p class="pl0">The birthplace and the lineage of his entire race.</p> +<p class="pl0">He here may read, in many a flowing line,</p> +<p class="pl0">The maiden efforts of the Tuneful Nine,</p> +<p class="pl0">Who first appeared and strung the quivering lyre,</p> +<p class="pl0">When new created stars their Maker's praise aspire;</p> +<p class="pl0">Theirs is the music of the quick revolving spheres,</p> +<p class="pl0">And theirs the power to bathe a world in tears.</p> +<p class="pl0">They paint in colors, dipped in liquid truth,</p> +<p class="pl0">The brow of beauty and the lip of youth.</p> +<p class="pl0">Thought, tame in prose in their enchanting line,</p> +<p class="pl0">Is dressed in beauty and is half divine.</p> +<p class="pl0">They wing love's arrows with consumate art,</p> +<p class="pl0">And make the melting music of the heart.</p> +<p class="pl0">Youth they instruct and tottering age sustain,</p> +<p class="pl0">Virtue exalt and hideous voice restrain.</p> +<p class="pl0">Inside this palace life is but a dream</p> +<p class="pl0">Of beauty, flowing in a constant stream.</p> +<p class="pl0">Here silken curtains hang on wires of gold,</p> +<p class="pl0">And zephyr-satin, whose capacious fold</p> +<p class="pl0">Ten thousand giddy turns and windings take</p> +<p class="pl0">The secret chambers of the place to make.</p> +<p class="pl0">Each article of comfort man can know</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>With priceless gems and flashing colors glow;</p> +<p class="pl0">Each drinking vessel is a solid gem;</p> +<p class="pl0">Each odorous flower grows on a parent stem;</p> +<p class="pl0">Birds of bright plumage raise their tuneful note</p> +<p class="pl0">And scatter scents ambrosial as they float.</p> +<p class="pl0">The crystal fountains generous wine dispense,</p> +<p class="pl0">And food delicious satisfies the sense;</p> +<p class="pl0">The air is balmy as the breath of spring,</p> +<p class="pl0">And every atom is a beauteous thing.</p> +<p class="pl0">One thing alone this mighty place appalls:</p> +<p class="pl0">No woman dwells within these sculptured walls.</p> +<p class="pl0">Here man with man in lustful caprice plays,</p> +<p class="pl0">And Heaven's righteous mandate disobeys;</p> +<p class="pl0">Sinks, through his lust, below the groveling beast,</p> +<p class="pl0">Who to the female makes his amorous suit.</p> +<p class="pl0">Within those walls are stores of untold wealth,</p> +<p class="pl0">Secured by carnage and by midnight stealth;</p> +<p class="pl0">Beneath each divan and each downy couch</p> +<p class="pl0">The smouldering fires of retribution crouch.</p> +<p class="pl0">Each glittering tankard and each costly plate</p> +<p class="pl0">Reflects the fierceness of each pending fate.</p> +<p class="pl0">The quenchless tortures of Jehovah's wrath</p> +<p class="pl0">Is earthward tending in a destined path!</p> +<p class="pl0">The brilliant sun of light, the mighty sire,</p> +<p class="pl0">Seems bathed in blood and heaven's all afire.</p> +<p class="pl0">From pole to pole the livid lightnings flash</p> +<p class="pl0">Till all creation trembles 'neath the crash;</p> +<p class="pl0">And earthward, still, the melting heavens bend,</p> +<p class="pl0">While blinding floods of hissing flames descend,</p> +<p class="pl0">And seas of lava, with three mighty bounds,</p> +<p class="pl0">The now doomed city and the plain surrounds.</p> +<p class="pl0">Now, inward flowing, rolls the mighty tide,</p> +<p class="pl0">On whose dread billows death alone can ride;</p> +<p class="pl0">And upward rising, with tremendous sweep,</p> +<p class="pl0">Its molten billows awful union keep</p> +<p class="pl0">With floods descending from the flaming sky,</p> +<p class="pl0">And Sodom knows her hour has come to die!</p> +<p class="pl0">Her frightened millions in a circle band,</p> +<p class="pl0">And view approaching death on every hand.</p> +<p class="pl0">Around them rolls a sea of fire;</p> +<p class="pl0">Above them flames the torch of Heaven's ire;</p> +<p class="pl0">While hissing lava, in descending rain,</p> +<p class="pl0">Creates new horror and gives birth to pain.</p> +<p class="pl0">Each gorgeous palace and each mart of trade</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Is buried for their wickedness and in ashes laid.</p> +<p class="pl0">In vain they call their idols, name by name.</p> +<p class="pl0">Their garments all are wrapt in living flame,</p> +<p class="pl0">Their quivering bodies tortured to the bone,</p> +<p class="pl0">Their parched lips in vain assay a moan,</p> +<p class="pl0">Their eyes still pleading with each bated breath</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>Not</i> for forgiveness, but for instant death!</p> + +<p class="pl1">The circling oceans, with resounding roar,</p> +<p class="pl0">Meet and commingle—and the scene is o'er!</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-084.jpg" width="300" height="159" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>A TRIBUTE TO<br /><span class="small">THE WOLFE SISTERS.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p01">Music, the sweetest all-inspiring gift of God.<br /> +Is ever welcome to the prisoner's ear;</p> +<p class="p02">There's nothing makes me feel half so well<br /> +As music of the heart when sung with cheer.</p> + +<p class="p01">Here in this prison as I sit and pore<br /> +Over the past and present of my life,</p> +<p class="p02">My heart sings ever, o'er and o'er,<br /> +The darkest bitterness of a prisoner's strife.</p> + +<p class="p01">But hark! in yonder chapel shrine<br /> +I hear sweet music as of yore;</p> +<p class="p02">I ask, "What music is that sounds so fine?"<br /> +The answer comes, "The Wolfes are at the door!"</p> + +<p class="pn">I hasten, then, to brush my prison garb,<br /> +And toilet try to fix as best I can,<br /> +And then unto the chapel wend my way;<br /> +When there upon the rostrum stand</p> +<p class="p09"><i>Five of the sweetest singers of our day!</i></p> + +<p class="pl1">There's Amy Wolfe, who changed her name to Brooks;</p> +<p class="pl0">She leads her choir without the aid of books.</p> +<p class="pl0">She sings with voice so sweet and delicate</p> +<p class="pl0">That to her, First Soprano I dedicate.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Next, Minnie S., at the age of twenty-three,</p> +<p class="pl0">Sings like a lark and busy as a bee,</p> +<p class="pl0">Carefully guarding that no mistakes are made,</p> +<p class="pl0">And handles her bewitching voice with harmony well staid.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Then sang the sweet Zoraydo F., with baritone most clear,</p> +<p class="pl0">Who, at the age of twenty, delights to bring us cheer.</p> +<p class="pl0">It seems as if her heart and soul were bent on doing right,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>And when she sang she sang so sweet—Oh! it was out of sight.</p> + +<p class="pl1">The next I saw was Lyda M., with scarlet cheeks aglow;</p> +<p class="pl0">She sings with voice most charming, a clear and sweet alto,</p> +<p class="pl0">She's next the younger of them all, because she's just eighteen,</p> +<p class="pl0">She captivates the heart of man—what a fairy little Queen!</p> + +<p class="pl1">Then last, not least, the little one, that is, Miss Kittie C.,</p> +<p class="pl0">She just so busy when she sings she's like a honey bee.</p> +<p class="pl0">Her eyes are clear as crystal, her locks are flowing gold,</p> +<p class="pl0">She sings soprano quite as fine as any I have told.</p> + +<p class="pl1">I sat down in an empty seat close by the outside door,</p> +<p class="pl0">And listened to such warbling as I never heard before.</p> +<p class="pl0">Their voices drowned all sorrow and gushed forth many a tear,</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>Not</i> for horror that I felt—it brought me real good cheer.</p> + +<p class="pl0">They drove away the pain of woe, that none but prisoners smart;</p> +<p class="pl0">They sang the ever blessed song—true music of the heart.</p> +<p class="pl0">We doff our striped caps to you, O girls of sweetest song,</p> +<p class="pl0">And may we bid you be our friends and return again ere long.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Adieu, adieu, our lady friends, do not now say "farewell,"</p> +<p class="pl0">Because we wish you all return with song too sweet to tell.</p> +<p class="pl0">Come back! come back again and sing some lovely Sabbath day,</p> +<p class="pl0">For your presence here to sing good cheer we all will ever pray.</p> + +<p class="pl1">And now unto the aged Wolfes please let me say one word:</p> +<p class="pl0">Your home must be a palace filled with sirenic good;</p> +<p class="pl0">Proud may you feel—and justly, too—of these five daughters fair,</p> +<p class="pl0">And great the good they've done for us while in this prison lair.</p> + +<p class="pl1">There's but one wish that emanates from a prisoner's wicked heart.</p> +<p class="pl0">That is to say, without delay, "May heaven take their part,</p> +<p class="pl0">And to them bring eternal joy that'll pierce them like a dart!"</p> +<p class="pl0">Each song they sing is welcome here—a masterpiece of art!</p> + +<p class="pl1">And now to part we sadly must (while I'm immersed in prison dust).</p> +<p class="pl0">But hoping, too, 'twill not be long ere you return with sweetest song. Adieu! Adieu!</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Prisoners.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">God pity the wretched prisoners<br /> +In their lonely cells today;</p> +<p class="p06">Whatever the sins that tripped them,<br /> +God pity them still, I say.</p> + +<p class="p05">Only a strip of sunshine<br /> +Cleft by rusty bars:</p> +<p class="p06">Only a patch of azure,<br /> +Only a cluster of stars.</p> + +<p class="p05">Once they were little children,<br /> +And perhaps their wayward feet</p> +<p class="p06">Were led by a gentle mother<br /> +Toward the golden street.</p> + +<p class="p05">Therefore, if in life's forest<br /> +They since have lost their way.</p> +<p class="p06">Whatever the sins that tripped them,<br /> +God pity them still, I say.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-068.jpg" width="300" height="149" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Two Letters.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">I wrote a letter while jealous rage<br /> +In my bosom reigned supreme;</p> +<p class="p06">The words were fraught with anger,<br /> +And a loathsome disesteem.</p> + +<p class="p05">They fell on the pure white paper<br /> +And marred its stainless page,</p> +<p class="p06">Yet eased my maddened spirit,<br /> +And appeased my senseless rage.</p> + +<p class="p05">I gloatingly tho't of the dumb despair<br /> +That letter would surely give,</p> +<p class="p06">To one who had broken her faithful vows<br /> +In a way I could never forgive.</p> + +<p class="p05">I doubted not the perfect truth<br /> +Of all I heard them say;</p> +<p class="p06">She, like other girls, was false<br /> +While her lover was away.</p> + +<p class="p05">I knew she vowed she would be true<br /> +While life itself would last,</p> +<p class="p06">Yet thought that she, like others,<br /> +Too soon forgot the past.</p> + +<p class="p05">I hastily sealed the cruel note,<br /> +And placed it next my heart,</p> +<p class="p06">Determined upon the morrow<br /> +To give it an early start.</p> + +<p class="p05">I threw myself upon the couch<br /> +And sought for sweet repose,</p> +<p class="p06">And in my restless slumbers<br /> +A vision then arose:</p> + +<p class="p05">I saw in that terrible vision<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>A woman whose eager face</p> +<p class="p06">Beamed with yearning, restless love<br /> +As her trembling fingers traced</p> + +<p class="p05">A message of love and tenderness<br /> +To her loved one far away.</p> +<p class="p06">As her pure lips quietly murmured,<br /> +"God grant we must some day!"</p> + +<p class="p05">She sealed her letter with dainty hands,<br /> +And laid it by with tender care:</p> +<p class="p06">Then humbly kneeled beside her bed,<br /> +And poured her soul in prayer.</p> + +<p class="p05">She prayed for her impassioned lover<br /> +In a warm, impassioned strain,</p> +<p class="p06">That proved her heart both warm and true<br /> +And free from guilt or stain.</p> + +<p class="p05">She arose from her kneeling posture<br /> +To answer a call at her door:</p> +<p class="p06">She smiled as she saw the letter<br /> +The hand of the servant bore.</p> + +<p class="p05">One glance she gave—then burst the seal<br /> +With trembling, eager haste,</p> +<p class="p06">And rapidly heard the cruel words<br /> +My reckless hand had traced.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her lovely face turned deathly pale<br /> +As she wildly clutched the air.</p> +<p class="p06">She tottered and fell—a senseless heap—<br /> +A prey to dumb despair.</p> + +<p class="p05">So still she lay I deemed her dead,<br /> +And sprang to raise her in my arms.</p> +<p class="p06">I loved her with the old, wild love,<br /> +And bowed to her peerless charms.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Speak! darling, speak!" I wildly cried.<br /> +"Pray, come back from the voiceless shore.</p> +<p class="p06">I cannot, dare not live an hour,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>Unless I hear your voice once more!"</p> + +<p class="p05">She opened wide her lovely eyes,<br /> +And cast on me one lingering glance</p> +<p class="p06">So full of injured innocence<br /> +It smote me like a lance.</p> + +<p class="p05">I seized the heartless letter,<br /> +Curst cause of all my shame,</p> +<p class="p06">And, with one imprecation,<br /> +Consigned it to the flame.</p> + +<p class="p05">She watched me with a languid smile,<br /> +And pointed to her heart:</p> +<p class="p06">"You have destroyed the proof," she said,<br /> +"But can you ease the smart?"</p> + +<p class="p05">"I have been true to all my vows,<br /> +Heaven judge me if I lie!</p> +<p class="p06">But since you deem me to be false,<br /> +Go—leave me here—to die!"</p> + +<p class="p05">At last I woke and quickly drew<br /> +The accursed sheet from my breast—</p> +<p class="p06">Burning it with a ready hand—<br /> +And gently sank to rest.</p> + +<p class="p05">I wrote another, whose tender words<br /> +Were soft as the ripple of a stream;</p> +<p class="p06">And thought what a contrast it would be<br /> +To the letter she read in my dream!</p> + +<p class="p05">And my darling greatly wonders<br /> +Why my letters with tenderness teem,</p> +<p class="p06">Since I have never told her<br /> +Of the letter she read in my dream.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-055.jpg" width="400" height="111" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Prayer For Justice.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p03">Oh, God in heaven up on high,<br /> +How long this cruel strife?<br /> +Most I but perish in this den<br /> +To end this wretched life?<br /> +Is there no justice here on earth?<br /> +Must truth remain crushed down<br /> +And vile and wicked, cruel man<br /> +Forever look and frown?<br /> +Is there no power to bring to light<br /> +The <i>truth</i> of my offense?<br /> +Must perjury and bribery<br /> +Prevail forever hence?<br /> +Can enemies, vile, cruel things,<br /> +Twist truth all out of shape,<br /> +And cause one who's not guilty<br /> +To morally wear death's crepe?<br /> +Oh, God! is there no remedy<br /> +For earthly subjects thus<br /> +To be relieved from wretched pain<br /> +Without this earthly fuss?<br /> +Oh, God! to Thee we call for help.<br /> +Wil't thou but listen—hear?<br /> +Look down upon me as I be,<br /> +My innocence thou'lt surely see,<br /> +These shackles, bolts, and prison bars,<br /> +The heavy locks and massive key—<br /> +Hear, Oh, God! Oh, hear my prayer<br /> +And set this captive free.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Birthday Musings.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">Just sixty years ago today<br /> +Mine eyes first saw the light;</p> +<p class="p06">Now age, with ever onward tread,<br /> +Presages coming night.</p> + +<p class="p05">Ah! is it night? Or shall it be<br /> +That morning's light shall break,</p> +<p class="p06">And from my soul such music bring<br /> +As earth could never wake?</p> + +<p class="p05">Where are the friends of earlier years—<br /> +Sleep they to wake no more?</p> +<p class="p06">Or do they walk with joyful tread<br /> +Heaven's ever radiant shore?</p> + +<p class="p05">If death is but oblivion's gate,<br /> +Why younger grows the soul with years?</p> +<p class="p06">Whose are the faces that we see<br /> +When melts the hearts in tears?</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, whence the strains the soul can hear<br /> +When all is hushed in sleep,</p> +<p class="p06">And none, save God and angels, near<br /> +When souls their vigils keep?</p> + +<p class="p05">Is all religion but a myth?<br /> +Are all our hopes in vain?</p> +<p class="p06">Is heaven affectation's child,<br /> +Born of disordered brain?</p> + +<p class="p05">Tell me not such bolts and bars<br /> +Can keep me from the skies;</p> +<p class="p06">I'd sooner deem yon blushing rose<br /> +A satyr in disguise.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>A TRIBUTE TO<br /><span class="small">THE WOLFE SISTERS.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1">Come. O come, ye radiant sisters, heaven honored "Tuneful Nine."</p> +<p class="pl0">Smooth my ever rugged numbers and inspire my drooping line.</p> +<p class="pl0">Aid my muse to tell the story never breathed to mortal ear.</p> +<p class="pl0">How this sweet angelic chorus happens to be lingering near.</p> +<p class="pl0">In yon fair and blissful aiden, far beyond the faintest star.</p> +<p class="pl0">Once the guardian angels slumbered, leaving heaven's gates ajar!</p> +<p class="pl0">And five wandering seraphs wandered, in their rapid, noiseless flight,</p> +<p class="pl0">Thro' the gates, whose vaulted arches echoed pæans of delight!</p> +<p class="pl0">Quick as thought their tireless pinions clave the unresisting air.</p> +<p class="pl0">Till they reached the <i>five Wolfe sisters</i>, maids of form and features fair,</p> +<p class="pl0">And within these hearts they lingered, tuning every chord to song.</p> +<p class="pl0">Till the pathos of their music stilled the ever restless throng!</p> +<p class="pl0">Earth and heaven stood astonished and Jehovah's love decreed:</p> +<p class="pl0">"Let them stay! such strains seraphic mortal beings can but heed!"</p> + +<p class="pl1">Have you heard their wondrous music? Have you felt their sweet control?</p> +<p class="pl0">If not, friend, you've scarcely sounded half the mysteries of your soul!</p> +<p class="pl0">Amy, soul-enrapturing artist, sweetly sounds the soft prelude.</p> +<p class="pl0">And beneath her skilfull fingers every note, with life imbued.</p> +<p class="pl0">Stills the throng, whose very silence is an encore loud and deep.</p> +<p class="pl0">And each thought, save that of music, is forgotten or asleep.</p> +<p class="pl0">Katherine's rich and full suprano, like the Autumn's mellow morn.</p> +<p class="pl0">Wakes the slumbering soul to action like the practiced huntsman's horn!</p> +<p class="pl0">Mamie's soft, melodious voice nobly takes the second part.</p> +<p class="pl0">And the pathos of her music captivates the raptured heart!</p> +<p class="pl0">Lida's faultless second alto deepens all the noble strain</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>Till the mind forgets its madness and the heart rejects in pain.</p> +<p class="pl0">Then Zoraydo's matchless voice sweeps the soul along</p> +<p class="pl0">Till we know that <i>perfect music can be breathed in earthly song!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Hear, O hear the melting music pouring from each heaving breast;</p> +<p class="pl0">How it wakes the heart to rapture! How it soothes the soul to rest!</p> + +<p class="pl1">When they sing, such lovely visions seem to rise and grandly float</p> +<p class="pl0">Like the poet's airy mansions, on the wave of each full note!</p> +<p class="pl0">Silvery daybreaks brighten slow; sunsets blush on mountain snow!</p> +<p class="pl0">Moonlight shivers on the open sea; Autumn burns in bush and tree;</p> +<p class="pl0">Blowing willows bend and sigh; whispering rivers wander by;</p> +<p class="pl0">Thro' the pines sweep sea-tones soft; sailing birds shout loud aloft;</p> +<p class="pl0">Strange notes beat the lambent air; visions float divinely fair;</p> +<p class="pl0">Vanished faces come and go; silenced voices murmur low;</p> +<p class="pl0">Gentlest memories come and cling, <i>as we listen and they sing</i>.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Oh, repeat the music's tale, "<i>Love shall perish not nor fail!</i>"</p> +<p class="pl0">We forget the fear of death—breathe, in tho't, immortal breath!</p> +<p class="pl0">We believe in broadening truth; trust the generous creeds of youth;</p> +<p class="pl0">Feel consoling hopes that climb up to some triumphant clime,</p> +<p class="pl0">And sweet dreams of splendor bring <i>as we listen and they sing!</i></p> + +<p class="pl1">Walls of rock and bars of steel we can neither see nor feel;</p> +<p class="pl0">We forget our dire disgrace; disregard both time and place;</p> +<p class="pl0">Bid all angry passion sleep and profoundest silence keep!</p> +<p class="pl0">Hoard the trembling notes that fall like an angel mother's call;</p> +<p class="pl0">Rise above our low estate and forget the wrongs of fate!</p> +<p class="pl0">We forgive our mortal foes, source of all our many woes,</p> +<p class="pl0">And penance itself loses half its sting, <i>as we listen and they sing!</i></p> + +<p class="pl1">May the God of love and truth give them all the joys of youth;</p> +<p class="pl0">May the raptures they impart ever thrill each noble heart;</p> +<p class="pl0">May their ministry of love lead all erring ones above;</p> +<p class="pl0">May wealth, happiness and joy all their waiting hours employ;</p> +<p class="pl0">Be their cares both light and few and their pleasures ever new;</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>And their lives one dream of ease till their "ship comes o'er the seas!"</p> +<p class="pl0">Let fate oft their presence bring, <i>and we'll listen while they sing</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Gentle sisters, take this tribute poured from imprisoned hearts;</p> +<p class="pl0">You have eased their maddening torture, you have stayed the cruel darts</p> +<p class="pl0">That remorse and shame have driven deep within each captive soul.</p> +<p class="pl0">Suffer them your names to graven on fond memory's deathless scroll:</p> +<p class="pl0">Be assured your seeds of kindness shall not fall on stony ground,</p> +<p class="pl0">Many of your willing converts have both peace and pardon found!</p> +<p class="pl0">And, when all your work is ended, you in heaven shall fondly greet</p> +<p class="pl0">Some whose hearts were first enlightened by your anthems clear and sweet.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>To A Departed Idol.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAX WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Thou art not dead, thou art not gone to dust,<br /> +No line of all thy loveliness shall fall</p> +<p class="p02">To formless ruin, smote by time and thrust<br /> +Into the solemn gulf that covers all.</p> + +<p class="p01">Thou canst not perish. Tho' the sod<br /> +Sink with its violets closer to thy breast,</p> +<p class="p02">Tho' by the feet of generations trod<br /> +The loadstone crumbles from thy place of rest.</p> + +<p class="p01">The marvel of thy beauty cannot die;<br /> +The sweetness of thy presence shall not fade;</p> +<p class="p02">Earth gave not all the glory of thine eye;<br /> +Death cannot smite what earth ne'er made.</p> + +<p class="p01">It was not <i>thine</i>, that marble forehead pale and cold.<br /> +Nor those dumb lips they laid beneath the snow;</p> +<p class="p02">Thy heart would throb beneath that passive fold;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span><i>Thy</i> hands, for me, that stony clasp forego.</p> + +<p class="p01">But <i>thou</i> hast gone. Gone from this dreary land;<br /> +Gone from the storms let loose on every hill;</p> +<p class="p02">Lured by the sweet persuasion of a band<br /> +That leads thee, somewhere, in the distance still.</p> + +<p class="p01">Where e'er thou art, I know thou wearest yet<br /> +The same bewitching beauty, sanctified</p> +<p class="p02">By calmer joy, and touched with soft regret<br /> +For him who seeks but cannot reach thy side.</p> + +<p class="p01">I keep for thee the living love of old,<br /> +And seek thy place in nature, as a child</p> +<p class="p02">Whose hand is parted from its playmate's hold<br /> +Wanders and cries along a lonesome wild.</p> + +<p class="p01">When, in the watches of my heart, I hear<br /> +The messages of purer life and know</p> +<p class="p02">The footsteps of thy spirit lingering near,<br /> +Life's darkness hides the way I fain would go.</p> + +<p class="p01">Canst thou not bid the empty realms restore<br /> +That form, the symbol of thy heavenly part?</p> +<p class="p02">Or in the barren fields of silence pour<br /> +That voice, the perfect music of thy heart?</p> + +<p class="p01">Oh, once—once bending to my warm and eager lips,<br /> +Take back the tender warmth of life from me,</p> +<p class="p02">Or let thy kisses cloud with swift eclipse<br /> +The light of mine, and give me death with thee.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-084.jpg" width="300" height="159" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Acrostic To Warden and Mrs. E. G. Coffin.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>E</b>lijah of old ancient times was a man of many, many minds!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>L</b>ong did he live in noble deeds, in dealing comfort to men's needs,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n these, our modern, modest days, all men have greatly changed their ways—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>J</b>ehovah's laws do not control the wickedness of every soul.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>ll those who know as well as I while on this earth will not decry</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e who will bad men reform—Hail, Coffin! who for us was born!</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>G</b>odfrey is his second name, and now he reaps most enviable fame:</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>O</b>ur watchword is both day and nights—while o'er him floats the Stars and Stripes—</p> +<p class="pl0">"<b>D</b>o unto us as you would choose, that others do to you and yours!"</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>F</b>aithful to her life-long trust, a wife, a mother, true and just,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>esolves to help both maid and man and lend an ever helping hand—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ach day and night they toil and pray for boys and girls to mend their way,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>et they do not toil all in vain for the great good done the human train.</p> + +<p class="pl1">"<b>C</b>offin" is a word some shun, for it takes man when on earth he's done</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>O</b>ut to the churchyard laid in clay, for ages sanctioned such a way.</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span><b>F</b>or us poor sinners here in "hell" a Coffin sent makes us feel well,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>F</b>or often he does ease the pains we feel in both our hearts and brains.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n endless joy may they have peace for kindness they have done to us—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ot one of us, though cursed with sin, will e'er forget our friends Coffin.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="pn center p2"><span class="smcap"><i>CANTO SECOND—LAST, BUT NOT LEAST!</i></span></p> + +<hr class="dec4" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>M</b>istress she is of the Coffin shrine, and so it's been for years of time!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n holy wedlock girls and boys have been the idols of their joys!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>he bids her Lord Elijah bide a faithful servant by her side,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>T</b>o aid her with a helping hand to raise poor, wretched, fallen man.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>eal sympathy for the prisoner's woe, she seeds of comfort tries to sow</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>re long before it is too late to save poor sinner from his fate;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>he "cookies" make, with pearls all set, and puts them in Elijah's hat,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>he then does send him on his way, while for the prisoner she does pray.</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>M</b>ary silently did keep the watch o'er Christ while he did sleep;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>ll her <i>protege</i> she will save if her Lord will help her brave</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>oaring storms of vice and ire, kindled by a vengeful fire!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>ou may guess for all the rest, let me say <span class="smcap">she'll do her best!</span></p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>C</b>offins, to you let us turn! and all crime forever spurn!</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span><b>O</b>nly aid us in this strife to fight manfully for life.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>F</b>ather Elijah! Mother Mary! for our welfare do not tarry!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>F</b>ear you not! for the good you've done has saved many a fallen one!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n our hearts we oft despair as we linger in this lair—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ot for long tho' when we've seen—Father Elijah and Mary, his <i>Queen!</i></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>A Prison Vision.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">'Tis midnight in these prison walls,<br /> +And even the sentry's muffled tread</p> +<p class="p06">Sepulchral sounds, as if he trod<br /> +The silent confines of the dead.</p> + +<p class="p05">In vain I close my weary eyes,<br /> +I cannot sleep tonight;</p> +<p class="p06">I hear an angel's rustling wings<br /> +Fresh from the realms of light.</p> + +<p class="p05">A sacred presence haunts the air,<br /> +A messenger from Heaven's own land;</p> +<p class="p06">And memory awakes again,<br /> +Touched by an angel's wand.</p> + +<p class="p05">I seem to hear, deep in my soul,<br /> +The music of a heavenly choir,</p> +<p class="p06">While each pulsation of my heart<br /> +Awakes in me the old desire</p> + +<p class="p05">To see once more that lovely form<br /> +Death vanished in my arms;</p> +<p class="p06">To hear again her melting voice<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>And revel in her charms.</p> + +<p class="p05">To feel the tender, soft caress<br /> +Of a loved tho' vanished hand,</p> +<p class="p06">And hear from her departed lips<br /> +The mysteries of that land</p> + +<p class="p05">That lies beyond Time's rugged shore,<br /> +To all unknown, save those</p> +<p class="p06">Whom angels capture for the skies<br /> +At life's uncertain close.</p> + +<p class="p05">I muse again, with loving thought,<br /> +Of a sinless wife long dead,</p> +<p class="p06">And live again our buried past,<br /> +By an angel presence led.</p> + +<p class="p05">I view again the pleasing scene<br /> +Of a school house on the hill,</p> +<p class="p06">Where happy scholars daily met,<br /> +Whose law was the teacher's will.</p> + +<p class="p05">I see again the old armchair<br /> +Where the Master daily sat</p> +<p class="p06">With watchful eye and helpful hand,<br /> +Yet sleepless as a cat.</p> + +<p class="p05">I hear again the sleepless hum<br /> +Of voices low and sweet,</p> +<p class="p06">Of students pouring o'er the books<br /> +With wisdom's germs replete.</p> + +<p class="p05">Amid that happy, guileless throng,<br /> +There was one peerless face</p> +<p class="p06">That held in the Master's tender heart<br /> +An undisputed place.</p> + +<p class="p05">It was a face, O God! how fair!<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>No words can ever paint;</p> +<p class="p06">More fit for heaven than for earth.<br /> +It bore the contour of a saint.</p> + +<p class="p05">The brow was high and broad and white,<br /> +With a radiance all its own;</p> +<p class="p06">The cheeks, like lilies dipped in blood,<br /> +Were oft as a rose full blown.</p> + +<p class="p05">Eyebrows dark and delicately arched,<br /> +Were penciled in Nature's play;</p> +<p class="p06">The ruby ripeness of her lips<br /> +Seemed never to melt away.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her lustrous eyes, whose depths were brown,<br /> +Yet seemed a darker hue,</p> +<p class="p06">Were windows of a spotless soul<br /> +That scorned to be untrue.</p> + +<p class="p05">Abundant tresses of dark brown hair<br /> +That almost swept the ground,</p> +<p class="p06">Enveloped as chaste and lovely form<br /> +As e'er on earth was found.</p> + +<p class="p05">A voice so soft, so sweet, so low<br /> +That every accent woke</p> +<p class="p06">Sweet notes of blissful melody,<br /> +As if an angel spoke.</p> + +<p class="p05">None could look upon that face<br /> +And deem that aught of earth</p> +<p class="p06">Could chill the rapture of a soul<br /> +Where sin could know no birth.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her mind had wondrous power and scope;<br /> +It grasped the sea, the earth, the sky,</p> +<p class="p06">And rightly understood and loved<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>The God who ruled on high.</p> + +<p class="p05">Contentment, truth and virtue<br /> +Was part of Nature's dower;</p> +<p class="p06">Self-sacrifice to her was joy,<br /> +And prayer was conscious power.</p> + +<p class="p05">While yet a child her spirit soared<br /> +Above the things of earth,</p> +<p class="p06">And mused with soulful tenderness<br /> +On the heaven that gave it birth.</p> + +<p class="p05">The teacher's stern, imperious heart<br /> +Yearningly worshipped this child,</p> +<p class="p06">And 'neath her hallowed influence<br /> +Grew tender, warm and mild.</p> + +<p class="p05">The haughty heart, that never sought<br /> +The plaudits of the world,</p> +<p class="p06">Poured its richest tribute<br /> +At the feet of this faultless girl.</p> + +<p class="p05">The face, that never even blanched<br /> +'mid war's terrific strife,</p> +<p class="p06">Grew pale as death the hour he asked<br /> +This child to be his wife.</p> + +<p class="p05">No word she spake, but simply laid<br /> +Her head upon his breast.</p> +<p class="p06">He folded her in warm embrace<br /> +And knew that he was blest.</p> + +<p class="p05">Each lived a life of conscious joy;<br /> +Earth seemed a garden fair;</p> +<p class="p06">The lover sought earth's fairest flowers<br /> +To braid in her shining hair.</p> + +<p class="p05">Deeply they drank at the font of love;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>Draughts few natures can hold;</p> +<p class="p06">The hours were seasons of perfect bliss;<br /> +Each moment more precious than gold.</p> + +<p class="p05">Days and months flew swiftly by<br /> +On the wings of happiness sped,</p> +<p class="p06">And two sweet babes were garnered<br /> +As the fruit of their marriage bed!</p> + +<p class="p05">They neither thought nor dreamed of aught<br /> +Save their babes and coming bliss;</p> +<p class="p06">They greeted the morn with soft caress<br /> +And welcomed night with a kiss.</p> + +<p class="p05">Till, thundering on the wings of Time,<br /> +Fate dealt the cruel blow</p> +<p class="p06">That dashed a home in pieces<br /> +And laid a child-wife low.</p> + +<p class="p05">The husband pressed her to his breast<br /> +And fondly kissed his bride;</p> +<p class="p06">But with the parting of that kiss<br /> +The sinless child-wife died.</p> + +<p class="p05">The kindred angels joyful flew<br /> +From the realms of endless day,</p> +<p class="p06">And gently wafted her soul above,<br /> +But left to us her clay.</p> + +<p class="p05">"She is dead! Kiss her and come away.<br /> +Your cries and prayers are all in vain,</p> +<p class="p06">Your May-Bell is cold, senseless clay;<br /> +In heaven above you'll meet again."</p> + +<p class="p05">They smoothed her tresses of dark brown hair<br /> +Back from her marble forehead fair;</p> +<p class="p06">Over her eyes, that oped too much,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>They closed the lids with a tender touch.</p> + +<p class="p05">They closed with tender touch, that day,<br /> +The thin, pale lips where beauty lay;</p> +<p class="p06">About her brow and her sweet pale face<br /> +They tied her veil and bridal lace;</p> + +<p class="p05">Placed on her feet the white silk shoes<br /> +That May-Bell for her marriage chose;</p> +<p class="p06">Over her bosom crossed her hands;<br /> +"Come away," they said, "God understands."</p> + +<p class="p05">With bowed heads they left the room,<br /> +Still shuddering at its silent gloom;</p> +<p class="p06">And naught, save silence, lingered there<br /> +Around the corpse of May-Bell Clare.</p> + +<p class="p05">But I loved her far too well to dread<br /> +The silent, stately, beautiful dead.</p> +<p class="p06">I cautiously opened the chamber door<br /> +And was alone with my dead once more.</p> + +<p class="p05">I kissed her lips, I kissed her cheek,<br /> +But 'twas in vain, she could not speak.</p> +<p class="p06">I called her names, she loved, awhile,<br /> +But she was dead and could not smile.</p> + +<p class="p05">And not one passionate whisper of love<br /> +Could call her back from her home above.</p> +<p class="p06">"Cold lips," I murmured, "breast without breath,<br /> +Is there no voice, no language in death?"</p> + +<p class="p05">Dull to ear and still to the sense,<br /> +Yet to the soul of love intense!</p> +<p class="p06">See, I listen with soul, not ear;<br /> +What is the secret of dying, my dear?</p> + +<p class="p05">Was it the infinite wonder of all<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>That you could let life's flower fall?</p> +<p class="p06">Or was it a greater marvel to feel<br /> +The perfect calm o'er agony steal?</p> + +<p class="p05">Was the miracle greatest to find how deep<br /> +Beyond all dreams sank down that sleep?</p> +<p class="p06">Did life roll back its record, my dear,<br /> +Showing all past deeds dark and clear?</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, did love, sweet mistress of bliss,<br /> +Affrighted, vanish to shun death's kiss?</p> +<p class="p06">For radiant ones in the world above<br /> +Forget those whom on earth they love?</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, perfect death! Oh, dead most dear,<br /> +I hold the breath of my soul to hear!</p> +<p class="p06">I listen as deep as fathomless hell,<br /> +As high as heaven, nor will you tell!</p> + +<p class="p05">There must be pleasure in dying, my sweet,<br /> +To make you so placid from head to feet!</p> +<p class="p06">I'd tell you, darling, if I were dead<br /> +And <i>your</i> hot tears on <i>my</i> cheeks shed,</p> + +<p class="p05">I'd speak, though the angel of death had laid<br /> +His sword on my lips, their accents to shade.</p> +<p class="p06">Not in vain should you, with streaming eyes,<br /> +Beg to know Death's chief surprise.</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, foolish world! Oh, precious dead!<br /> +Tho' you tell me, who will believe 'twas said?</p> +<p class="p06">Who will believe I heard you say<br /> +In your own dear, kind familiar way:</p> + +<p class="p05">"I can speak now—you listen with soul alone:<br /> +To the eyes of your soul <i>all</i> shall be shown.</p> +<p class="p06">In this land of infinite bliss<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>The utmost wonder, dear one, is this:</p> + +<p class="p05">"I see and love and kiss you again;<br /> +I smile at your triumph over pain;</p> +<p class="p06">I know your heart is honest and true;<br /> +I'm a guardian angel to you!</p> + +<p class="p05">"What a strange, delicious amusement is death!<br /> +To live without being, to breathe without breath!</p> +<p class="p06">I should laugh did you not cry;<br /> +Listen, dear one, love never can die!</p> + +<p class="p05">"I am now your heaven-decked bride;<br /> +My body and not my love has died!</p> +<p class="p06">Dear one, <i>it</i> lies there, I know,<br /> +Pale and silent, cold as snow.</p> + +<p class="p05">"And you say, 'May-Bell is dead.'<br /> +Weeping o'er my silent head!</p> +<p class="p06"><i>I</i> can see your falling tears,<br /> +Hear your sighs and know your fears!</p> + +<p class="p05">"Yet I smile and whisper this:<br /> +I am not the clay you kiss;</p> +<p class="p06">Cease your tears and let <i>it</i> lie,<br /> +It was mine, but 'tis not <i>I!</i></p> + +<p class="p05">"Dear one, what the women love<br /> +For its silent home, the grave,</p> +<p class="p06">Is a garment I have quit,<br /> +As a tent no longer fit.</p> + +<p class="p05">"'Tis a cage from which, at last,<br /> +My enraptured soul has passed.</p> +<p class="p06">Love the <i>inmate</i>, not the <i>room</i>,<br /> +Love the <i>wearer</i>, not the <i>plume!</i></p> + +<p class="p05">"<i>Love</i> my <i>spirit</i>, not the <i>bars</i>,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>That kept your May-Bell from the stars;</p> +<p class="p06">Be wise, dear one, and quickly dry<br /> +From every tear your laden eye.</p> + +<p class="p05">"What you place upon the bier<br /> +Is not worth a lover's tear;</p> +<p class="p06">'Tis an empty shell at last,<br /> +Out of which the soul has passed.</p> + +<p class="p05">"The shell is broken, <i>it</i> lies <i>there</i>,<br /> +But the <i>pearl</i>, the <i>soul</i>, is <i>here!</i></p> +<p class="p06">'Tis an earthen jar, whose lid<br /> +God sealed when it faintly hid</p> + +<p class="p05">"The soul He made to live on high;<br /> +The mind that did not, cannot die.</p> +<p class="p06">Let the dross be earth's once more,<br /> +Since the gold is in His store.</p> + +<p class="p05">"God is glorious! God is good!<br /> +Now His word is understood!</p> +<p class="p06">Life's ceaseless wonder is at an end,<br /> +Yet you weep, my erring friend!</p> + +<p class="p05">"See, the lover <i>you</i> call dead<br /> +To immortal bliss is wed!</p> +<p class="p06">Loves and homes you lost, 'tis true,<br /> +To such light as shines for you.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Yet deep in your inmost soul<br /> +You shall feel my sweet control.</p> +<p class="p06">I'll be with you every hour,<br /> +Commissioned by Almighty Power,</p> + +<p class="p05">"To guard each moment of your life<br /> +As best befits your angel wife!</p> +<p class="p06">At night I'll linger 'round your bed,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>With an angel's noiseless tread;</p> + +<p class="p05">"And while you, slumbering, dream of me,<br /> +I'll be present, love, with thee.</p> +<p class="p06">Where e'er you go, where e'er you stray,<br /> +I'll be near thee night and day,</p> + +<p class="p05">"Guarding you with zealous care,<br /> +Pointing out life's every snare,</p> +<p class="p06">Chasing every tear away,<br /> +Aiding every joy to stay.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Chide you when you go astray;<br /> +Bless you when you kneel to pray;</p> +<p class="p06">Lead you, with an unseen hand,<br /> +To view the wonders of a land</p> + +<p class="p05">"Where Peace and Love and Perfect Joy<br /> +Tongue cannot name, nor peace destroy!</p> +<p class="p06">Shall ever bless the happy band,<br /> +As radiant 'round the throne they stand!</p> + +<p class="p05">"Once there, we'll never part again,<br /> +But <i>time</i>, and <i>love</i> while God shall reign.</p> +<p class="p06">I cannot, <i>dare not</i>, say farewell;<br /> +Where I am <i>now</i> you, too, shall dwell.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I am gone before your face,<br /> +A moment's time, a little space.</p> +<p class="p06">When you come where I have stepped<br /> +You'll greatly wonder why you wept!</p> + +<p class="p05">"You'll know by Love Eternal taught<br /> +That Heaven is <i>all</i>, that earth is naught.</p> +<p class="p06">I beg you not to dread sweet death;<br /> +'Tis but the first and faintest breath</p> + +<p class="p05">"Of the life that God hath given<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>To fit immortal souls for heaven!</p> +<p class="p06">Be <i>certain</i>, darling, <i>all</i> seems love,<br /> +Viewed from the higher courts above!</p> + +<p class="p05">"The cares and troubles that arise<br /> +Will prove sweet blessings in disguise;</p> +<p class="p06">They'll waft you to a home above,<br /> +Where I'll await your coming, Love!"</p> + +<p class="p05"><i>I</i> heard these words and fell on the breast<br /> +Of the peerless bride that heaven had dressed.</p> +<p class="p06">I yearned for those blissful regions above<br /> +With heart overflowed with passionate love.</p> + +<p class="p05">My peerless flower, tho' nipped in youth,<br /> +Perennial shall bloom in the Garden of Truth!</p> +<p class="p06">I see in the distance a roseleaf hand<br /> +Beckoning me on to that glorious land.</p> + +<p class="p05">Tho' parted on earth we'll meet in the sky,<br /> +Where bliss cannot perish, and love cannot die.</p> +<p class="p06">Oh, bliss supernal! Oh, rapture complete,<br /> +When earth-sundered ones in glory shall meet.</p> + +<p class="p05">For years and years I've watched in vain<br /> +To see that buried face again;</p> +<p class="p06">In vain I've tried, with mortal eyes,<br /> +To pierce the mysteries of the skies!</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, sweetheart of the days of yore,<br /> +Shall we meet on earth no more?</p> +<p class="p06">Shall I languish all alone<br /> +Without one sympathetic tone—</p> + +<p class="p05">One glance of love, one word of cheer<br /> +From eyes and lips I hold so dear?</p> +<p class="p06">Oh, hearken to my piteous cries,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>Beloved one, and forsake the skies!</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, listen! Earth-born mortals, see!<br /> +My angel bride has come to me!</p> +<p class="p06">The self-same face—divinely fair—<br /> +And heaven-set jewels decked her hair.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her laughing eye and glowing cheek<br /> +Eternal youth and bliss bespeak;</p> +<p class="p06">My head is pillowed on her breast,<br /> +My brow by her dear hands caressed!</p> + +<p class="p05">The dulcet tones of her dear voice<br /> +Bids my aching heart rejoice;</p> +<p class="p06">She folds me 'neath her dazzling wings,<br /> +While all the heart within me sings!</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, list those melting tones of love,<br /> +More soft than note of cooing dove!</p> +<p class="p06">Oh, hear the words her dear lips speak:<br /> +"Death, dear one, is the boon to seek!</p> + +<p class="p05">"False are the glittering gems of earth,<br /> +Eternity's gold is the gold of worth;</p> +<p class="p06">One moment in heaven is worth a life<br /> +Spent on earth 'mid care and strife!</p> + +<p class="p05">"Death is but the dawn of day,<br /> +Destroying naught save worthless clay!</p> +<p class="p06">The soul lives on in rapturous bliss<br /> +More perfect than a virgin kiss!</p> + +<p class="p05">"Oh, dear one, still your haunting fears;<br /> +The love, tho' lost, of earlier years</p> +<p class="p06">Awaits your coming to the skies,<br /> +And o'er you watch with jealous eyes,</p> + +<p class="p05">"Lest earth detain you till too late<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>To enter heaven's wide open gate.</p> +<p class="p06">Oh, tarry not on earth too long,<br /> +But with me join immortal's song!"</p> + +<p class="p05">She spake, and through the vaulted sky,<br /> +Beyond the reach of mortal eye,</p> +<p class="p06">She wings her rapid noiseless flight<br /> +And I am left alone tonight.</p> + +<p class="p05">Nay, not alone; for in my soul<br /> +I feel a new-born sweet control</p> +<p class="p06">That lures me to a higher life,<br /> +Which will please an angel wife!</p> + +<p class="p05">Farewell, prison blight and bars,<br /> +Mine is a home beyond the stars.</p> +<p class="p06">Welcome, Death, at any hour,<br /> +Since sin has lost her maddening power!</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="300" height="181" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>ACROSTIC TRIBUTE TO<br /><span class="small">CAPT. J. S. ACHESON.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>J</b>ust consider, for one moment, all the good this man has done.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>O</b>n full many a field of battle he the victory hath won;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>wept he with victorious Sherman from Atlanta to the sea,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ver acting as a soldier, from all fear and malice free;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>P</b>roving true in every station, like a soldier tried and true,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e has earned and won the friendship of the boys who wore the blue!</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>S</b>ince his advent in this prison he has, with impartial mind,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>M</b>ade it plain that every duty can be done and still be kind.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n his bosom rests no malice towards a single human soul;</p> +<p class="pl0">'<b>T</b>is his study, night and morning, all his passions to control.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e is willing every prisoner should become his honest <i>friend</i>,</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>A</b>nd the prisoner's reformation he regards as <i>law's best trend</i>:</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>C</b>rime, he deems is but the fruitage of conditions time can change.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e would lift his fallen brother and no rule of right derange!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ver ready with the welcome of a smile and word of cheer,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>ome may only be respected, but such men are ever dear.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>O</b>'er the path of life may Heaven scatter roses at his feet;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>one will doubt that every christian shall <i>his</i> face in heaven meet.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">My Mother.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">CARR.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">One bright Sunday morn, as I sat in my cell,<br /> +My thoughts to the outside did roam;</p> +<p class="p02">The sweet songs of birds, as their notes rose and fell,<br /> +Turned my mind to my childhood's dear home.</p> + +<p class="p01">Long years they have passed since I saw that dear spot,<br /> +But its sweet memories time can ne'er smother;</p> +<p class="p02">I can never forget that dear little cot<br /> +And the sweet loving smile of my mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">In sickness or pain 'twas dear mother that brought<br /> +Her sweet self and her charms to allay it;</p> +<p class="p02">She learned me a prayer and she lovingly taught<br /> +Me to kneel at her knees and to say it.</p> + +<p class="p01">God's word she would read, and impress on my mind<br /> +The love that's conveyed by that story</p> +<p class="p02">Of the Savior, who died that millions might find<br /> +Eternal rest in His realms of glory.</p> + +<p class="p01">For years she's been dead, and her low, grassy mound<br /> +Reminds me that 'neath it lies sleeping</p> +<p class="p02">The dear friend of my youth, whose magic, I found,<br /> +Could bring smiles to my face e'en when weeping.</p> + +<p class="p01">'Tis thus the dear birds, as they joyfully sing<br /> +And chirp happy calls to each other,</p> +<p class="p02">Remind me that perhaps they were sent for to bring<br /> +A message to me from my mother.</p> + +<p class="p01">But, alas! as I think, upon my mind there quickly falls<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>The thoughts of my sad degredation;</p> +<p class="p02">The strong iron bars, and the grey, sombre walls,<br /> +Recall me to my sad situation.</p> + +<p class="p01">But no more will I sin; I'll live upright for sure;<br /> +My passions and temptations I'll smother;</p> +<p class="p02">And when God calls me home to that bright shining shore<br /> +We'll be happy together, dear mother.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">A Memorial Ode.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p05">Again the sacred day has come<br /> +When tears and flowers shall fall</p> +<p class="p06">On the graves of our sleeping heroes<br /> +Who died at Liberty's call.</p> + +<p class="p05">And the tears we shed above them,<br /> +As our hearts with tenderness bled,</p> +<p class="p06">Is the crown of their matchless glory<br /> +And earth's divinest mead.</p> + +<p class="p05">Their deeds on the field of battle<br /> +Were such as a god might do,</p> +<p class="p06">And the listening angels applauded<br /> +The work of the boys in blue.</p> + +<p class="p05">The flag they died defending<br /> +Still floats above their grave,</p> +<p class="p06">And is loved by millions of freemen,<br /> +But never looked on by a slave.</p> + +<p class="p05">The country they loved and bled for,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>Still true to her sacred trust,</p> +<p class="p06">Will cover their names with glory<br /> +And revere their hallowed dust.</p> + +<p class="p05">The comrades who still survive them,<br /> +Like gold in the furnace tried,</p> +<p class="p06">Speak, with tear-dimmed lashes,<br /> +Of the gallant boys that died.</p> + +<p class="p05">These flowers will fade and perish,<br /> +Tho' hallowed by each grave;</p> +<p class="p06">But they will live forever<br /> +In the hearts of the true and the brave.</p> + +<p class="p05">Then let this custom continue<br /> +Till tears and flowers shall cease,</p> +<p class="p06">And we shall greet the gallant boys<br /> +On the shores of endless peace.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Lines To My Cell.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">Oh, silent and mysterious cell,<br /> +Could I command thy walls to tell</p> +<p class="p06">The secrets they have kept so long,<br /> +'T would be, indeed, a cheerless song.</p> + +<p class="p05">A tale of crime, and tears, and pain,<br /> +The fruit, perhaps, of frenzied brain,</p> +<p class="p06">As none to crime yet ever sank<br /> +That had not first become a crank.</p> + +<p class="p05">"The law of God and man defy,<br /> +A wretch you'll live, a felon die!"</p> +<p class="p06">These words seem to haunt my brain,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Perhaps it is the sad refrain</p> + +<p class="p05">Of a song well known to thee;<br /> +Yet where its author now can be,</p> +<p class="p06">Save thee, perhaps no one can tell,<br /> +Thou grim, mysterious, silent cell.</p> + +<p class="p05">Thy rocky floor has felt the tread<br /> +Of many a hapless one now dead;</p> +<p class="p06">Thy walls have echoed many a sigh,<br /> +Wrung from guilt's expiring eye.</p> + +<p class="p05">While musing 'mid thy walls tonight<br /> +I seem to hear, with some affright,</p> +<p class="p06">The wail of many a blighted life,<br /> +The prayer of a despairing wife;</p> + +<p class="p05">A mother, weeping for her child;<br /> +A father, grief has driven wild.</p> +<p class="p06">And then—I pray thee silence keep;<br /> +'Twere best to let thy secrets sleep.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-116.jpg" width="300" height="266" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>A TRIBUTE TO<br /><span class="smcap reduct">Dr. G. A. Tharp.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p03">Arise, my Muse, and tune your harp<br /> +To ring the praises of a Tharp;<br /> +His cultured mind and noble soul<br /> +Truth and virtue both control.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Tell the world his perfect skill<br /> +Can conquer every human ill<br /> +That lends to science or to art,<br /> +From shattered limb to dormant heart.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Each pill and potion that he makes<br /> +Relieves your pain and health awakes:<br /> +And should he use the surgeon's knife,<br /> +He never will sacrifice a life.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">His skilfull fingers place a band<br /> +As gently as a woman's hand;<br /> +And not one patient needs to feel<br /> +That he the truth will not reveal.</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">The poor regard him as their friend,<br /> +And on his bounty oft depend;<br /> +Well knowing that his generous heart<br /> +Dares to act a christian part!</p> + +<p class="p03 p1">Long may this noble doctor live,<br /> +Ease to suffering men to give;<br /> +And meet the summons to depart<br /> +With the skill he wooes his art.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">An Appreciated Friend.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">She is a pretty little lass,<br /> +Half human, half divine;</p> +<p class="p06">And for an angel she would pass<br /> +In Heaven's lovely clime.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her hair is locks of flowing gold,<br /> +Her ways are cute and wise;</p> +<p class="p06">And her form is lithe and graceful,<br /> +With pretty bright blue eyes.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her manners are just perfect.<br /> +Her nature kind and true;</p> +<p class="p06">She is a real philanthropist<br /> +When charity is due.</p> + +<p class="p05">She strives to cheer those sad at heart,<br /> +And well she does succeed;</p> +<p class="p06">And stays the ever painful dart<br /> +That often fate does speed.</p> + +<p class="p05">How different from so many folk<br /> +Who frown upon the one</p> +<p class="p06">Who, by some simple words he spoke,<br /> +Caused "crime" to have been done.</p> + +<p class="p05">Although the cruel knife of fate<br /> +Has made an awful wound,</p> +<p class="p06">In her kind words, that come but late,<br /> +Sweet balm for sorrow's found.</p> + +<p class="p05">Oh, that this wicked, wicked world<br /> +Could boast more such friendly souls!</p> +<p class="p05">Less lives would be so sadly hurled<br /> +Into a pit of earthly ghouls,</p> +<p class="p06"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>Where nothing's saved, but all is lost;</p> + +<p class="p22">And where man's cast, at any cost,<br /> +Into a dismal, prison dell—<br /> +A gloomy, dreary, earthly hell!</p> + +<p class="p22 p1">Come, of such friends arise and sing,<br /> +With thanks returned to heaven's king!</p> + +<p class="pn center">* * * * *<br /></p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Salome's Revenge.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p05">Arise, my Muse, spread out thy wings,<br /> +Prepare to soar away!</p> +<p class="p06">Tune up thy harp for endless joy,<br /> +And turn night into day.</p> + +<p class="p05">Go dream of Paradise sublime<br /> +In the old Empire State!</p> +<p class="p06">And when you're done return to me<br /> +Your story to relate.</p> + +<p class="p05">In time gone by—in days of yore—<br /> +There lived, in forests wild,</p> +<p class="p06">Two families of ancient stock,<br /> +And each one had a child.</p> + +<p class="p05">The children of both parentage<br /> +Were born in this country;</p> +<p class="p06">They amassed immensely fortunes<br /> +In this America.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Waddington's were pure Scotch blood,<br /> +And raised one daughter fair;</p> +<p class="p06">They gave her name of Sadie,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>She'd blue eyes and golden hair.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her cheeks were rich with crimson glow,<br /> +Her lips were thin and cute,</p> +<p class="p06">And many an anxious lover<br /> +She sternly did refute.</p> + +<p class="p05">Her dainty hands and flowing hair,<br /> +And graceful curves of form</p> +<p class="p06">Would make one's heart quite palpitate—<br /> +She carried all by storm.</p> + +<p class="p05">Trueman Waddington was a man<br /> +Who loved his daughter—heir,</p> +<p class="p06">And as he rolled in endless wealth<br /> +He watched his child's welfare.</p> + +<p class="p05">Their nearest neighbor was St. Lawrence,<br /> +Who lived a little way</p> +<p class="p06">Off on the rugged mountain side,<br /> +Where children like to play.</p> + +<p class="p05">Two children he had buried<br /> +When they were yet quite young,</p> +<p class="p06">And now he was a happy man<br /> +'Cause he reared an only son.</p> + +<p class="p05">This son he named him Trueman,<br /> +Because he liked the name,</p> +<p class="p06">And tho't 'twould be in honor<br /> +Of his neighbor of the same.</p> + +<p class="p05">"As an act of kindness and of love,"<br /> +Old Waddington did say,</p> +<p class="p06">"Because you named him after me<br /> +I pledge my Sade, today."</p> + +<p class="p05">The two old friends called in their wives<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>And asked them to consent</p> +<p class="p06">To seal the bargain for each child<br /> +On which they were both bent.</p> + +<p class="p05">The mothers thought it rather soon<br /> +To tie so firm a knot,</p> +<p class="p06">And begged them not to seal their doom<br /> +By such a foolish plot.</p> + +<p class="p05">But Trueman Waddington was not<br /> +A man to easy quit,</p> +<p class="p06">And he argued long and labored strong<br /> +In a half way frenzied fit.</p> + +<p class="p05">He said: "I know we are both rich<br /> +In lands and kine and gold,</p> +<p class="p06">And why not join these vast fortunes<br /> +Before they are all sold?</p> + +<p class="p05">"You've named your only son from me;<br /> +Trueman it is, <i>True-Man</i> he'll be,</p> +<p class="p06">And now must I sit by in shame<br /> +And cannot seal my daughter's fame?"</p> + +<p class="p05">Then spake the elder man St. Lawrence:<br /> +"Dear sir, my neighbor and my friend,</p> +<p class="p06">You have my heart and soul and mind,<br /> +And these vast fortunes I will bind</p> + +<p class="p05">"Together with true chords of love.<br /> +God help our children find</p> +<p class="p06">A part their mothers will not take<br /> +In this, to seal their children's fate.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Now let me, please, suggest a way<br /> +To reach this matter of today;</p> +<p class="p06">And we will friendly make the deal<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>So lawyers cannot break the seal."</p> + +<p class="p05">Then Waddington sprang to his feet,<br /> +And warmly did his neighbors greet;</p> +<p class="p06">Then shook him warmly by the hand,<br /> +And said, "Come, let us seal the band."</p> + +<p class="p05">And then with fixed and mellow eye<br /> +He gazed on high as he stood by</p> +<p class="p06">His rugged friend and neighbor, too,<br /> +Then St. Lawrence bade him what to do.</p> + +<p class="p05">"My dear old friend, sit down, sit down;<br /> +'Tis easy for us now to drown</p> +<p class="p06">All obstacles that's in our way<br /> +To carry out our plan today."</p> + +<p class="p05">Then he proceeded to relate<br /> +How easy men in Empire State</p> +<p class="p06">Could call in witness to their deed<br /> +And satisfy all fortune's creed.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Now, look-a-here, my friend St. Lawrence,<br /> +You cannot be too quick</p> +<p class="p06">To tell me how we'll do all this<br /> +And make this bargain stick."</p> + +<p class="p05">And then the sage St. Lawrence did say:<br /> +"Look here, my friend, here is our way!</p> +<p class="p06">I'll make my will of my estate<br /> +(And that, you know, is very great,)</p> + +<p class="p05">"Unto your fair and lovely child,<br /> +If she refrains from being wild,</p> +<p class="p06">And when she weds she weds my son,<br /> +My noble, brave and kind Trueman.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Then you, my friend, reciprocate;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>You make your will of this same date,</p> +<p class="p06">And seal as I do mine;<br /> +Make True, my son, your legatee,</p> + +<p class="p05">"And to him give, in simple fee,<br /> +Your lands, your goods, your kine, your cash,</p> +<p class="p06">All in one grand and mighty crash,<br /> +If he your daughter weds."</p> + +<p class="p05">The witnesses were duly called;<br /> +The wills were then prepared;</p> +<p class="p06">The testators did sign their names,<br /> +The children they well fared.</p> + +<p class="p05">The documents were laid away<br /> +In vaults of solid rock;</p> +<p class="p06">There safely for the children kept,<br /> +Their heritage of stock.</p> + +<p class="p05">Years, years rolled on and Trueman grew<br /> +To be a handsome man.</p> +<p class="p06">He said: "I'm bound to be "M. D."<br /> +And do the best I can."</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie, on the other hand,<br /> +Grew to be a queen;</p> +<p class="p06">And when to college she did go<br /> +Trueman there was seen.</p> + +<p class="p05">They played at home, when they were young,<br /> +Upon the mountain side,</p> +<p class="p06">And never once did they mistrust<br /> +They'd be both groom and bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">When Trueman closed his college course<br /> +He off to Gotham went,</p> +<p class="p06">To become an adept in his class<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>While on his mission bent.</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie, on the other hand,<br /> +When she had closed her term,</p> +<p class="p06">Returned unto her mountain home,<br /> +For which she hourly yearned.</p> + +<p class="p05">Two years had changed this happy home<br /> +To one most sadly grieved;</p> +<p class="p06">The mother of this lovely girl<br /> +Had sadly been deceived.</p> + +<p class="p05">She, down upon her death bed lay,<br /> +When in came Sadie one bright day</p> +<p class="p06">And gazed upon the shrunken form<br /> +Which now had battled life's hard storm.</p> + +<p class="p05">Poor Sadie, with a broken heart,<br /> +She did the best to take her part;</p> +<p class="p06">But long the sickness did not last,<br /> +Because her mother now soon passed</p> + +<p class="p05">From time into eternity,<br /> +Where the human soul is ever free.</p> +<p class="p06">Trueman now, in city fashion,<br /> +Had let die out his old-time passion</p> + +<p class="p05">For rocks and rills and mountain side,<br /> +Where dwelt the queen who'd be his bride.</p> +<p class="p06">So much for selfish, erring man;<br /> +He'll do the best where e'er he can.</p> + +<p class="p05">Time, time rolled on, when Sadie's sire,<br /> +With renewed youth and boyhood ire,</p> +<p class="p06">Took to himself another wife,<br /> +And tried anew to live his life.</p> + +<p class="p05">The new-made mistress of the home<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>(Who had no place she called her own)</p> +<p class="p06">Was mother of a daughter fair,<br /> +With dimpled cheeks and flowing hair.</p> + +<p class="p05">The madame's name was Maria;<br /> +<i>Her</i> daughter's was Sarah.</p> +<p class="p06">She soon was boss of all the house,<br /> +And Sadie driven like a mouse</p> + +<p class="p05">Into the cold and cheerless world.<br /> +Sadie, with a broken heart,</p> +<p class="p06">Prayed her father take her part;<br /> +But he, with proud and dire disdain,<br /> +Forever did refrain.</p> + +<p class="p05">Then Sadie, on her mother's grave,<br /> +Prayed loud and long for God to save</p> +<p class="p06">Her soul from earthly wreck.<br /> +Then, with a palpitating heart,</p> + +<p class="p05">With one fond look she did depart<br /> +To battle hard with broken heart;</p> +<p class="p06">While daughter and a second wife<br /> +Should all but ruin her young life.</p> + +<p class="p05">But father did as fathers do,<br /> +When their list of wives have numbered <i>two</i>;</p> +<p class="p06">He lent his daughter a deaf ear,<br /> +For his second wife he then did fear.</p> + +<p class="p05">His life was short; he soon became<br /> +A victim to a raging pain,</p> +<p class="p06">Which soon relieved him from this life<br /> +And bore him off from life's hard strife.</p> + +<p class="p05">They laid him low beside his wife,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>The pride and joy of Sadie's life;</p> +<p class="p06">But Sadie knew not of the fate<br /> +Her father had so sadly met.</p> + +<p class="p05">The new-made widow, without tear,<br /> +Prepared to move, within a year,</p> +<p class="p06">To far and distant foreign land,<br /> +Where neither had a single friend.</p> + +<p class="p05">The goods were sold, the stock and kine;<br /> +The lands were leased for a long time;</p> +<p class="p06">The two, with pockets filled with gold,<br /> +Sailed for Paris with joys untold.</p> + +<p class="p05">Young Sarah, who was quite a belle,<br /> +When in old Paris she did swell</p> +<p class="p06">Her wardrobe with both silk and lace,<br /> +And numerous paints to ply her face.</p> + +<p class="p05">She was the very counterpart—<br /> +Although 'tis strange to say—</p> +<p class="p06">Of pretty <i>Sadie</i> Waddington<br /> +In all her dainty ways.</p> + +<p class="p05">She spread herself around, about,<br /> +In all society's halls,</p> +<p class="p06">And never failed, when chance availed,<br /> +To attend the stylish balls.</p> + +<p class="p05">She was a favorite with them all,<br /> +In fact, the Queenly Belle,</p> +<p class="p06">And many a suitor's prayer she heard<br /> +While on bended knee he fell.</p> + +<p class="p05">One evening while on promenade<br /> +Within society's halls,</p> +<p class="p06">She met a handsome, tall young man<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>She'd seen at some of the balls.</p> + +<p class="p05">When introduced, both their eyes met,<br /> +She blushing timidly;</p> +<p class="p06">He heard the name, "Miss Waddington,"<br /> +Then asked most courteously:</p> + +<p class="p05">"From what part of America's soil<br /> +Do you and your friends hail?</p> +<p class="p06">Or have you lived in Paris long?<br /> +On what liner did you sail"?</p> + +<p class="p05">She said: "I'm Sadie Waddington,<br /> +From the city that bears my name;</p> +<p class="p06">It borders on the old St. Lawrence,<br /> +A river of world-wide fame."</p> + +<p class="p05">Then spake the handsome gentleman:<br /> +"I, too, am from that place;</p> +<p class="p06">And if you are Sadie Waddington,<br /> +I ought to know your face."</p> + +<p class="p05">Her cheeks grew flushed and flushed again,<br /> +As on her he searchingly gazed;</p> +<p class="p06">She looked up in his solemn face<br /> +And saw he was greatly amazed.</p> + +<p class="p05">It was Trueman St. Lawrence she saw,<br /> +As she gazed on his beautiful form;</p> +<p class="p06">She was more than bewitching in her ways<br /> +To capture him all by storm.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor went to his hotel<br /> +To ponder the matter o'er:</p> +<p class="p06">"That's not the Sadie Waddington<br /> +I've seen in days of yore."</p> + +<p class="p05">His brain was puzzled, his face was flushed.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>He was in a frenzied mood;</p> +<p class="p06">He could not fathom the mystery<br /> +To do the best he could.</p> + +<p class="p05">If that's the girl in days of youth<br /> +I played with on the mountain side,</p> +<p class="p06">Before I leave this old city<br /> +I'll make her my darling bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">So saying, he sank upon his couch,<br /> +And slept in dreams so rich and gay</p> +<p class="p06">That loud his servant called and called,<br /> +Because 'twas late—far in the day.</p> + +<p class="p05">That day he had a trip to make<br /> +Unto a neighboring town,</p> +<p class="p06">And visited a hospital<br /> +Kept by a Doctor Brown.</p> + +<p class="p05">In passing from one of the wards,<br /> +While in the open door,</p> +<p class="p06">He chanced to turn, and looking back<br /> +Saw, kneeling on the floor,</p> + +<p class="p05">With outstretched arms and pleading eyes,<br /> +The girl for years he had not seen;</p> +<p class="p06">She'd grown into full womanhood,<br /> +She was a perfect fairy Queen.</p> + +<p class="p05">"What! what!" he cried, "am I deceived?<br /> +If I'm my father's son</p> +<p class="p06">That girl I see back yonder<br /> +Is <i>Sadie Waddington!</i>"</p> + +<p class="p05">He hastened back to where she knelt,<br /> +And bade her to arise,</p> +<p class="p06">And clasped her to his manly breast,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>While tears rose in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="p05">Then 'tween her sobs and moans and groans<br /> +She slowly did relate</p> +<p class="p06">How she was driven from her home<br /> +Back in the Empire State.</p> + +<p class="p05">She told of awful suffering,<br /> +Of wandering far and near;</p> +<p class="p06">Of the death of father and mother,<br /> +To her <i>all</i> that was dear.</p> + +<p class="p05">She told him how she had returned<br /> +Unto her mountain dome,</p> +<p class="p06">And as she was told that all had been sold,<br /> +She was left without a home.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor stood transfixed with awe;<br /> +Listened to her relate</p> +<p class="p06">The story of the sale of all,<br /> +Back in the Empire State.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor said: "My dear Sadie,<br /> +It matters not a bit to me</p> +<p class="p06">Whether you have lands, or goods, or gold,<br /> +I have vast fortunes yet untold.</p> + +<p class="p05">"What's mine is yours; 'tis always so,<br /> +My father told me long ago,</p> +<p class="p06">Before I left the Empire State<br /> +And came over here to study late.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I offer you my heart and hand,<br /> +And pledge to seal it with the band</p> +<p class="p06">Of holy wedlock, faithfully.<br /> +Now set your heart forever free</p> + +<p class="p05">"From labor and the toils of life,—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>Come, say you'll be my darling wife!</p> +<p class="p06">I feel a pang about my heart<br /> +That pierces like a flashing dart."</p> + +<p class="p05">"Oh, True. St. Lawrence! Oh, can it be<br /> +That you do really care for me?</p> +<p class="p06">I, who have lived by a false name<br /> +To hide a step-mother's wicked shame?</p> + +<p class="p05">"For five long years my name has been<br /> +(As you directly would have seen),</p> +<p class="p06">Not Sadie W., as you have known,<br /> +But the Sadie changed to plain Salome.</p> + +<p class="p05">"The Waddington I changed, also,<br /> +For the common name of Van Harlow;</p> +<p class="p06">Then among strangers I did seek<br /> +For work to do, although 'twas meek.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I came across the ocean wide,<br /> +As servant to a new-made bride;</p> +<p class="p06">She was taken sick and died out here<br /> +Before she'd been a bride a year.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Since then I've cared for poor and sick,<br /> +And cannot leave them now, so quick.</p> +<p class="p06">I patients have who <i>must</i> have care<br /> +Before <i>I</i> leave for better fare.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Now True, my dear, I'll be your own;<br /> +I'll make you an ever happy home;</p> +<p class="p06">I feel Pa's oft' spoke words are true,<br /> +Trueman's your name, <i>True Man</i> are you."</p> + +<p class="p05">He pressed her closely to his breast:<br /> +To dry her tears he did his best;</p> +<p class="p06">Then gently kissed her burning cheeks<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>And bade her wait but a few weeks.</p> + +<p class="p05">The happiest man in all the land<br /> +Was True. St. Lawrence, with trembling hand,</p> +<p class="p06">Who then returned to his rooms rich,<br /> +A restless night to roll and pitch</p> + +<p class="p05">Upon a bed of faultless down,<br /> +But pains of heart it could not drown.</p> +<p class="p06">He lay and mused throughout the night,<br /> +'Cause his future now looked bright.</p> + +<p class="p05"><i>Sarah</i> Waddington and her mother<br /> +Prepared a party for another.</p> +<p class="p06">A gent they wished to entertain,<br /> +'Cause Sarah wished to bear his name.</p> + +<p class="p05">"It is to be a swell affair,<br /> +So she could safely set her snare</p> +<p class="p06">To catch the unsuspecting True,<br /> +Because he loves and loves but you."</p> + +<p class="p05">So spake the mother to her child,<br /> +Who seemed delighted—almost wild—</p> +<p class="p06">To think that she could play her part<br /> +Without remorse or pain at heart.</p> + +<p class="p05">The time rolled on, and days were spent<br /> +In fixing up for the event;</p> +<p class="p06">The rich were called from every side<br /> +To see Sarah—the would-be bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">She sent a most bewitching note<br /> +For Dr. 'Lawrence to cast the vote,</p> +<p class="p06">Who'd be the Belle of honor, bright,<br /> +To bear the graces of the night.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor smiled, as he sat down<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>To answer it, without a frown;</p> +<p class="p06">And faithfully he did outline,<br /> +In characters most cute and fine:</p> + +<p class="p05">"My choice is one, and only one;<br /> +And now I've written and 'tis done!</p> +<p class="p06">As sure as I'm my father's son,<br /> +'Tis one—fair <i>Sadie</i> Waddington!</p> + +<p class="p05">"And now, before it is too late,<br /> +There's one request I have to make:</p> +<p class="p06">That I be granted then, or sooner,<br /> +To be escort to the maid of honor."</p> + +<p class="p05">"Your request is at once granted,<br /> +And hope we'll become enchanted;</p> +<p class="p06">And with your presence'll be elated,<br /> +Because, it seems, we are related".</p> + +<p class="p05">Fair Sarah, then, did make it known<br /> +(Real quietly about her home)</p> +<p class="p06">That she and 'Lawrence, raised side by side,<br /> +Would soon become both groom and bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">Silks and diamonds bought with gold,<br /> +Gotten from the kine she'd sold</p> +<p class="p06">'Way back in the Empire State,<br /> +Where poor Sadie met her fate.</p> + +<p class="p05">Just one week before the eve'<br /> +When he Sarah would deceive,</p> +<p class="p06">Trueman went to see his love,<br /> +Who was pretty as a dove.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Sadie," said he, "sweet is revenge!<br /> +Let us now your labor change.</p> +<p class="p06">The ones who drove you to your fate,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>Away back in the Empire State,</p> + +<p class="p05">"Are here in Paris this long time,<br /> +And live in luxury sublime.</p> +<p class="p06">The gold they got from off your kine,<br /> +It goes for suppers and for wine.</p> + +<p class="p05">"In holy wedlock let us wed,<br /> +I'll lead you to a bridal bed;</p> +<p class="p06">And then in luxury and state<br /> +We'll 'tend the ball ere 'tis too late".</p> + +<p class="p05">I'll humble them in dust and shame!<br /> +Ah, Sadie, you were not to blame!</p> +<p class="p06"><i>We'll</i> make them wish they'd never sold<br /> +Your goods and kine for glittering gold!</p> + +<p class="p05">"Come, darling, now we'll off today,<br /> +The bridal knot to firmly tie.</p> +<p class="p06">Then I your graceful swanlike neck<br /> +With pearls and rubys will bedeck.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I'll trim your lovely graceful form<br /> +With richest satin to be worn:</p> +<p class="p06">I'll place upon your tapered hand<br /> +A solitaire, set in gold band.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Your dainty feet encased in kid<br /> +Of dainty styles, they're only made</p> +<p class="p06">For those who're called the name of Queens,<br /> +And bought by those who have vast means.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Then to the ball we'll proudly go,<br /> +(And who we'll meet I do not know,)</p> +<p class="p06">I'll there present to every one<br /> +My bride, <i>true</i> Sadie Waddington.</p> + +<p class="p05">"The shock, so sudden, will be great;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>They'll quail beneath their hearts own hate</p> +<p class="p06">Of being there exposed to all;<br /> +Oh, won't it be an awful fall?</p> + +<p class="p05">"Come, Sadie dear, revenge is sweet!<br /> +Now is our chance to get your mete</p> +<p class="p06">Which they have held from you so long,<br /> +And did you such a cruel wrong."</p> + +<p class="p05">Then Sadie spoke: "Trueman, my dear,<br /> +There's naught I know for me to fear.</p> +<p class="p06">Revenge <i>is</i> sweet, although 'tis queer,<br /> +Revenge I get in Paris here."</p> + +<p class="p05">They carried out their little plot,<br /> +And never skipped a single jot.</p> +<p class="p06">The eve was fine, the folk were gay,<br /> +And not a thing stood in their way.</p> + +<p class="p05">It was quite late when they arrived<br /> +At the mansion of the would-be bride.</p> +<p class="p06">As soon as Doctor stepped in sight,<br /> +Escorting Sadie—his delight—</p> + +<p class="p05">Sarah saw the graceful form<br /> +And, with one scream, she left the room,</p> +<p class="p06">And fell fainting to the floor.<br /> +They gently laid her on the couch</p> + +<p class="p05">Before the open door.<br /> +Her mother came in haste to see</p> +<p class="p06">What all the trouble there could be,<br /> +And did not see the Doctor's bride</p> + +<p class="p05">Until she was close by her side.<br /> +And when she saw it was too late,</p> +<p class="p06">She gasped: "Oh, Sarah's met her fate,"<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Then fell into a deathly state.</p> + +<p class="p05">The mother swooned and swooned away<br /> +The entire night and most the day;</p> +<p class="p06">And then the Doctor came to say,<br /> +"Her life is run, she cannot stay!"</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie, with trained and skillful hand,<br /> +Nursed Sarah back to conscious-land;</p> +<p class="p06">Did faithfully the watchword keep<br /> +While often o'er them she did weep.</p> + +<p class="p05">And, just before the mother died,<br /> +She Sadie called to her bedside</p> +<p class="p06">And begged her to full pardon give<br /> +For cruel wrong she did receive.</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie, always so good and true,<br /> +Said she always thought she knew</p> +<p class="p06">That the grand day would surely come<br /> +When that great wrong would be undone.</p> + +<p class="p05">She granted full, complete pardon<br /> +For all the wrongs the dame had done,</p> +<p class="p06">And then she spoke kind words of cheer<br /> +Into the madam's dying ear.</p> + +<p class="p05">With firm-set eyes and drooping chin<br /> +The madame grasped and tried to cling</p> +<p class="p06">Unto the hand she once did scorn,<br /> +And drove from home at break of morn.</p> + +<p class="p05">She then was wrapt in eternal death,<br /> +And from her soul came not a breath.</p> +<p class="p06">In casket pure as driven snow<br /> +Unto the churchyard she did go,</p> + +<p class="p05">And there was laid beneath the clay<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>To await Jehovah's Judgment Day.</p> +<p class="p06">All lands and goods and gold and kine<br /> +She left behind for endless time!</p> + +<p class="p05">Poor Sarah! doomed to awful fate,<br /> +Her mind was left in ruined state;</p> +<p class="p06">In raving madness and in strife<br /> +She tried to take our Sadie's life.</p> + +<p class="p05">The best physicians in the land<br /> +Were summoned forth on every hand</p> +<p class="p06">To try and bring her from the strife<br /> +Back to the land of happy life.</p> + +<p class="p05">Off to an asylum she must go,<br /> +'Cause 'twas not safe to leave her so;</p> +<p class="p06">And with good care she might regain<br /> +And be relieved from mental pain.</p> + +<p class="p05">Salome, our faithful lass and bride,<br /> +Resolved to stay by Sarah's side</p> +<p class="p06">And help her regain her lost mind,<br /> +And comfort for her she would find.</p> + +<p class="p05">Nine weeks were spent in mad-house fare,<br /> +Salome bestowing tender care</p> +<p class="p06">Upon the one who once did face<br /> +Salome in all her dire disgrace.</p> + +<p class="p05">When Doctor St. Lawrence saw his wife<br /> +Was bent on battling for the life</p> +<p class="p06">Of one who was once her mad foe,<br /> +He said: "All right, it shall be so."</p> + +<p class="p05">Salome, she clung unto her charge,<br /> +As if she were her dearest friend;</p> +<p class="p06">She incurred expenses somewhat large<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>To treat her patient to the end.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor soon began to learn<br /> +His bride and wife would never spurn</p> +<p class="p06">The one who once her home did take,<br /> +And drove her off for mere pride's sake.</p> + +<p class="p05">He asked Salome what she would do<br /> +In case that Sarah did pull through,</p> +<p class="p06">And once again her mind regain<br /> +Before they crossed the raging main.</p> + +<p class="p05">Salome did quickly make reply,<br /> +While glistening tears stood in her eye:</p> +<p class="p06">"I'll take her to old Empire State,<br /> +Right to the door where I met fate!</p> + +<p class="p05">"I'll make her happy, if I can,<br /> +And now I'll form my little plan:</p> +<p class="p06">We must, dear True, just do our best,<br /> +And fix her up in a cosy nest.</p> + +<p class="p05">"We will give her a little home<br /> +On the beautiful mountain side;</p> +<p class="p06">We will find her a handsome lover<br /> +Who'll be proud to call her his bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">"We will give them all attention<br /> +That the best of friends could do;</p> +<p class="p06">We will <i>return good for evil</i>,<br /> +'Cause my mother taught me so.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Let us show that true religion<br /> +Is the life we ought to live,</p> +<p class="p06">And the ways that Christ rejoiced in<br /> +Are the ways to which we cleave.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Oh, my husband, dearest Trueman,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>I believe in Sarah reigns</p> +<p class="p06">The true principle of goodness—<br /> +Let us fan that spark to flames.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Can I now secure her safely,<br /> +Teach her shun her evil ways</p> +<p class="p06">And discard that haughty spirit<br /> +That she learned in younger days,</p> + +<p class="p05">"I will be the happiest mortal<br /> +Ever lived on mother earth,</p> +<p class="p06">And will reach that heavenly portal<br /> +Only reached by second birth."</p> + +<p class="p05">After coaxing, begging, teasing,<br /> +Sarah consented for to go</p> +<p class="p06">Back across the ocean, raging,<br /> +Where her childhood seeds did sow.</p> + +<p class="p05">When they reached the harbor safely,<br /> +Bag and baggage on the truck,</p> +<p class="p06">They cast lots to see what steamer<br /> +They would choose for their good luck.</p> + +<p class="p05">Doctor got the choice of vessels,<br /> +And he quickly did decide</p> +<p class="p06">That the City of St. Paris<br /> +Should take their <i>protege</i> and his bride.</p> + +<p class="p05">Safely in the vessel's cabin,<br /> +Housed in cosy stateroom there,</p> +<p class="p06">All were ready for the voyage,<br /> +And did look for cheerful fare.</p> + +<p class="p05">Out upon the briny billows,<br /> +Just three days and nights, 'twas said,</p> +<p class="p06">When the night was dark and dreary,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>Trueman rose from sleepless bed.</p> + +<p class="p05">There was something weighed upon him,<br /> +Something whispered to beware;</p> +<p class="p06">He dressed and went upon the deck<br /> +To breathe the crisp sea air.</p> + +<p class="p05">He paced and paced the vessel's deck<br /> +With long and manly stride;</p> +<p class="p06">He went from starboard o'er to port<br /> +And back to starboard side.</p> + +<p class="p05">He'd been upon the deck some time,<br /> +And peered into the gloom</p> +<p class="p06">As if them something overawed<br /> +And threatened them with doom.</p> + +<p class="p05">At last, to port, he spied a fleck,<br /> +A dancing on the waves,</p> +<p class="p06">And there he plainly saw a deck<br /> +Bedecked with pirate knaves.</p> + +<p class="p05">The vessel, with a dark-hued hull,<br /> +Bore straightway on its course,</p> +<p class="p06">When, "<i>Hard to port! To port! to port!</i>"<br /> +Rang out a voice real coarse.</p> + +<p class="p05">The strange boat glided swiftly on,<br /> +Like a ghost on phantom wings,</p> +<p class="p06">While the crisp sea breeze went dancing past<br /> +And through her rigging sings.</p> + +<p class="p05">The strange boat slipped along, across<br /> +The briny billows white,</p> +<p class="p06">And their steamer ploughed and labored hard<br /> +Along its renewed flight.</p> + +<p class="p05">It was a close and dangerous call,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>Because the night was dark;</p> +<p class="p06">Had they collided there, on the ocean bare,<br /> +They'd went down with their bark.</p> + +<p class="p05">The voyage, then, to Gotham<br /> +Was stormy and quite rough,</p> +<p class="p06">And all agreed, when landed,<br /> +That they had quite enough.</p> + +<p class="p05">They then all took the railroad train<br /> +North, through the Empire State,</p> +<p class="p06">And soon were on the mountain side<br /> +Where Sadie met her fate.</p> + +<p class="p05">The first place Sadie wished to see<br /> +Was graves of father and mother,</p> +<p class="p06">And tripping lightly from the yard,<br /> +She passed out with another.</p> + +<p class="p05">That bitter morn, with memories fresh,<br /> +When from her home she'd fled,</p> +<p class="p06">She was scorned by one <i>now</i> too glad<br /> +To lead her on ahead.</p> + +<p class="p05">When she approached her mother's grave<br /> +The tears rolled thick and fast,</p> +<p class="p06">And by her side poor Sarah stood,<br /> +With memories of the past</p> + +<p class="p05">A fitting through her guilty mind:<br /> +And then she spoke at last:</p> +<p class="p06">"Oh, Sadie, Sadie, what a blot<br /> +Upon my mother's past;</p> + +<p class="p05">It stings within my guilty heart,<br /> +And would to God I now could part</p> +<p class="p06">With half the pain I feel—<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>The balm of Christ could scarcely heal."</p> + +<p class="p05">She stooped, and silently did press<br /> +Her fresh and rosy lips</p> +<p class="p06">Upon the little mound of grass<br /> +"Beneath—dear mother sleeps."</p> + +<p class="p05">Then Sarah, with most tender words,<br /> +Pressed Sadie to her breast</p> +<p class="p06">And with a fervent, heartfelt plea,<br /> +Prayed both them to be blest.</p> + +<p class="p05">When they returned unto their home,<br /> +Their friendship sealed with silent love,</p> +<p class="p06">They could not bear to be alone;<br /> +They felt a power from up above.</p> + +<p class="p05">Old friends and neighbors, with delight,<br /> +Called on the Doctor and his bride,</p> +<p class="p06">And there convened, on the first night,<br /> +A host of friends who're on their side.</p> + +<p class="p05">There's one among them old and gray,<br /> +Who'd lived right there for all his life;</p> +<p class="p06">'Tis the elder man and sage, St. Lawrence,<br /> +And he smiles upon the Doctor's wife.</p> + +<p class="p05">Heir to the Waddington estate,<br /> +Sadie reigns the queen of all;</p> +<p class="p06">Her friendship for Sarah was great,<br /> +And sister her did often call.</p> + +<p class="p05">The Doctor chose to spend his life<br /> +Upon the handsome mountain side</p> +<p class="p06">With Sadie, his true loving wife,<br /> +And Father St. Lawrence until he died.</p> + +<p class="p05">Time rolled around and months flew by;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>Sadie and Sarah, hand in hand,</p> +<p class="p06">Sealed by the firmest friendship tie,<br /> +Two of the truest in the land.</p> + +<p class="p05">There chanced to stroll from distant clime<br /> +A bright young man of Sadie's kin;</p> +<p class="p06">Came to visit in Summer time,<br /> +And Sarah was introduced to him.</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie tried her best to make a match,<br /> +And championed well her cause;</p> +<p class="p06">Sarah viewed it as a catch<br /> +That one very seldom draws.</p> + +<p class="p05">Though 'twas but a short acquaintance,<br /> +Still the wedding time was fixed;</p> +<p class="p06">The intended groom had patience,<br /> +'Cause he felt he was not rich.</p> + +<p class="p05">Sadie, sweet as dewy honey,<br /> +Wishing that her friends should wed,</p> +<p class="p06">Proffered home and lands and money<br /> +If the word would just be said.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I am heir to all this fortune,<br /> +Known as Waddington's estate;</p> +<p class="p06">Come, now, Sarah; come, now, Hawthorne,<br /> +Join your hearts ere 'tis too late.</p> + +<p class="p05">"I will give to you a large farm<br /> +Yonder on the mountain side;</p> +<p class="p06">I will give you kine and money,<br /> +If you'll be my cousin's bride."</p> + +<p class="p05">Sarah spake, with dewy eyelids,<br /> +To the one she loved so dear:</p> +<p class="p06">"Sadie, I am anything but worthy<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>Of this princely gift, to cheer</p> + +<p class="p05">"My poor broken, wicked heart,<br /> +After I have been so bad;</p> +<p class="p06">You should never take <i>my</i> part,<br /> +Since <i>I</i> took that which <i>you</i> had."</p> + +<p class="p05">Yet Sadie, true to her own passion,<br /> +Promised deed in fee for all,</p> +<p class="p06">If Sarah would wed her own cousin,<br /> +Ere the Summer ran to Fall.</p> + +<p class="p05">So the wedding day was fixed<br /> +When the two should be made one,</p> +<p class="p06">And their home, as she predicted,<br /> +Would be deeded as their own.</p> + +<p class="p05">When at last the nuptial greeting<br /> +Was received on every hand,</p> +<p class="p06">The sage, St. Lawrence, came to their meeting,<br /> +The last one left of their quartet band.</p> + +<p class="p05">The wedding knot was duly tied,<br /> +And the folk were feeling gay;</p> +<p class="p06">They were now made happy groom and bride,<br /> +Starting out in life's pathway.</p> + +<p class="p05">When the ceremony was over,<br /> +And the gifts they were bestowing—</p> +<p class="p06">Bridal gifts as sweet as clover—<br /> +Sadie, with her rich hair flowing,</p> + +<p class="p05">Called the old 'Squire of the city<br /> +That to witness of her signing</p> +<p class="p06">The transfer of title fair,<br /> +To the land that lay up there;</p> + +<p class="p05">When, to her surprise and chagrin,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>Father St. Lawrence, with gentle voice,</p> +<p class="p06">Told her that she could not bargain,<br /> +For she had not even choice.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Now, my daughter, not one farthing<br /> +Of this vast and rich estate</p> +<p class="p06">Has been left unto True's darling,<br /> +Now, I tell you, 'tis not too late.</p> + +<p class="p05">"All this land you tho't was yours<br /> +By inheritance of your blood,</p> +<p class="p06">Was bequeathed by your dear father<br /> +To one you never thought he would".</p> + +<p class="p05">Now, I've brought the Judge of Probate<br /> +As an honored guest of <i>mine</i>,</p> +<p class="p06">That he might reveal the truth,<br /> +That it might be writ in rhyme.</p> + +<p class="p05">Then, to soothe the disappointment,<br /> +The old judge with silvery hair</p> +<p class="p06">Drew from 'neath his outer garment,<br /> +Two old papers kept with care.</p> + +<p class="p05">One was read by him to Sadie,<br /> +Where her father had endowed</p> +<p class="p06">All his lands, and kine and money<br /> +On the one who made her proud.</p> + +<p class="p05">When this document was ended,<br /> +And was handed to Trueman,</p> +<p class="p06">The old sage, St. Lawrence, pretended<br /> +That he enjoyed youth again.</p> + +<p class="p05">"Read, Judge! read your other paper!<br /> +Tell my daughter here the truth;</p> +<p class="p06">Tell her what their anxious fathers<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Did for them while in their youth."</p> + +<p class="p05">When the document was ended,<br /> +With tears showering down her face,</p> +<p class="p06">Sadie, kisses, sweetly blended,<br /> +While she held him in embrace.</p> + +<p class="p05">Long their fortunes had been blended<br /> +By the signatures alone</p> +<p class="p06">Of their fathers in their child days,<br /> +As they played around their home.</p> + +<p class="p05">"True, my dear; O will you come here?<br /> +Sign this deed! Come quick, O do;</p> +<p class="p06">Carry out my simple wishes;<br /> +Sarah is my friend, so true."</p> + +<p class="p05">"Yes, my darling, this with pleasure<br /> +I will do, to please you all;</p> +<p class="p06">It is my most pleasant leisure<br /> +To do bidding at your call."</p> + +<p class="p05">So, the deed of gift was given,<br /> +And in happiness they'd start;</p> +<p class="p06">From that home they'd ne'er be driven,<br /> +Life anew to never part.</p> + +<p class="p05">There in happiness and comfort<br /> +Did they live upon the place</p> +<p class="p06">Where the evil of proud passion<br /> +Smothered one in dire disgrace.</p> + +<p class="p05">Happy was Salome and Trueman<br /> +When they saw their <i>protege</i> safe</p> +<p class="p06">In the hands of Cousin Hawthorne,<br /> +On the Waddington old place.</p> + +<p class="p05">Safe within the coils of homelife,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>Safe within the cottage walls,</p> +<p class="p06">Safely with a trusting husband,<br /> +Safe within their friendly calls.</p> + +<p class="p05">Thus the vengeance of our Hero<br /> +Was full spent to meet her theme;</p> +<p class="p06">Yet so different from a Nero,<br /> +Because she knew she could redeem.</p> + +<p class="p05">Salome's revenge was to her sweet,<br /> +'Cause she'd conquered, not cut down;</p> +<p class="p06">Now she feared no one to meet,<br /> +Nor would any wear a frown.</p> + +<p class="p05">Though some years had been so bitter,<br /> +And had fraught such cruel pain;</p> +<p class="p06">Now the coldest of the winter<br /> +Seemed like flowery beds of green.</p> + +<p class="p05">Now, away up on the mountains,<br /> +In the well known Empire State,</p> +<p class="p06">Sadie Waddington is living<br /> +In sweet REVENGE, where she met fate.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="300" height="181" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>A TRIBUTE TO<br /><span class="small">CAPT. GEORGE W. HESS.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1">Almost a decade thou hast battled with a patriot's band,</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose first duty is devotion to their native land;</p> +<p class="pl0">And no comrade but is willing, with a ready mind,</p> +<p class="pl0">To declare thee brave and loyal to all mankind.</p> + +<p class="pl1">In thy country's hour of peril, on the battle field,</p> +<p class="pl0">Thou wert ever more than willing all her rights to shield,</p> +<p class="pl0">And, with true and loyal purpose, battled for the right,</p> +<p class="pl0">Till secession's traitorous banner sunk in endless night!</p> + +<p class="pl1">Duty's path to thee is glory, glory easy won;</p> +<p class="pl0">For a task so oft repeated is quite easy done;</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet no one can ever chide, for thy generous heart</p> +<p class="pl0">Ne'er will crush the poor and helpless with oppression's dart.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Every prisoner knows and likes thee, for thy friendly ways</p> +<p class="pl0">Must attract their close attention and excite their praise;</p> +<p class="pl0">And the few who know thee better, as a man of heart,</p> +<p class="pl0">Would desire no nobler mission than to take thy part.</p> + +<p class="pl1">May you live in peace and plenty, happy with your own,</p> +<p class="pl0">Till Jehovah's love shall gather 'round His august throne</p> +<p class="pl0">All who, like you, honest comrade, follows heaven's plan</p> +<p class="pl0">And respects the rules of virtue and the rights of man.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-044.jpg" width="300" height="162" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">My Lawyer.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p08">When grappled in the law's embrace,<br /> +Who first betrayed an anxious face<br /> +And fain would shield me from disgrace?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who told me I should not confess,<br /> +That he would all my wrongs redress<br /> +And set me free from all distress?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">When, sick in jail, I senseless lay,<br /> +Who took my watch and case away,<br /> +Lest prowling thieves on me should prey?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who to my wealth tenacious clung,<br /> +And for me wagged his oily tongue,<br /> +And at my foes hot embers flung?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who told me he was dreadful smart<br /> +And knew the law-books all by heart,<br /> +And always took his client's part?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who, in the court, with peerless pride,<br /> +My rights affirmed, my guilt denied,<br /> +And swore the State's attorney lied?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">And when twelve men, in one compound,<br /> +For me a guilty verdict found,<br /> +Who came to stanch the bleeding wound?</p> +<p class="pf1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who said my time within the wall<br /> +Would be exceeding brief and small,<br /> +The minimum, or none at all?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">And when the judge my doom proclaimed,<br /> +And three long years of exile named,<br /> +Who looked indignant and ashamed?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">When, at the sheriff's stern command,<br /> +I for the train was told to stand,<br /> +Who longest shook and squeezed my hand?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who, when he had me safe confined,<br /> +No more concerned his crafty mind,<br /> +Nor was, for me, to grief inclined?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who closed the mortgage on my lot,<br /> +And drove my family from my cot,<br /> +And left them homeless on the spot?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p08 p1">Who, when of prison clothes I'm stripped,<br /> +And from these walls am homeward shipped,<br /> +Will get himself immensely whipped?</p> +<p class="pf1">My Lawyer.</p> + +<p class="p1">[Written by Mr. George Gilbert, who died on the 9th of June, +A. D. 1890.]</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-043.jpg" width="300" height="122" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">A Sad Warning.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">In prison cell, at early twilight,<br /> +Smoking Foesters "Best Cigar,"</p> +<p class="p02">Sat a convict, little dreaming<br /> +Aught his perfect bliss could mar.</p> + +<p class="p01">Round the cell-block, slowly ambling,<br /> +Came a "Screw," on mischief bent,</p> +<p class="p02">And his wide, expanded nostrils<br /> +Quickly inhaled the welcome scent.</p> + +<p class="p01">Wave on wave, thro' latticed iron,<br /> +Smoky clouds rose thick and high,</p> +<p class="p02">And the happy convict murmured:<br /> +"Go, ye cloudlets, greet the sky!"</p> + +<p class="p01">But the cloudlets, incense laden,<br /> +Lingered near the oaken floor,</p> +<p class="p02">Till the "Screw," with cat-like motion,<br /> +Stood before the smoker's door.</p> + +<p class="p01">In the spittoon, charred and sputtering,<br /> +Lay the smoker's joy and pride;</p> +<p class="p02">And the "Screw," exultant, murmured:<br /> +"Stackhouse will <i>this case</i> decide."</p> + +<p class="p01">Morning dawned. The "cellar agent"<br /> +Bore the trembling wretch away</p> +<p class="p02">To a cellar, cold and gloomy,<br /> +Where the tools of torture lay.</p> + +<p class="p01">Blows and shrieks alternate sounded,<br /> +And a voice from near the floor</p> +<p class="p02">Murmured: "Stackhouse! <span class="smcap">mercy! MERCY!!</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]></a></span>P-l-e-a-s-e, sir; <i>I will smoke no more!</i>"</p> + +<p class="p01">From the cellar, shorn and shaven,<br /> +Skulked the cowering "con." away;</p> +<p class="p02">And he smokes—but, Oh! how watchful<br /> +Is that victim, who can say?</p> + +<p class="p01">All ye inmates, take the warning,<br /> +Gushing from a brother's heart:</p> +<p class="p02">He who smokes within these portals<br /> +For the dire offense <i>may</i> smart!</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-084.jpg" width="300" height="159" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>ACROSTIC TO<br /> +J. C. LANGENBERGER,<br /> +<span class="smcap reduct">Captain of the O. P. Night Watch</span>.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>J</b>ust to all men, to all men kind and true;</p> +<p class="pl1"><b>C</b>onspicuous as a giant yet comely to the view;</p> +<p class="pl1"><b>L</b>oved by all who know him, trusted everywhere;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>lways more than willing to ease his fellow's care;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ever harsh or cruel, never false or base;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>G</b>oing in and coming out among those in disgrace,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>arning from each prisoner's heart the meed of honest praise;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>one condemn his actions, none despise his ways;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>B</b>y his children reverenced, by his wife adored;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>very friend is welcome at his ample board;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>ich in all that makes a <i>man</i>, poor alone in hate;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>G</b>od of Mercy bless the man who nightly guards our fate;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ver may he fill the post that wisdom has assigned,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>uling all, as now he does, by strength of heart and mind.</p> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">She Loves Me Yet.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Amid the cares and griefs of life,<br /> +One precious thought I'll ne'er forget,</p> +<p class="p02">I have a fond and faithful wife,<br /> +For darling Lulu loves me yet.</p> + +<p class="p01">The bitterest pang that earth can give<br /> +Can never make my soul regret</p> +<p class="p02">The fact that I on earth can live,<br /> +While Lulu says she loves me yet.</p> + +<p class="p01">The sweetest joy my heart could know<br /> +Would prove a diamond yet unset,</p> +<p class="p02">Whose radiant light could never glow,<br /> +Like this sweet thought, "She loves me yet."</p> + +<p class="p01">Should grief deluge my troubled soul<br /> +Till every hour some care beset,</p> +<p class="p02">I could defy its stern control<br /> +While murmuring, "Lulu loves me yet."</p> + +<p class="p01">Should every friend I have on earth<br /> +Each vow of loyalty forget,</p> +<p class="p02">I could survive the cruel blow,<br /> +Since darling Lulu loves me yet.</p> + +<p class="p01">Should earth with one accord combine,<br /> +Sweet Lulu's influence to beset,</p> +<p class="p02">It would not change my constant mind,<br /> +If I but felt "She loves me yet."</p> + +<p class="p01">I care no sweeter boon in life,<br /> +Nor will my heart its choice regret;</p> +<p class="p02">I only long to meet that wife<br /> +Who truly says she loves me yet</p>. + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>ACROSTIC TRIBUTE TO<br /> +<span class="reduct">HARRY SMITH.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY G. W. VAN WEIGHS.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>H</b>e is like the god, Appollo, when in days of old</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>ll the hearts of Greece could conquer, yet despised their gold.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>ich in manhood, health and youth, he is ever free</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>eady to assist his brother whatsoever his need may be.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>ou can trust him freely, fully, with your love or gold,</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>S</b>ince his love of truth and honor never can grow cold.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>M</b>ay he ever do his duty and to all be kind,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>t is but the noble hearted who can rule the mind,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>T</b>rusting, still, his love of country and his love for man,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e may rest assured Heaven will endorse his plan.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">The Phantom Boat.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p23">Two lovers once sat dreaming<br /> +Of scenes o'ergrown by years;<br /> +Sweet Daisy's eyes were eloquent<br /> +With girlhood's pleading tears;<br /> +Her little hand was lying<br /> +Confidingly in mine,<br /> +While her silvery voice pleaded:<br /> +"Dear one, awake the Nine!"</p> + +<p class="p23">"Yes, darling, I will rhyme for you;<br /> +What legend shall I drew!<br /> +Shall I now fold you in my arms<br /> +And, drifting down life's stream,<br /> +'Mid singing birds and nodding flowers,<br /> +Pour forth my soul in love—<br /> +In accents soft and tender—<br /> +As the cooing of a dove"?</p> + +<p class="p23">Or shall I tell you, dearest one,<br /> +Why yonder's rippling stream<br /> +First gained the name "Tululah"<br /> +In an age that's now a dream?<br /> +Well, now, pillow your head upon my breast,<br /> +The legend is weird and wild;<br /> +I fear me much its harrowing scenes<br /> +Will shock, thee, gentle child.</p> + +<p class="p23">Will you listen, while we're watching<br /> +For the far-famed Phantom Boat?<br /> +Perhaps the tale will lead us<br /> +To catch the first faint note<br /> +Of Tululah's wondrous music<br /> +As she floats down this stream,<br /> +For, I assure you, darling,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>This legend is no dream.</p> + +<p class="p23">Where now we sit, in days gone by,<br /> +The stealthy panther crept,<br /> +And bears and wolves in horrid hordes<br /> +Their tireless vigils kept;<br /> +Turkey, deer and beaver<br /> +Were scattered far and wide,<br /> +And here the lordly savage stalked<br /> +<i>In all his pristine pride</i>;</p> + +<p class="p23">The Creeks then ruled this forest,<br /> +From Suwanee to the sea;—<br /> +A haughty, bold and cruel race,<br /> +Cunning, treacherous, wild and free!<br /> +To hunt and fish, and boast and fight<br /> +Were the duties of a brave,<br /> +While woman—alas! sweet woman<br /> +Was but a cowering slave!</p> + +<p class="p23">No grant had she to breathe her wrongs<br /> +Before the "Council Fire,"<br /> +Nor dared she utter a single word<br /> +To gain her heart's desire,<br /> +Until her savage master<br /> +First gave her leave to speak;<br /> +Nor dared she then to brave his will<br /> +Lest he his vengeance wreak!</p> + +<p class="p23">Yet ever and anon there rose<br /> +A woman, whose proud soul<br /> +Ignored those self-created gods<br /> +And spurned their base control.<br /> +Such was the brave Tululah,<br /> +Whose spirit haunts this stream;<br /> +In a phantom barge it glides along,<br /> +Like a wraith in a troubled dream.</p> + +<p class="p23">'Tis said she haunts this river,<br /> +Alone on a misty night,<br /> +And that each one who sees her<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>Is 'palled with strange affright!<br /> +And why she haunts this river<br /> +Is the burden of my tale,<br /> +And none who have a tender heart<br /> +But will her fate bewail.</p> + +<p class="p23">Tululah was Ocala's child,<br /> +To whom the Creeks ascribe<br /> +The name of the boldest leader<br /> +That ever led their tribe!<br /> +A savage of herculean build,<br /> +With fierce and restless eye,<br /> +His haughty lip deigned not to smile,<br /> +And scorned to breathe a sigh!</p> + +<p class="p23">Tululah was his pride and joy,<br /> +The only thing he loved on earth,<br /> +Since she became an orphan<br /> +At the fatal hour of birth!<br /> +The superstitious savage<br /> +Deemed her mother's spirit nigh,<br /> +And thought, who harmed an orphan,<br /> +By a spirit hand should die!</p> + +<p class="p23">She was born, too, "In a Castle,"<br /> +Gifted with a "second sight;"<br /> +Friends of earth, and sea, and air,<br /> +At <i>her</i> command would fight.<br /> +Her raven locks and soulful eyes,<br /> +Her faultless form and peerless face,<br /> +And voice of wondrous melody<br /> +Awed and charmed her race.</p> + +<p class="p23">She reigned an undisputed Queen,<br /> +<i>All</i> her mandate must obey;<br /> +And even the fierce Ocala<br /> +Was obedient to her sway.<br /> +Yet even she was powerless<br /> +To stay the raging flood<br /> +Of tireless, deathless savage hate<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>That sought the white man's blood.</p> + +<p class="p23">Ocala's hatred of the whites<br /> +Was known both far and near;<br /> +Brave hunters spake his name with awe,<br /> +And women in trembling fear!<br /> +At last he grew so treacherous<br /> +No white man dared come nigh,<br /> +Till a trio of gallant hunters<br /> +Determined <i>he should die!</i></p> + +<p class="p23">They knew 'twas a dangerous mission<br /> +On which their steps was bent,<br /> +Yet the prayers of honest settlers<br /> +Their true hearts courage lent.<br /> +As they neared the sleeping village,<br /> +Where Ocala awaited his doom,<br /> +They flitted like weird spectres<br /> +In the silent midnight gloom!</p> + +<p class="p23">There, spread before their vision,<br /> +Five hundred wigwams lay;<br /> +A savage guerdon of defense<br /> +For him they sought to slay.<br /> +To the silent village center<br /> +Our gallant hunters crept,<br /> +To the door of the largest wigwam,<br /> +Where proud Ocala slept.</p> + +<p class="p23">Stepping across the prostrate form<br /> +Of the sentinel at the door,<br /> +They breathed a prayer for absent ones,<br /> +Whom they might see no more.<br /> +Three knives flashed in midnight air,<br /> +Then fell with a sickening thud,<br /> +Ocala, Napoleon of his tribe,<br /> +Lay withering in his blood!</p> + +<p class="p23">But hark! what means that fierce warhoop,<br /> +Resounding loud and clear?<br /> +'Tis the bugle blast that calls each brave<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>When the paleface foe is near!<br /> +Gathering fast in the midnight gloom,<br /> +They form "The Circle of Death"<br /> +Around the dauntless hunters,<br /> +Who stand with bated breath</p> + +<p class="p23">Awaiting the savage onslaught,<br /> +Determined to sell their lives<br /> +To the service of their country<br /> +And the freedom of men's wives;<br /> +While pitying Heaven aids them<br /> +By the darkness of the night,<br /> +Since not a star will lend its aid<br /> +To guide their foes aright!</p> + +<p class="p23">Now facing North, and East, and West,<br /> +They meet the savage foes,<br /> +Recruiting Charon's army<br /> +By every lusty blow;<br /> +But still they come in hideous swarms,<br /> +Like hounds let loose from hell,<br /> +Till, overborne by numbers,<br /> +Our bleeding heroes fell!</p> + +<p class="p23">All honor to the gallant three,<br /> +Twelve braves in silence lay,<br /> +With gaping wounds and stony eyes,<br /> +To greet returning day!<br /> +While yet a score were nursing<br /> +Wounds which these heroes gave,<br /> +That signed their right to enter<br /> +Into an unwept grave!</p> + +<p class="p23">Ocala ne'er again would scourge<br /> +Their country, far and near,<br /> +Nor wring from helpless innocence<br /> +An unavailing tear!<br /> +His death alone destroyed the boast<br /> +And stilled the raging flood<br /> +Of senseless pride and passion<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>That bathed his hands in blood!</p> + +<p class="p23">But, alas, for human prowess,<br /> +These deeds but roused the ire<br /> +Of savage wretches, who now tried<br /> +To vent their spleen <i>with fire!</i><br /> +Three stakes were now erected<br /> +And fagots heaped around,<br /> +While painted fiends in human shape<br /> +Exultant, sat aground.</p> + +<p class="p23">They led the helpless captives forth,<br /> +With many a shout and hoot,<br /> +And drug them to their awful doom,<br /> +Less feeling than a brute!<br /> +And first they bound Hugh Cannon,<br /> +Whose descendants, love, you know,<br /> +I pointed out to you, last Fall,<br /> +When we were at the show.</p> + +<p class="p23">They bound him to the cruel stake<br /> +Before his comrades' eyes,<br /> +Then scornfully they bade them mark<br /> +"How a paleface coward dies!"<br /> +Thank God his captors were deceived,<br /> +He smiled amid the flame!<br /> +And, with his fast expiring breath,<br /> +These words bequeathed to fame:</p> + +<p class="p23">"To suffer in a noble cause<br /> +Is sweet beyond compare!<br /> +These greedy flames that lick my blood<br /> +But light a vision fair,<br /> +Where heroism and heroes sweep<br /> +The still resounding lyre,<br /> +Heaven's harmonies have quenched<br /> +The tortures of this fire!</p> + +<p class="p23">"Tumultuous raptures 'round me roll<br /> +Heaven's pearly gates ajar!<br /> +My spirit soars on fleshless wing<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>Beyond the faintest star!<br /> +Oh, blissful death; oh, vision fair,<br /> +What sweet celestial glories shine,<br /> +The loved and lost of earlier years<br /> +Are <i>now</i> forever mine!"</p> + +<p class="p23">The savage horde in silence stood<br /> +And listened as he sang,<br /> +While even their untaught eyes could see<br /> +He suffered not a pang!<br /> +No yell triumphant smote his ear,<br /> +Awe silenced every tongue,<br /> +And many a heart beat faster<br /> +As he his requiem sung.</p> + +<p class="p23">Then lionhearted Conway,<br /> +Beneath whose eagle eye<br /> +Even savage foes once trembled<br /> +Was offered up to die!<br /> +Defiant still 'mid writhing flames,<br /> +He heaped on them his scorn,<br /> +And, with true prophetic voice<br /> +He doomed their race unborn.</p> + +<p class="p23">"Rejoice! rejoice! ye howling fiends,<br /> +Distort your hideous face,<br /> +Soon the white man's wrath shall sweep<br /> +From earth your blood-stained race,<br /> +While shining fields and cities fair<br /> +Attest the white man's power,<br /> +You accursed Creeks shall be<br /> +Tradition's useless dower!"</p> + +<p class="p23">Now comes your own ancestor,<br /> +The gallant, brave McCray,<br /> +Who planned this glorious campaign<br /> +And led the awful fight.<br /> +He was a perfect Hercules,<br /> +Cast in Apollo's mould,<br /> +With a heart of witching tenderness,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Yet proud and dauntless soul.</p> + +<p class="p23">Oft had he visited this tribe,<br /> +On peaceful mission bent,<br /> +And to many a savage<br /> +His kind assistance lent.<br /> +Yet little dreamed he, at this hour,<br /> +One heart amid that throng<br /> +Still beat responsive to his own,<br /> +Attuned to love's mad song!</p> + +<p class="p23">Yet, as they bound him to the stake<br /> +And raised the flaming brand,<br /> +The Chief that held it fell a corpse,<br /> +Killed by a woman's hand!<br /> +And Indian maiden loosed his bands<br /> +And raised her voice on high:<br /> +"Who harms my paleface lover<br /> +By Tululah's hand shall die!"</p> + +<p class="p23">Behold, the savage concourse stand,<br /> +Transfixed by silent awe,<br /> +And gaze upon Ocala's child,<br /> +Held sacred by their law!<br /> +They feared Ocala's spirit<br /> +Might <i>then</i> be hovering nigh;<br /> +Nor dared to harm his darling child,<br /> +Lest he who harmed her die!</p> + +<p class="p23">The Queen, with head and form erect,<br /> +Bore McCray undismayed,<br /> +And in her <i>father's</i> wigwam<br /> +Her wounded lover laid!<br /> +Then bending gently o'er him,<br /> +Each wound she rightly dress,<br /> +And with sweet plaintive melodies<br /> +Lured the weary one to rest.</p> + +<p class="p23">At dawning light McCray awoke,<br /> +His Queen still lingering there;<br /> +His eyes bespoke his gratitude,<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>His lips were moved in prayer<br /> +For the lithe and graceful maiden<br /> +Whose love he knew to be<br /> +Pure as early morning's blush,<br /> +Yet deathless as—Eternity!</p> + +<p class="p23">Although once failed, his savage foes<br /> +Still thirsted for his blood;<br /> +The hate within their bosoms<br /> +Was as tireless as a flood.<br /> +Not daring open violence,<br /> +They sought Oneida's craft,<br /> +And 'neath the guise of friendship<br /> +Gave the lovers a sleeping draught.</p> + +<p class="p23">When the mighty god of slumber<br /> +Had locked them fast in sleep,<br /> +The wily savage entered,<br /> +His fearful oath to keep.<br /> +They took McCray to the river<br /> +In sight of these roaring falls,<br /> +Whose sheer descent—two hundred feet—<br /> +The stoutest heart appalls!</p> + +<p class="p23">They bound him fast in a frail canoe,<br /> +Set adrift 'mid the current's flow,<br /> +Believing his life would be dashed out<br /> +On the jagged rocks below.<br /> +Then, gladly turning homeward,<br /> +A ready lie they make<br /> +To appease her burning anger<br /> +When Tululah shall awake!</p> + +<p class="p23">Slowly the doomed man drifted,<br /> +Yet faster, at each breath,<br /> +The quickening current bore him<br /> +To the open gates of death!<br /> +Yet still he slept; aye, slept and dreamed<br /> +Of the proud Creek's peerless flower<br /> +Who, for deathless love of him,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Had braved her nation's power.</p> + +<p class="p23">Spurned her murdered siris corpse<br /> +And to his murderer clung!<br /> +Aye, on the spot that drank his blood,<br /> +Love's soothing ditties sung!<br /> +Dreamed of the eyes that flashed with fire<br /> +When his foeman dared draw nigh,<br /> +Yet softened into tenderness<br /> +At her lover's faintest sigh.</p> + +<p class="p23">Dreams of the hand that sped the dart<br /> +That pierced the chieftain's breast,<br /> +Yet with such witching tenderness<br /> +Could tremble in caress!<br /> +Dreams of the heart that proudly braved<br /> +A nation's deadly hate,<br /> +Yet, at a lover's first command,<br /> +Would brook a martyr's fate!</p> + +<p class="p23">Dreams of the hour when Tululah,<br /> +Who so bravely saved his life,<br /> +Shall desert her baffled kinsman<br /> +To become a white man's wife!<br /> +Dreams how he would love and prize her,<br /> +Shielding her with tenderest care,<br /> +Spending time, and life, and fortune<br /> +But to grant her lightest prayer.</p> + +<p class="p23">But his dream is rudely broken,<br /> +And his blanched lip loudly calls,<br /> +For he hears the well known rumbling<br /> +Of this river's awful falls.<br /> +Life was sweet, death was so near,<br /> +And he so young to die!<br /> +No wonder that his trembling lips<br /> +Sought mercy from on high.</p> + +<p class="p23">He bore ten thousand tortures<br /> +With every passing breath,<br /> +As he lay bound and helpless,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>Gliding swiftly on to death.<br /> +He raised his clarion voice<br /> +Above the deafening roar;<br /> +Great heavens! can a human cry<br /> +Reach that resounding shore?</p> + +<p class="p23">"Yes! Yes!" a once familiar voice<br /> +Calls loudly from that shore,<br /> +And a well known trapper woos time<br /> +To life and hope once more!<br /> +By an effort, born of hope renewed,<br /> +McCray sprang to his feet;<br /> +The trapper saw, his lariat flew,<br /> +His outstretched hands to greet.</p> + +<p class="p23">"<i>Steady!</i>" the practical huntsman cried:<br /> +"Your peril is almost o'er;<br /> +Steady, for in a moment<br /> +Your foot shall press the shore!"<br /> +Then, as he drew the skiff ashore,<br /> +He recognized McCray,<br /> +But gazed in silent wonder<br /> +<i>For late raven locks were grey!</i></p> + +<p class="p23">And never, to his dying day,<br /> +Would McCray view the place<br /> +Where, in suspended agony,<br /> +He met death face to face!<br /> +He shuddered at an Indian's name,<br /> +And soon forgot the Queen,<br /> +Who once so bravely saved him<br /> +From a nation's senseless spleen.</p> + +<p class="p23">He wooed and won a maiden<br /> +Whose blue eyes, like your own,<br /> +Held within their liquid depths,<br /> +Love's nectarine full blown,<br /> +And as I press your luscious lips<br /> +I praise thee, brave McCray,<br /> +Whose dauntless courage gave to me<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>The girl I hold today!</p> + +<p class="p23">Oh, yes; forgive me, darling,<br /> +I did almost forget;<br /> +But how can mortal silence keep<br /> +By such sweet eyes beset?<br /> +Grant me the boon of one more kiss<br /> +And gaze into my face;<br /> +Light fancy by your radiant eyes,<br /> +Tululah's fate to trace!</p> + +<p class="p23">Still let the pressure of your hand<br /> +Chain me in rapture to the earth,<br /> +For I must offer thoughts tonight<br /> +That ne'er before had birth!<br /> +No idle dreamer dares to pierce<br /> +The mystery of this stream,<br /> +Nor would I dare the bold emprise<br /> +Save that your wish I deem</p> + +<p class="p23">The highest law my loving heart<br /> +Can now or ever know,<br /> +And 'neath the witchery of your smile<br /> +My raptured numbers glow!<br /> +My fancy soars on eager wing,<br /> +And will, perhaps, at last,<br /> +Gladly at your high behest<br /> +Unfold the misty past!</p> + +<p class="p23">Tululah slept till evening shades<br /> +Had deepened into night,<br /> +And woke, alas! to find herself<br /> +Bereft of her brave knight.<br /> +Her Indian wit soon taught her<br /> +Oguchu was to blame,<br /> +And hastily she found him,<br /> +Her eyes and cheeks aflame!</p> + +<p class="p23">"Oguchu knows your mission;<br /> +Your paleface lover fled<br /> +While Tululah's starlit eyes<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>Were wandering 'mid the dead.<br /> +He is not worthy of your love;<br /> +Let my sister choose a mate;<br /> +Oguchu's lodge is open,<br /> +Will my sister spurn her fate?"</p> + +<p class="p23">"My paleface lover is a brave!"<br /> +Tululah proudly cried;<br /> +"<i>He</i> never fled from friend or foe,<br /> +Oguchu, thou hast lied!<br /> +Thy double tongue is poison-tipped,<br /> +Thy words a coward's dart,<br /> +Before I clasp thy loathsome form<br /> +Let panthers rend my heart!</p> + +<p class="p23">"Speak, coward, speak! where is my brave?<br /> +Tululah asks you where;<br /> +Speak, lest I summon by a word<br /> +The friends of earth and air<br /> +To tear your quivering limbs apart,<br /> +You lying, treacherous chief.<br /> +Speak the truth! you Indian dog,<br /> +The night is growing brief!"</p> + +<p class="p23">The awestruck chief is conquered,<br /> +And tells, with bated breath,<br /> +Where last he saw him drifting,<br /> +Into the jaws of death!<br /> +Tululah heard, and wild despair<br /> +Hurled reason from her throne.<br /> +Low at her feet the wretches crouched,<br /> +Their treachery to atone!</p> + +<p class="p23">"Up! Up, you cowards! Up, you knaves!<br /> +And lead me to the place.<br /> +Tululah's hand shall save him yet<br /> +Or curse your coward race!<br /> +'Tis mine to speak; yours, to obey;—<br /> +I am your Virgin Queen:—<br /> +I <i>swear</i> to save my lover <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>Or <i>nevermore</i> be seen!"</p> + +<p class="p23">They led her to the river,<br /> +And, pointing to the place,<br /> +They stood like criminals abashed<br /> +Before the judge's face.<br /> +She spurned their pleading counsel,<br /> +And, springing in a boat,<br /> +She cast the oars from her<br /> +And set the skiff afloat!</p> + +<p class="p23">Then, as she gazed adown the stream,<br /> +Her eyes were all aglow<br /> +With that deep yearning passion<br /> +Such hearts alone can know.<br /> +While sitting in the boat erect,<br /> +With an Indian's willowy grace,<br /> +She sang in tuneful numbers<br /> +A song time can't efface:</p> + +<p class="p24">"I am coming, coming, coming,<br /> +Slowly drifting down the stream,</p> +<p class="p25">While my heart is yearning, yearning<br /> +For the idol of love's dream.</p> + +<p class="p24">"I have left them—left them—left them!<br /> +Farewell, treacherous Indian race;</p> +<p class="p25">I can hear him calling, calling,<br /> +And I go to seek his face.</p> + +<p class="p24">"Now I'm gliding, gliding, gliding!<br /> +And I hear the awful roar</p> +<p class="p25">Of the waters tumbling, tumbling,<br /> +Where no boat will need an oar!</p> + +<p class="p24">"Now I'm rushing, rushing, rushing!<br /> +And the spray obscures my sight;</p> +<p class="p25">The angry waters leaping, leaping,<br /> +Chill me with a strange affright.</p> + +<p class="p24">"Oh, I see him! see him—see him,<br /> +And I welcome death's alarms!</p> +<p class="p25">Oh! I'm swiftly falling, falling,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>And I spring into his arms!"</p> + +<p class="p23">Not a trace of boat or maiden<br /> +Could the savage searchers find,<br /> +And they fled the spot in terror,<br /> +Daring not to look behind!<br /> +Nor would they tarry near the river,<br /> +But moved their wigwam's far away;<br /> +No savage Creek would linger<br /> +Near the spot by night and day.</p> + +<p class="p23">And tradition says her spirit<br /> +May be seen on nights like this,<br /> +When the heavy moon, mist-laden,<br /> +Greets the river with a kiss!<br /> +Not in vain will be our vigil<br /> +If Tululah knows tonight<br /> +In your precious veins is flowing<br /> +Genuine blood of her brave knight!</p> + +<p class="p23">Look! Look! 'mid the river's silvery sheen<br /> +Tululah's Phantom Boat is seen,<br /> +While the air vibrates like a quivering lyre,<br /> +Touched by the hands of an angel Choir!<br /> +Oh, wondrous music soft and low,<br /> +Like rippling streamlets' gentle flow!<br /> +Oh, pathos laden, heart refrain,<br /> +No mortal lips can breathe that strain!</p> + +<p class="p23">Immortal love! not even death<br /> +Can damp thy flame or chill thy breath!<br /> +Nay, while eternal ages roll,<br /> +'Tis thine to feed the hungry soul<br /> +With manna dipped in passion's fire,<br /> +True birthright of the heart's desire;<br /> +Blest food no mortal lips can take<br /> +And fail enrapturing bliss to wake!</p> + +<p class="p23">Heaven's corner-stone, earth's chief delight.<br /> +Tululah's captive soul tonight<br /> +Is but living o'er the dream<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>Thou didst create beside this stream.<br /> +Her hapless fate all must deplore,<br /> +Self-sacrificed in days of yore;<br /> +And, could Tululah live again,<br /> +At least one heart would soothe her pain!</p> + +<p class="p23">The legend may be overdrawn,<br /> +Yet 'tis not all a dream!<br /> +Nor will you ever say again:<br /> +"This is no haunted stream!"<br /> +Other eyes beside our own<br /> +Have seen the Phantom Boat,<br /> +And other ears than ours have heard<br /> +That wild, weird? music float!</p> + +<p class="p23">But, precious little darling,<br /> +As I strain thee to my breast,<br /> +I am conscious you are weary,<br /> +Thus deprived of needful rest.<br /> +Let us hasten to thy cottage,<br /> +Parting with a lingering kiss;<br /> +Little Daisy, then, can slumber<br /> +And awake in perfect bliss!</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="300" height="181" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-003.jpg" width="200" height="80" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>AN INITIAL ACROSTIC.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>H</b>ear, O hear the melting music pouring from inspired hearts!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n the race of life they stumbled, victims of temptation's darts.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>uin's billows them engulfing, all their hopes and joys to blight;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>nd the scorpion lash of conscience scourges them by day and night!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>M</b>an has doomed them to a prison where shame's torrents hourly roll</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>P</b>ouring every known affliction on the crushed and bleeding soul!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>very legal right has perished, every social tie is snapped!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>C</b>rushing Force is ever present, body mind and soul entrapped!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>K</b>indness is a total stranger, human treatment rarely shown,</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>M</b>an <i>is</i> faultless when his fellow for a fault must needs atone!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>C</b>an such beings know the rapture Heaven decrees to poet souls?</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>K</b>now they where to place the cymbals of the sounding lyre</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ever yet has human malice stilled the music of the spheres!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n <i>the loathesome prison dungeon Heaven the sweetest music hears!</i></p> +<p class="pl0"><b>G</b>uilt or shame, or human anger, ne'er can fold the poet's wings.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>owsoever deep his anguish, still his heart exultant sings—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>T</b>unes his lyre, still triumphant, and to you these pages brings!</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-171.jpg" width="300" height="108" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>ACROSTIC TRIBUTE TO<br /> +<span class="reduct">DR. H. R. PARKER.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>H</b>e towers above his fellow men, like some grand knight of old.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ndeavoring to right all wrong with spirit bold and free!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>o craven fear usurps his soul, no task his spirit quails.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>eligion to his soul is <i>love</i>, and love no wrong entails!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>e who love eternal right and wish your fellows well</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>R</b>efuse him not the meed of praise—'tis his our aches to quell!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ach heart within these prison walls that tests his wondrous skill</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>U</b>nites to sing his praises and bless his generous will.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>B</b>y kindly words he cheers the soul of those whom dread disease</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>nvelops in her mystic folds and gives each patient ease.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>aught caring for their praise or blame, he steers his course aright,</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>P</b>roving duty, well performed, is matchless in its might.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>nd, tho' but a youth in years, his well instructed mind</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>eveals all pathologic truth and practice well combined.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>K</b>indly may the fates decree that he may rise to fame,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ver free, as he is now, from error and from shame.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>efuse him naught of happiness and bless his honored name!</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-043.jpg" width="300" height="122" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Lines To My Wife.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p01">Years and years have passed away<br /> +Since last we met, my darling wife;</p> +<p class="p02">Oft have I felt the tooth of pain<br /> +Gnaw at the vitals of my life.</p> + +<p class="p01">The brow thy hand has oft caressed<br /> +With such sweet, hypnotic power,</p> +<p class="p02">The lines of care and grief has traced<br /> +And wrinkled, like a withered flower.</p> + +<p class="p01">The dark brown locks you loved so well,<br /> +Now interspersed with silver thread,</p> +<p class="p02">Shows plainly that the march of time<br /> +Has left its footprints on my head.</p> + +<p class="p01">The deep gray eyes that once could flash<br /> +With passion's fire, or melt in love,</p> +<p class="p02">Have lost the wanted fires of youth,<br /> +Like some poor offcast, limpsy glove.</p> + +<p class="p01">Yet in my breast there beats a heart<br /> +That never will nor can grow old;</p> +<p class="p02">Thy image keeps its pulses warm<br /> +With love that never shall grow cold.</p> + +<p class="p01">Thy grace and beauty won that heart<br /> +Long years ago, when thou wert young:</p> +<p class="p02">Thy gentle, generous, faithful care<br /> +Has bred a love I cannot tongue.</p> + +<p class="p01">Heaven can grant no sweeter bliss,<br /> +To crown the evening of my life,</p> +<p class="p02">Than Iulu's sweet, enraptured kiss,<br /> +When time restores me to my wife.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Out of the Depths.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p03 p1">In a cell of rock and iron,<br /> +Where remorse and shame environ,<br /> +Sat a convict sadly dreaming—<br /> +Dreaming of the days of yore.<br /> +Dreamed he of a land of flowers<br /> +Where, amid Love's smiling bowers,<br /> +He had spent such happy hours,<br /> +To memory ne'er so sweet before.<br /> +And he softly, fondly questioned:</p> +<p class="p22">"Shall I know such bliss once more?"<br /> +Hope made answer, "<i>Yes, once more!</i>"</p> +<p class="p03">In a home which love had founded,<br /> +Now by grief and care surrounded,<br /> +Sat a wife and mother, weeping,</p> +<p class="p22">Weeping for her prisoned swain.</p> +<p class="p03">Wept she o'er fate's mad endeavor,<br /> +That such loving hearts could sever,<br /> +With a blow, that seemed to never<br /> +Lose its agonizing pain;<br /> +And her cry arose to heaven:</p> +<p class="p22">"Father, shall we meet again?"<br /> +Mercy answered, "Once again."</p> +<p class="p03">Ope those doors of latticed iron,<br /> +Lift the clouds that now environ;<br /> +Faithfulness shall be rewarded—</p> +<p class="p22">Love the victory hath won.</p> +<p class="p03">Learn that I, your God, am heeding<br /> +Prayers that rise from hearts now bleeding,<br /> +And my hand is ever leading,</p> +<p class="p22">Tho' the clouds obscure the sun.</p> +<p class="p03">Bows my heart in adoration—</p> +<p class="p22">Shall my lips repeat Amen?<br /> +Hope and faith repeat! "Amen."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-023.jpg" width="300" height="124" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">Ella Ree's Revenge.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="p23">Beside Saluda's silver stream,<br /> +Where flowers nod and poets dream,<br /> +A cabin stood, in days gone by,<br /> +Whose history should never die.</p> + +<p class="p23">Here lived and led a blameless life,<br /> +Brave Hayward and his peerless wife,<br /> +With three sweet pledges of that love,<br /> +Cradled on earth, but born above.</p> + +<p class="p23">Surrounding them, on every hand,<br /> +Was the Red man's native land.<br /> +No paleface, save themselves, ever dared<br /> +To live in wild these Indians shared.</p> + +<p class="p23">Treacherous alike in peace and war,<br /> +The Seminole obeyed no law<br /> +Save one he spake with bated breath:<br /> +"Traitors shall die a coward's death!"</p> + +<p class="p23">The haughty chief who led this tribe,<br /> +Fear could not daunt nor favor bribe;<br /> +And this lone settler, living here,<br /> +Knew white man never dared come near.</p> + +<p class="p23">He Caucanoe's heart had won<br /> +By a kindness nobly done,<br /> +In rescuing from a watery grave<br /> +The favorite child of this fierce brave.</p> + +<p class="p23">A frail canoe—swamped in mid stream:<br /> +A father's cry—a maiden's scream;<br /> +A hunter bearing a maid ashore,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>A volume writ would tell no more.</p> + +<p class="p23">"The land beside this murmuring stream<br /> +Thy future home, brave paleface, deem,<br /> +And on Caucanoe's word depend,<br /> +No Indian dares molest my friend!"</p> + +<p class="p23">"Yours 'twas to save Caucanoe's pride,<br /> +Mine be it to protect your bride;<br /> +If here a future you would seek,<br /> +I listen: Let my brother speak."</p> + +<p class="p23">"Great Chief! your words, so kind and true,<br /> +Fall on my ears like evening dew;<br /> +Ere the buds begin to swell<br /> +Your brother 'mid your tribe shall dwell."</p> + +<p class="p23">So Hayward built, with eager haste,<br /> +As best befits a woman's taste,<br /> +A cabin palace, reared by art,<br /> +Each room as secret as your heart.</p> + +<p class="p23">Here they lived and tilled the ground,<br /> +The happiest pair for miles around;<br /> +The Indians swarmed around their door<br /> +With useful gifts to swell their store.</p> + +<p class="p23">Caucanoe often sought their door<br /> +And played with the children, o'er and o'er.<br /> +He brought them many a curious toy,<br /> +Their happy childhood to employ.</p> + +<p class="p23">The winsome sprite, who sat on his knee,<br /> +Pleased him most of the guileless three;<br /> +Her limped eyes and golden hair<br /> +Caucanoe thought divinely fair.</p> + +<p class="p23">As the happy years flew swiftly by,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>Beneath Caucanoe's watchful eye,<br /> +Paralee grew, with rapid pace,<br /> +Into a maid of faultless grace.</p> + +<p class="p23">Caucanoe loved this lovely child<br /> +With a passion fierce, and deep, and wild,<br /> +Yet hopeless, he feared, that love would be,<br /> +Since naught could bridge the raging sea</p> + +<p class="p23">Of racial and tribal pride,<br /> +That lay between them, deep and wide;<br /> +And well he knew another's soul<br /> +Brooked naught on earth save his control.</p> + +<p class="p23">King Ulca's daughter, the proud Ella Ree,<br /> +Graceful and lithe as a willow tree,<br /> +With eyes and hair like the raven's wing,<br /> +And voice as soft as the babbling spring,</p> + +<p class="p23">Had sought him for her wigwam brave,<br /> +Weeping o'er his late wife's grave;<br /> +And well he knew the tears she shed,<br /> +By tribal law their bodies wed.</p> + +<p class="p23">True love for her he could not feel,<br /> +Yet such a fact dared not reveal;<br /> +His squaw she was alone in name<br /> +And never to his wigwam came.</p> + +<p class="p23">Another love, oh, fateful thought!<br /> +With direful misery doubly fraught,<br /> +Surged and tossed within his soul<br /> +Until it spurned his late control.</p> + +<p class="p23">At last he sought her much loved side<br /> +And begged her to become his bride.<br /> +The maiden heard and laughed outright,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>And thus let loose the fiends of night</p> + +<p class="p23">That of late had lain at rest<br /> +Within Caucanoe's savage breast.<br /> +Now, naught could stay this rising ire<br /> +Save to light the Council Fire.</p> + +<p class="p23">At last among his braves he stood,<br /> +Like some monarch of the wood;<br /> +While burning words flowed from his tongue,<br /> +That showed how deep his heart was wrung.</p> + +<p class="p23">The Council heard and thus decreed:<br /> +"Our land from paleface dogs be freed.<br /> +Tomorrow night the proud paleface<br /> +Shall rue Caucanoe's late disgrace!"</p> + +<p class="p23">"'Tis well," the haughty chief replied;<br /> +"Who scorns to be Caucanoe's bride<br /> +Shall feel a living flame of fire<br /> +Quench the last spark of life's desire!"</p> + +<p class="p23">But, ere the morrow's sun had set,<br /> +Awakening love brought deep regret.<br /> +Love fought the savage till he fell,<br /> +And Pity's tears began to well.</p> + +<p class="p23">He crept the cabin light within,<br /> +And there confessed his double sin.<br /> +"'Tis done," he cried, "you shall not die;<br /> +The boat is ready; up, and fly!</p> + +<p class="p23">"Saluda's stream shall guide you right,<br /> +Caucanoe lays to die tonight!<br /> +Once you are free, I die content.<br /> +Nor deem the blow untimely sent."</p> + +<p class="p23">The boat has left the silent shore,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>And Hayward tugs at the muffled oar;<br /> +The craft sweeps on, like a thing of life,<br /> +Impelled by the prayers of a weeping wife.</p> + +<p class="p23">Caucanoe stood on the bank hard by,<br /> +With heaving breast and tear-dimmed eye,<br /> +That proved a hero's soul could rest<br /> +In the natural dome of a savage breast.</p> + +<p class="p23">The flashing oars in the moonlight pale<br /> +Give forth no sound and leave no trail;<br /> +Naught is heard save the breath<br /> +Of the fleeing ones in their race with death.</p> + +<p class="p23">Hark! What means that frightful yell?<br /> +'Tis a cry of triumph, born of hell;<br /> +Their savage foe, long under way,<br /> +At last have seen their wanted prey.</p> + +<p class="p23">They see the foe and wildly fly<br /> +The flashing oars, till they almost fly;<br /> +"We'll yet be saved," brave Hayward spoke,<br /> +But his oars shivered beneath his stroke.</p> + +<p class="p23">He sprang to his feet, with ashen face,<br /> +And his trusty rifle flew to its place;<br /> +A maddening yell from the savage crew<br /> +Proved the ball to the mark had straightway flew.</p> + +<p class="p23">Six times his trusty rifle spoke;<br /> +Each time an Indian skull it broke.<br /> +His gallant sons stood near their sire<br /> +And reinforced his deadly fire!</p> + +<p class="p23">Their doom was sealed. The savage horde<br /> +Soon reached their bark and sprang aboard;<br /> +Yet scorned they even then to yield,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>While strength was left a knife to wield.</p> + +<p class="p23">Each one dared a hero's part;<br /> +Each knife it sought a savage heart,<br /> +Nor did they cease to bathe in gore<br /> +Till they sank beneath to rise no more.</p> + +<p class="p23">Paralee and her mother lay<br /> +To savage hands an early prey;<br /> +For neither knew, nor felt they ought,<br /> +Of what they did or what they sought,</p> + +<p class="p23">Since terror and alarm, too deep,<br /> +Had locked their senses all in sleep.<br /> +Alas! that they should ever wake:<br /> +Returning senses meant the stake.</p> + +<p class="p23">Soon homeward with the living dead<br /> +The savage horde in triumph sped;<br /> +And bore to haunts of Ella Ree<br /> +The paleface foe she longed to see.</p> + +<p class="p23">Better for Paralee had she died<br /> +Amid the battle's raging tide.<br /> +"Not wounded tigress in her lair<br /> +More dangerous than a jealous fair!"</p> + +<p class="p23">Assembled around the Council Fire,<br /> +With haughty mien and rising ire,<br /> +Each chief was ready to relate<br /> +His own exploit or vent his hate.</p> + +<p class="p23">Safely bound by cruel thong,<br /> +In the center of the throng,<br /> +The captives sat in silent dread,<br /> +Envying none except the dead.</p> + +<p class="p23">"Brothers! the paleface Ella Ree,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>Whose words from guile are always free,<br /> +Will tell you all you need to know.<br /> +Who scorns <i>her</i> words must brave my blow!"</p> + +<p class="p23">Thus Ulca spake, then glared around<br /> +With a mighty monarch's haughty frown,<br /> +"That held his hearers more in awe<br /> +Of his dread prowess than his law."</p> + +<p class="p23">"Chief! Warriors! Braves in battle tried,<br /> +Your blood Saluda's stream has dyed;<br /> +Your brothers sleep no more to wake!<br /> +Will <i>you</i> sit by nor vengeance take?"</p> + +<p class="p23">"A traitor warned the doomed paleface;<br /> +Shall <i>he</i> yet live to brave our race?<br /> +How the white lily wrought the spell,<br /> +Caucanoe, and not I, must tell!"</p> + +<p class="p23">"Caucanoe does not fear to die!<br /> +'Twas he that bade the paleface fly;<br /> +Let these women now be set free;<br /> +Vent your hate alone on me."</p> + +<p class="p23">"Paralee I loved, and her alone;<br /> +Mine was the fault—let me atone.<br /> +Ella Ree, herself, shall light the fire<br /> +And chant around my funeral pyre."</p> + +<p class="p23">"Loose the captive! Raise the stake!<br /> +It shall be thus," brave Ulca spake.<br /> +"If love shall brave the cruel flame,<br /> +Yon captives go from whence they came."</p> + +<p class="p23">In haste they reared the ready stake,<br /> +And bade the Chief his place to take.<br /> +He lightly stepped in proper place,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>A conquering smile upon his face.</p> + +<p class="p23">The signal given—a lighted brand—<br /> +Ella Ree raised with trembling hand,<br /> +Yet begged Caucanoe not to die,<br /> +But to her willing arms to fly.</p> + +<p class="p23">Pardon was his, both full and free,<br /> +As the proud brave of Ella Ree;<br /> +The hated captives should atone<br /> +For all blood spilt, and they alone!</p> + +<p class="p23">Caucanoe frowned and thus replied:<br /> +"If Ella Ree would be my bride,<br /> +Let her light the fire and stand<br /> +Here beside me, hand in hand."</p> + +<p class="p23">Forward she sprang—the torch applied,<br /> +Even in death a happy bride!<br /> +Saluda's stream is never free<br /> +From the dying chant of Ella Ree!</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-026.jpg" width="300" height="184" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">The Murderer's Dream.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1">Ye glittering stars! how fair ye shine tonight.</p> +<p class="pl0">And, oh, thou modest moon! thy silvery light</p> +<p class="pl0">Comes streaming through these iron bars before me.</p> +<p class="pl0">How clear and silent is this lovely night!</p> +<p class="pl0">How quiet and how bright!</p> +<p class="pl0">I nothing hear, nor aught can hear</p> +<p class="pl0">Me when I speak, but stone and iron that I fear;</p> +<p class="pl0">I, shunned by all, as if alone I'd go to Hell;</p> +<p class="pl0">I, alone in chains! Ah, me, the cruel spell</p> +<p class="pl0">That brought me here. Heaven could not cheer me</p> +<p class="pl0">Within these cursed walls—within this dark and dreary cell,</p> +<p class="pl0">This gloomy, cold, and solitary Hell.</p> + +<p class="pl1">And thou, O Time! the only thing that's not my foe—</p> +<p class="pl0">O Time! O Time! thou passeth on so slow,</p> +<p class="pl0">Keeping my soul in terror, in bondage, and in woe;</p> +<p class="pl0">Was I to blame? I was, they say; they say 'tis so.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, God! will this deep crimson, aye, black stain</p> +<p class="pl0">My nervous system always strain!</p> +<p class="pl0">Will my foul crime forever haunt my brain?</p> +<p class="pl0">Must I live here in earthly fear, and never, never hear</p> +<p class="pl0">The sweetest voice to me of all, I've heard not for a year?</p> +<p class="pl0">Must I this torture feel, year after year?</p> +<p class="pl0">Live, die in Hell, and yet a Paradise so near?</p> +<p class="pl0">Wilt Thou, Oh, God! wilt Thou not hear? 'Tis I, 'tis I they all do fear.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Am I to Thee, O Christ, as dead? Thou who sought</p> +<p class="pl0">The lonely prisoner in his dismal cell, and to him taught</p> +<p class="pl0">The true and only law to govern man—Thy love,</p> +<p class="pl0">Which can be only reached by prayer to Thee above?</p> +<p class="pl0">In this cold and darkened cell, dost Thou reprove</p> +<p class="pl0">My soul? Dost Thou doom it to endless misery?</p> +<p class="pl0">Am I so wicked, sinful, that I cannot move</p> +<p class="pl0">Thy loving kindness, to a slight reprove?</p> +<p class="pl0">Ah, me, ah, me, 'tis love Thou sayest—love.</p> +<p class="pl0">Canst I at this late day by full repentance see</p> +<p class="pl0">The divine, the holy, ever cleansing love In Thee? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>Canst Thou be Christ and have no love for me?</p> + +<p class="pl1">What, can it be that I am lost and'll never know thy bliss?</p> +<p class="pl0">And for my cruel, wicked crime no joy above all this?</p> +<p class="pl0">What, world of sin! What, never? Is my destiny Hell?</p> +<p class="pl0">Is that my cruel sentence because in sin I fell?</p> +<p class="pl0">Aye, I did fall! Into that dark and fathomless pit,</p> +<p class="pl0">And now in Hell my soul has fell, and for Hell it is not fit:</p> +<p class="pl0">Into that misery eternal, where nothing lives but all's infernal—</p> +<p class="pl0">Is there my future—is it there?</p> +<p class="pl0">My thoughts they burn my head, my heart 'twas, ah, 'twas dead—</p> +<p class="pl0">But now it lives, and in my breast does burn:</p> +<p class="pl0">Those pains, and, severe as they were, they flew, yes, flew away,</p> +<p class="pl0">And being absent for awhile, remorse came in by day.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Oh, God, Oh, God, I am not fit for this infernal Hell!</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, mercy, mercy! my destiny, 'tis here that I must dwell.</p> +<p class="pl0">Away! away! ye fiery fiends, I am among you now,</p> +<p class="pl0">O Christ, O Savior of the sinner! To Satan must I bow?</p> +<p class="pl0">Pray, take me back to earth again, and test me one and all,</p> +<p class="pl0">And let me live anew my life and see if I will fall.</p> +<p class="pl0">Test me, test me once again, let me hear the old church bell,</p> +<p class="pl0">'Cause now I'm so much steeped in sin that I'm not fit for Hell.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, horrors! horrors! hear the groans of tortured victims there,</p> +<p class="pl0">Some young, and many are quite old, I know it by their hair!</p> +<p class="pl0">Poor, poor, poor wretches, see them there, all bleeding and in chains;</p> +<p class="pl0">I know they realize their fate, because they all have brains.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Is this the horrid, horrid place my mother taught was Hell?</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, see those brutal fiery fiends, they call them "Imps" you know,</p> +<p class="pl0">And many an one has feared them here, because of sin he'd sown.</p> +<p class="pl0">Just see the demons of the deep! Just hear their hellish tones!</p> +<p class="pl0">Then floating back on brimstone air comes mocking, mocking groans.</p> +<p class="pl0">See, see the devils how they dance, with brimstone torches how they prance;</p> +<p class="pl0">What! can it be they look like men and 'stead of hearts they have but sin</p> +<p class="pl0">And grinning hang around me? Oh, fearful, fearful fire of hell, what can it be within?</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>They sneer and stare at me! Go 'way, ye devils cooked in sin and crime!</p> +<p class="pl0">I'm now in Purgatory waiting for the time</p> +<p class="pl0">When by the law of a just God I'll be removed from here,</p> +<p class="pl0">And by the law of Christ divine, of thee I'll have no fear.</p> + +<p class="pl1">Hark! List! From yonder corner comes loud cries,</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, let me hold my aching, bursting head!</p> +<p class="pl0">They come from some poor wretch that dies,</p> +<p class="pl0">And many an one may mourn him now as dead.</p> +<p class="pl0">I see him! I see him! There he is! My murdered victim now</p> +<p class="pl0">Appears before me. That is him! and to him I must bow.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, his cries, his groans, they haunt me</p> +<p class="pl0">To the bottom of my wicked heart. Can it be</p> +<p class="pl0">That I must dwell forever in this wretched misery?</p> +<p class="pl0">Horrors! See him now reach out his bony hand</p> +<p class="pl0">To grasp me firmly by the throat and hold me like a band.</p> +<p class="pl0">Take me, demons, if you please, take me into Hell!</p> +<p class="pl0">Anything you choose may do—remove me from this cell!</p> + +<p class="pl1">My soul, my soul, awake! awake! They come! they come!</p> +<p class="pl0">The devil's come to take—Old Satan, I am thine!</p> +<p class="pl0">Away my soul will ever roll through torturing, scorching Hell,</p> +<p class="pl0">And down into the blackest depths my soul is cast pell-mell.</p> +<p class="pl0">Oh, what a fate for man to meet—speak, Satan! speak, I say!</p> +<p class="pl0">And with your torturing, devilish deeds—my ruin! no delay!</p> +<p class="pl0">What dumb! Old Satan, canst thou speak? Look here</p> +<p class="pl0">And speak thy want! I'm now right crisp and hard in sin and haven't any fear.</p> +<p class="pl0">Take me, demons! Take me, quick! I hear the awful knell</p> +<p class="pl0">Of the roaring, moaning billows, and the bitterness of Hell.</p> +<p class="pl0">Take me, Satan, take me! as my fate is firmly sealed,</p> +<p class="pl0">While ye in Hades do wake me, and o'er me the batoon wield.</p> + +<p class="pl1">What! What! Am I mistaken? Was it only but a dream?</p> +<p class="pl0">I, still living here on earth—oh, how real it all did seem.</p> +<p class="pl0">Could I now just one chance have and in mercy be forgiven,</p> +<p class="pl0">I would have respect for all and send prayers right up to heaven.</p> +<p class="pl0">When on earth Christ did come to save sinners from their fate,</p> +<p class="pl0">Any time they'd turn to Him they'd find 'twas not too late.</p> +<p class="pl0">Holy Savior, heavenly dove, Thou who reigns supreme above!</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>Though in sin I have been dead, I am saved just by Thy love.</p> +<p class="pl0">Could I only have good sight, that I could see my sad plight,</p> +<p class="pl0">I would always to Thee cling, and to Thee cling with my might.</p> +<p class="pl0">Now, to Thee let me give thanks, 'cause 'twas only a bad dream.</p> +<p class="pl0">But its horrors to me cling, 'cause so real it all did seem.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/ill-040.jpg" width="300" height="181" + alt="" + title="" /> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>ACROSTIC TRIBUTE TO<br /> +<span class="small">GOD'S MESSENGERS,</span><br /> +<span class="reduct">CHAPLAIN AND MRS. C. L. WINGET.</span></i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1"><b>C</b>yprian, the father of the orators' plan, a preacher, a priest and godly man;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>ou have been, by the good Lord sent, on the mission your heart is ever bent.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>P</b>assed through trials of life severe, God was good when He sent you here,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>ight in the midst of a sweltering gang of sinners, corrupt on every hand.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>, for one, have watched you keen, and from you haven't an evil deed seen;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>ll has been so easy to see that your whole soul's bent on setting us free—</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ot from earthly, bodily pains, but from our evil, and sin, and shame!</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>L</b>ee was the second choice of name, she christened her son for Heavenly fame.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ach and every day she taught him ever sin to brave, till dear mother she went down into an early grave.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>very day and every hour he tries to keep that august dower, and meet her where there's endless time, in Heaven's pure and holy clime.</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>W</b>inget came unto this place to save poor sinners by God's own grace;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n eloquence and heartfelt plea he's prayed for us on bended knee;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>or has his pleading been in vain, because from us he's driven pain.</p> +<p class="pl0">"<b>G</b>od help the prisoner!" is his prayer, while lingering in this prison lair;</p> +<p class="pl0">"<b>E</b>ternal justice may they have while life's hard struggle they do brave!"</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>"<b>T</b>o God be praise! we see His face. God save the prisoner by Thy grace!"</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>S</b>usan, his wife and better half, and one of God's own kind,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>U</b>pon each bright and sabbath morn she helps the text to find.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>S</b>he's ever there, in the arm chair, through service and through song,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b>nd with kindly smile she does beguile the prisoners from all wrong.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ay—let us bow unto you now, thou noble, holy one, and may God speed for all your need for the good that you have done.</p> + +<p class="pl1"><b>G</b>regory is an ancient name, to you it has been given:</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>ight down deep in your friendly heart is found the truth of Heaven</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ach of us prisoners here confined for truth will e'er contend;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>G</b>o, search each heart! and then report if truth we'll not defend.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>O</b>nward, onward, upward, upward may your labors ever roll;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>each out for poor fallen sinner, and your work we'll all extol:</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>Y</b>et 'tis not too late to labor—God will answer, "Aye, extol!"</p> + +<p class="pl1">"<b>F</b>air-child" of Heaven's august plan, how comest thou to wed yourself to Man?</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>A</b> name is nothing but to designate, but, Oh—how often it does consecrate</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n language pure and clear as diamond scale, while thou, Fair-child, we, every one, do hail!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>R</b>eal sympathy is not so strong a band as binds fair woman unto haughty man!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>C</b>ome, hasten! now thy work be done, 'cause life's short race is almost run!</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>H</b>e whom thou wed so many years ago has been God's servant faithfully to do</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n words so full of just and holy writ, that in our chapel we do love to sit.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>L</b>ove for your duty, kind to all you meet, faithful to your Master's cause and a smile for all you greet.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>D</b>o by us as you have done and never do complain, because the work that you have done has not been done in vain!</p> + +<p class="pl1"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>"<b>W</b>inget" is the name you chose to support the once Fair-child.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>I</b>n Christian mission go forth God's castles for to build;</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>N</b>ever forget the prisoner close locked in dungeon cell,</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>G</b>o forth and teach to him The Life of the soul you love so well.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>E</b>ach hour you spend in Christian work is never thrown away.</p> +<p class="pl0"><b>T</b>he Truth is known! you'll harvests reap in Heaven's golden day!</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i><span class="smcap">The Mind is the Standard of the Man.</span></i></h2> + +<p class="p01 p1">In chains and shackles closely bound;<br /> +They say I am a prisoner;</p> +<p class="p01">Although in this small cell I'm found,<br /> +A prisoner I am not.</p> +<p class="p01">The door is made of iron bars,<br /> +The lock is large and strong,</p> +<p class="p01">But my mind soars free, up to the stars,<br /> +As if I'd done no wrong.</p> +<p class="p01">The mind of man is ever free,<br /> +By nature's law itself,</p> +<p class="p01">While this wicked, wretched corpus<br /> +May be laid upon the shelf.</p> +<p class="p01">What of this wretched body?<br /> +What care we for this hand?</p> +<p class="p01">But there's one thing safe to wager on,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">They may chain me fast unto the rock,<br /> +And bind both hands and feet;</p> +<p class="p01">They may keep me far off in the dark,<br /> +Where friends I cannot meet;</p> +<p class="p01">They may call me vile and wicked wretch,<br /> +And murderer and thief;</p> +<p class="p01">They may say I am an infidel<br /> +And steeped in unbelief;</p> +<p class="p01">They may say I'm false and awful bad,<br /> +And lend not a helping hand;</p> +<p class="p01">They may sow the seed North, East, South, West,<br /> +Far, far throughout the land;</p> +<p class="p01"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>They may go right on with falsity<br /> +And it publish like a ban,</p> +<p class="p01">But there's one thing safe to wager on,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">If the mind was easy to be read,<br /> +And another for to see,</p> +<p class="p01">There would prisoner after prisoner<br /> +Immediately be set free.</p> +<p class="p01">If conscience was as easy known<br /> +As another's words to hear,</p> +<p class="p01">There would not be half so many men<br /> +That society would fear.</p> +<p class="p01">But what do people think or care<br /> +What's in another's brain,</p> +<p class="p01">So long as <i>they</i> can all conceal<br /> +The evil in <i>their</i> frame.</p> +<p class="p01">There are a few who secretly<br /> +Do not conceal their sham,</p> +<p class="p01">But there's one thing safe to wager on,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">If every one was now compelled<br /> +To show life in <i>true</i> attire,</p> +<p class="p01">They'd cause the picture to be marred<br /> +And cast into the fire.</p> +<p class="p01">They'd blush with shame to bring to light<br /> +Black spots upon their life;</p> +<p class="p01">They kick, and squirm, and twist about,<br /> +And fight it with a strife.</p> +<p class="p01">Where is the man on this vile earth<br /> +But what has done some wrong,</p> +<p class="p01">And in his mind's concealed it,<br /> +Tho' it stings him like a thong?</p> +<p class="p01">There ne'er was one except the Christ<br /> +Who'd be perfect in the land!</p> +<p class="p01">But there's one thing safe to wager on,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">What if all conscience could be searched<br /> +Clear through with cathode rays,</p> +<p class="p01"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>How many would cheerfully submit,<br /> +Who'd reached their manhood days?</p> +<p class="p01">It might not be the blackest crime<br /> +Known to the criminal code,</p> +<p class="p01">But can it be sufficiently white<br /> +To call it very good?</p> +<p class="p01">It may not be so good nor bad,<br /> +Nor bad nor good indeed,</p> +<p class="p01">But is it plenty good enough<br /> +As a standard for a creed?</p> +<p class="p01">You may keep it hid in an air-tight box.<br /> +With psychological band,</p> +<p class="p01">Then, you see, 'tis safe to wager</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">So long as minds cannot be seen<br /> +And pictured to the folk,</p> +<p class="p01">So long there'll be deceitfulness<br /> +Played by the earthly crook.</p> +<p class="p01">The modern shylock now, who craves<br /> +The sentence of the court,</p> +<p class="p01">Is just the man who, many times,<br /> +Society he has hurt.</p> +<p class="p01">He stands aloof from other folk,<br /> +And cries with a loud voice:</p> +<p class="p01">"Down, down, with evil and all crime!<br /> +Arise, my friends, rejoice!"</p> +<p class="p01">But turn on him the cathode rays<br /> +And search him, if you can,</p> +<p class="p01">You'll be convinced, beyond a doubt,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">There's many a man who's been misjudged.<br /> +And met his doom and fate;</p> +<p class="p01">And the truth thereof could ne'er be learned<br /> +Until it was too late.</p> +<p class="p01">If cathode rays could have been used,<br /> +And falsehood put to flight,</p> +<p class="p01">There's many a false and trumped up charge<br /> +Would be knocked clear out of sight.</p> +<p class="p01">If the mind of man could only be,<br /> +With this mysterious light,</p> +<p class="p01"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>Just brought out plain on canvas,<br /> +In colors clear and bright,</p> +<p class="p01">It would spread the truth both far and near,<br /> +Just like a marriage ban,</p> +<p class="p01">That the rule ordained by nature is</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">Now, when with cathode rays supplied,<br /> +You start out for a search,</p> +<p class="p01">Just drop around some Sabbath morn<br /> +And peep into a church.</p> +<p class="p01">If one bald deacon, on his breast,<br /> +Wears a diamond bright and clear,</p> +<p class="p01">Just shoot cathode across his pate<br /> +And see what's buried there.</p> +<p class="p01">Then up into the pulpit,<br /> +Where the priest all devils dare,</p> +<p class="p01">And dart the rays around, about,<br /> +And see what's buried there.</p> +<p class="p01">Then to the courtroom wend your way,<br /> +To where the judges ran,</p> +<p class="p01">Then bet your bottom dollar</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then down into our Congress halls<br /> +Make a dash both bold and free,</p> +<p class="p01">And shoot cathode right through them all<br /> +And see what you can see.</p> +<p class="p01">Then back into the halls of State,<br /> +And catch them, one and all,</p> +<p class="p01">And learn yourself, beyond a doubt,<br /> +How many are there to fall.</p> +<p class="p01">Don't be surprised if now you find<br /> +Most foul and blackened crimes,</p> +<p class="p01">Because they're plotting for the gold,<br /> +No matter what the times.</p> +<p class="p01">Try and discover, then and there,<br /> +The gold bonds, if you can,</p> +<p class="p01">And remember, what is true as truth,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">Then, when you're done with the outside world,<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>And all of Congress halls,</p> +<p class="p01">Return to me and take a walk<br /> +Within these dismal walls.</p> +<p class="p01">I'll show you men who represent<br /> +Each county in this State;</p> +<p class="p01">They're all accused of crime, you know,<br /> +And sentenced to their fate.</p> +<p class="p01">But don't be hasty now to judge<br /> +These men you see about;</p> +<p class="p01">Fire cathode rays right through their skulls<br /> +And you may find a doubt.</p> +<p class="p01">Courts, lawyers and prejudiced jurors<br /> +Will convict if they can,</p> +<p class="p01">But there's one thing safe to wager on,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">In here you'll find there's many a mind<br /> +As free from sin and crime</p> +<p class="p01">As congressmen and senators<br /> +Who've been there a long time.</p> +<p class="p01">Some of these men in here, you see,<br /> +They got a little tight,</p> +<p class="p01">And broke into a chicken coop,<br /> +Because 'twas in the night.</p> +<p class="p01">Some men you see as you walk with me<br /> +Down through these halls so dreary,</p> +<p class="p01">Have, on bended knee, prayed to be free<br /> +Until life's become weary.</p> +<p class="p01">They have no money, neither friends,<br /> +Because they're far behind the van,</p> +<p class="p01">But still 'tis safe to wager</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">And now because my enemies<br /> +Have chained me tight and fast,</p> +<p class="p01">And cruel, heartless, brutal curs<br /> +Would hold me to the last—</p> +<p class="p01">Look here! I'll freely now submit,<br /> +Turn on your cathode rays</p> +<p class="p01">And learn, if now 'tis not too late,<br /> +The evil of my ways.</p> +<p class="p01"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>Then go up to that old bribed judge,<br /> +And prosecutor, too,</p> +<p class="p01">And bring their conscience here by mine<br /> +And search all through and through.</p> +<p class="p01">Look sharp! And now compare their minds<br /> +With this one, if you can,</p> +<p class="p01">And then apply the golden rule,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">Oh, men of science! if you can<br /> +Employ the cathode rays</p> +<p class="p01">To take the place of jurymen<br /> +In those our latter days;</p> +<p class="p01">Let not a man upon the bench<br /> +To judge another's fate,</p> +<p class="p01">Until to cathode he's been sent<br /> +To search beneath his pate!</p> +<p class="p01">If then you see his mind is free<br /> +From prejudice and crime,</p> +<p class="p01">And he'll give us all fair justice,<br /> +Let him sit there all the time!</p> +<p class="p01">But if, upon the other hand,<br /> +He won't, although he can,</p> +<p class="p01">Then cut him out with the golden rule:</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<p class="p01">How can you, then, a prisoner make,<br /> +When his Mind's as free as space?</p> +<p class="p01">You may chain his feet, and hands, and neck,<br /> +And tightly bind his face,</p> +<p class="p01">Do what you please, and as you please,<br /> +You cannot help but see—</p> +<p class="p01">That man is man, where e'er he be,<br /> +Because his mind is free!</p> +<p class="p01">His mind may roam back to his home,<br /> +You cannot tie it down,</p> +<p class="p01">And folk may look, and scoff, and scowl,<br /> +And always wear a frown.</p> +<p class="p01">But when of him they a prisoner make,<br /> +The mind they never can,</p> +<p class="p01">'Cause God ordained the Golden Rule,</p> +<p class="p02">"<span class="smcap">That mind's the standard of the Man</span>."</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><span class="smcap"><i>Cell Thoughts.</i></span></h2> + +<hr class="dec2" /> + +<p class="pn center">BY GEO. W. H. HARRISON.</p> + +<hr class="dec3" /> + +<p class="p23 p1">In the headlong rush for the Land of Fame<br /> +How many are wrecked on the Isle of Shame.<br /> +How few heads wear a glittering crown<br /> +In the far-away realm of great renown.<br /> +'Mid the crowded ranks of the legion of greed<br /> +How many are crushed 'neath the wheels of need!</p> + +<p class="p23">How few ever feel the dainty caress<br /> +Of the lingering hand of great success!<br /> +In the mad pursuit of the god of gold<br /> +What brains are wrecked, what hearts grow cold!<br /> +How many will spend their latest day<br /> +'Mid the hurtling waters of Poverty Bay!</p> + +<p class="p23">How many are lured by a siren chime<br /> +To a double death in the land of Crime!<br /> +How few escape, unscarred, within<br /> +The winding walks of the maze of sin!<br /> +How many that towered above the stars<br /> +Now pine and languish behind the bars!</p> + +<p class="p23">What a trail of woe a single mistake<br /> +Across the page of a life can make!<br /> +O, shipwrecked sailor, fix your eye<br /> +On the Star of Hope in yonder sky;<br /> +Mercy's hand will bring release<br /> +And safely lead to the Land of Peace.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>THE AUTHOR'S FAREWELL.</i></h2> + +<hr class="dec1" /> + +<p class="pl1">Gentle reader, this small volume clearly proves that modern man</p> +<p class="pl0">Can control his erring brothers with a clear enlightened plan.</p> +<p class="pl0">Ne'er till now have prison printers voiced, unchanged, a convict's tho't!</p> +<p class="pl0">Is the change with retrogression or with onward progress fraught?</p> +<p class="pl0">Will this volume change your custom or relieve our horrid pain?</p> +<p class="pl0">Or shall truth be crushed and bleeding, ever bound in prison chain?</p> +<p class="pl0">Will you cast your glances backward, gathering age along by age,</p> +<p class="pl0">Proof that man is wholly brutal when controlled by maddening rage?</p> +<p class="pl0">View the pen of downy feathers, where men choked and choked to death,</p> +<p class="pl0">Without power to ask for pardon with their last expiring breath!</p> +<p class="pl0">See your brother in that river, safely chained to yonder rock,</p> +<p class="pl0">While his thirst is wildly raging and the waves his tortures mock!</p> +<p class="pl0">See yon dungeon, dark and dreary, built by human art and skill,</p> +<p class="pl0">Whose dread mission is to madden any one the <i>law</i> says kill!</p> +<p class="pl0">Visit to the hapless culprit, as in Pagan jail he lies;</p> +<p class="pl0">See the jailer pass the hemlock, which he quaffs, and then he dies!</p> +<p class="pl0">Think of club, of sword and pistol, of the bloody guillotine;</p> +<p class="pl0">Of the whipcord, knout and gallows of the noted Wolverine;</p> +<p class="pl0">Of starvation, rack and torture, of the lash and fiery stake,</p> +<p class="pl0">And then tell me frankly, reader, did these wrongs one virtue wake?</p> + +<p class="pl1">Tell me frankly, honest reader, can two wrongs create a right?</p> +<p class="pl0">And is man's inhuman conduct pleasing in Jehovah's sight?</p> +<p class="pl0">Or do pitying angels shudder, as the cruel lash you ply,</p> +<p class="pl0">Wondering man can be so brutal and the laws of God defy?</p> +<p class="pl0">Does not conscience loudly thunder: "Sin is but the fruit of hate,</p> +<p class="pl0">And who stones a helpless brother most deserves that victim's fate?</p> +<p class="pl0">Can abuse and brutal treatment purge the sinner of his guilt?</p> +<p class="pl0">If so, <i>come</i>, within my bosom sheath your dagger to the hilt!</p> +<p class="pl0">Strike, till every erring mortal at your hands has met his fate,</p> +<p class="pl0"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>Then sit down and calmly ponder on your awful lonely state!</p> +<p class="pl0"><i>You</i>, perhaps, have been quite <i>faultless</i>; <i>you</i>, perhaps, no <i>wrong</i> have done,</p> +<p class="pl0">If 'tis <i>true</i>, my peerless brother, <i>you're alone beneath the sun</i>"!</p> + +<p class="pl1">Do but think! we once were spotless as the babe on mother's knee!</p> +<p class="pl0">Trace the causes of our downfall with a mind from malice free.</p> +<p class="pl0">See, on every licensed corner, fiends incarnate hourly sell</p> +<p class="pl0">Fiery waters of <i>damnation</i>, that create <i>a living hell!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">Women, once as pure as angels, leading heartless lives of shame;</p> +<p class="pl0">For the trumpery of fashion dealing off both home and name!</p> +<p class="pl0">Hear men laud the wealthy scoundrel and attempt to clear his ways,</p> +<p class="pl0">While the poor and honest toiler <i>none</i> with pride or pleasure pays!</p> +<p class="pl0">See Religion don the garments of all worldly pride and lust,</p> +<p class="pl0">While the Savior's honest followers are but trampled in the dust!</p> +<p class="pl0">See the press, with startling headlines, every vice and sin portray</p> +<p class="pl0">That can sink your moral standard or lead innocence astray!</p> +<p class="pl0">View the legions of temptation strewn along the path of youth,</p> +<p class="pl0">See how few do practice virtue, and how few <i>adore</i> the truth!</p> +<p class="pl0">There! the cause of crime is patent, and our downfall you behold,</p> +<p class="pl0">To condemn it in a sentence: "<i>It was women, wine and gold!</i>"</p> + +<p class="pl1">If you read this book with caution, you have read <i>between the lines</i>,</p> +<p class="pl0">Learning much the careless reader and the critic ne'er divines!</p> +<p class="pl0">You have seen the author's purpose was to tell the simple truth,</p> +<p class="pl0">As a tribute to the prisoner and a warning to our youth.</p> +<p class="pl0">You have seen mistakes and errors that less haste would quickly mend,</p> +<p class="pl0">Yet, with all its imperfections, it may prove a useful friend.</p> +<p class="pl0">And in future I may publish one with less of hasty thought</p> +<p class="pl0">That may be—God knows the future—with undying issues fraught.</p> +<p class="pl0">All tried means have proved abortive yet, my friend, there is a plan</p> +<p class="pl0">That <i>will</i> lift each erring brother <i>to the standard of a man!</i></p> +<p class="pl0">If I can but live to publish what I <i>know</i> and long to tell,</p> +<p class="pl0">You <i>will</i> read it and believe it; so, dear reader, <i>fare-thee-well!</i></p> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<div class="break"> + +<h2 class="p4"><i>CONCLUSION.</i></h2> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p class="p03"> +Go, little book, thy destined course pursue!<br /> +Collect memorials of the just and true;<br /> +And beg of every one who comes thou near<br /> +Some token of their friendship and good cheer.<br /> +And if by chance some true friends thou should find,<br /> +Attach them to thee with both soul and mind;<br /> +And if they prove good, faithful friends and true,<br /> +To them thou sticketh, as if they loved you—</p> +<p class="pf2">Adieu! Adieu!</p> + +</div> + +<div class="sum"> + +<div class="transnote p4"> + +<p class="pn center mid"> TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</p> + +<p class="pt p1">—Fixed plain print and interpunctuation errors.</p> + +<p class="pt">—Cover image produced by transcriber and placed in public domain.</p> + +</div></div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45674 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/45674-h/images/cover.jpg b/45674-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..292594b --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-001a.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-001a.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..df41683 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-001a.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-001b.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-001b.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f6d2c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-001b.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-003.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dae30cd --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-003.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-014.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-014.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c6f9bf --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-014.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-021.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-021.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..31a6b3d --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-021.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-023.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-023.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bab1127 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-023.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-026.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-026.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cc46b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-026.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-027.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-027.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..511e4da --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-027.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-028.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-028.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b815297 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-028.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-040.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-040.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d850e32 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-040.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-043.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-043.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c5f132 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-043.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-044.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-044.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e0e6ff --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-044.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-055.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-055.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdf6766 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-055.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-057.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-057.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaadf29 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-057.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-068.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-068.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b49fdf --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-068.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-084.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-084.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f22906e --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-084.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-116.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-116.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bde408e --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-116.jpg diff --git a/45674-h/images/ill-171.jpg b/45674-h/images/ill-171.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b27e3e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/45674-h/images/ill-171.jpg |
