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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #63980 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63980)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of 1970: A Vision of the Coming Age, by John
-Collins
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: 1970: A Vision of the Coming Age
-
-Author: John Collins
-
-Release Date: December 07, 2020 [EBook #63980]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
- produced from images generously made available by The Internet
- Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1970: A VISION OF THE COMING
-AGE ***
-
-
-
-
- 1970.
-
- A VISION
-
- OF
-
- THE COMING AGE.
-
-
- BY
-
- _JOHN COLLINS_.
-
-
- BURLINGTON, N. J.
-
- 1870.
-
-
-
-
- 1970
-
-
- I was musing alone one hot afternoon,
- In the shade of a vine on a bright day in June;
- Not a sound in the air but the hum of the bees,
- Nor a zephyr to sway the tops of the trees;
- The cricket seemed tired of the shrill noise he made,
- The butterfly folded his wings in the shade,
- The flowers, so fragrant when day had begun,
- No longer breathed perfume before the fierce sun:
- O’er nature a dull sleepy silence had grown,
- And even the clouds seemed moveless as stone.
- Reclined in a chair, with my face towards the sky,
- The tall posts of the telegraph thought-road near by,
- I fancied I heard every word sent along,
- The short business message--the tale of some wrong,
- An accident, _not_ on the Jersey railway,
- The prices of stocks--events of the day,
- The lover’s popped question, brief, pithy and sweet,
- The assent of his charmer, his wishes to meet,
- A summons to haste to the bed of a friend,
- Whose life’s flickering taper drew near to its end,
- An invite to a wedding, a lecture or ball,
- A county convention--a lyceum hall;
- Like leaves by the wild winter wind swept along,
- They came and they passed in a vast countless throng,
- And I watched and I listened with eager desire
- To find out what passed through the quick thrilling wire.
- The date I was sure of--again and again.
- It was “nineteen hundred and threescore and ten.”
- Came the first to a merchant of rank in Japan,
- Saying “Forward those teas as soon as you can.”
- In two minutes returned, “I will do as you say,
- But send me the Bibles you promised to-day.”
- “Buy for me,” said a lady in Boston, in haste,
- To a dear Cuban friend, “(I trust to your taste);
- A barrel of oranges, fresh from the tree,
- A dozen pine-apples, the fairest you see,
- Two bunches of large, ripe bananas--a cask
- Of the best of preserves--’tis all that I ask,
- And a few limes or lemons--smooth, juicy and bright,
- In time to prepare for my party to-night.”
- In half an hour came, propelled through the air,
- The fruits and the sweets packed with exquisite care,
- And the fair one, delighted, sent word to each friend
- Far or near, a long sociable evening to spend.
- Methought that they came by balloon or by rail,
- By the pneumatic tube, by steam or by sail,
- At the rate of a thousand of miles in a day,
- To the hub of New England hurrying away.
- The next bit of news my very soul stirred,
- ’Twas the greatest explosion that ever was heard:
- An engine blew up, attached to a train
- Of a hundred full cars on the Omaha plain--
- To atoms it flew, but no one was hurt,
- Only some of the passengers covered with dirt.
- The fireman was found half a mile from the spot,
- Safely lodged in a village whose name I’ve forgot,
- While the engineer’s body was plunged in the sand
- Hid entirely from sight save a part of one hand.
- Both were struck with amaze at the quick change of base,
- But the sole damage done, was a scratch on each face.
- The reason was clear--their lives were insured
- And their limbs and their senses forever secured
- By a policy made with the greatest reliance
- In the “Fearless Assurance and Perpetual Defiance.”
- The next sound arresting my listening ear,
- Was so soft and so musical, gentle and clear,
- I knew it was sent by a company famed,
- (The Harmonic Acoustic Tube Union, named,)
- To a dozen performers, each one at his home,
- In London, Pekin, Paris, Athens and Rome,
- To give in New York, at mass concerts free,
- Oratorios by telegraph under the sea.
- Then was heard such a hum from the mingled replies,
- I could hear nothing more, but, trusting my eyes,
- Looked around as I strolled along each crowded street,
- Some items to learn or acquaintance to meet.
- The houses looked strange as if turned all to stone,
- With huge gaudy creepers and ivy o’ergrown.
- Whether brick, wood or plaster, no signs of decay
- Could be seen, though an age had no doubt rolled away
- Since each corner-stone was laid deep and fast
- By the wise master builder, all time to outlast.
- ’Twas a certain tried method, not patent, for all
- Enjoyed, free from tax, what inventions we call.
- A liquid cement was poured on each place,
- That hardened in time to a smooth flinty face.
- No wear could affect it--hot, cold, wet or dry,
- It was always the same to the touch and the eye.
- “Here’s a hint” I exclaimed, “to the men of our day,
- Whose work is so apt to break or decay.”
- “We are all honest, friend!” said some one quite near,
- Your remark shows how little you know of us here.”
- I turned to reply, but no one was in sight,
- When I saw with surprise and indeed with delight,
- That a double-track railway, as smooth as a floor,
- Had been thoroughly laid, a few years before.
- A train was approaching--no whistle was heard
- In loud screeching tones to drown every word,
- But, soft as the evening wind wafted along,
- Rung out the soft notes of that sweet Sabbath song
- “There’s a happy land, far away, far away!”
- ’Till I thought they foretold a millenial day.
- I wondered to see cars go noiselessly by,
- When the rubber-tired wheels arrested my eye,
- While each one inside looked calm and composed.
- As they talked or they wrote, reflected or dozed,
- And no thought of danger produced any dread,
- For a tall thin Director walked quickly ahead.
- In less than a minute the cars disappeared,
- And I judged, on that line no collision was feared.
- Rambling on, as before, along the wide street,
- A smooth wooden pavement tempting the feet,
- Some boys stopped to greet me in passing to school,
- ’Twas the custom of all, not enforced by a rule.
- “Can you tell me, my children,” I asked, with a smile,
- Where to find the hotel, to tarry awhile?”
- “My dear sir,” replied one with a bright, thoughtful face,
- “I never have seen in my life such a place.
- The word sometimes is read on history’s page.
- But no buildings so-called, exist in this age.
- All houses are open to strangers who find
- A home and warm friends if to stay they’re inclined.”
- “Then show me, I pray, Dr. Cure-em-all’s room,”
- “He died long ago--none can point out his tomb.”
- No sickness is known here--diseases nor pains--
- But pure blood is bounding in even old veins.”
- In doubt, I enquired, “Where is now Lawyer Grip?”
- “Oh! he gave, as they say, all his clients the slip;
- Some affirm that he went over seas--others think
- That he drowned his senses, and life too, in drink.
- Here his sign you may see, though the letters are pale,
- With the emblem beneath, a fox’s long tail.
- Happy years to you, sir! to school we must haste
- Nor longer the precious, short study-hours waste.”
- They ran on in glee and left me alone,
- Still in quest of the tavern that once I had known.
- At last it appeared, but such a great change
- Had been made, that it looked surprisingly strange.
- The low dirty room, dark with stains and with smoke,
- Where revelry oft midnight sleepers awoke,
- The scene of mad riot and murderous strife,
- With blasphemy vile and obscenity rife,
- Was now the clean entrance that led to a hall,
- Not built, as with us, for one sect, but for all,
- Where the rich and the poor, a true Christian band,
- In loving communion as brothers might stand,
- To unite in thanksgiving, with hearts in accord,
- To the same risen Saviour--one Father and Lord.
- Night and day tones of prayer and praise filled the air
- ’Till the Spirit’s blest presence seemed hovering there;
- No priest, man ordained, cried, “Know, brother, the Lord!”
- Our High Priest and Minister gave the sure word,
- While o’erhead, wreathed with clouds, in letters of light,
- Shone the words, “Be ye holy and clean in my sight,
- For the pure in heart only my face shall behold,
- And forever dwell safe in the heavenly fold.”
- How long in that temple divine was my stay,
- I never have known, as no words can convey.
- The sense of the bliss, and ecstacy felt
- In my spirit, unconscious of all as I knelt,
- Save the heavenly gift of Infinite Love
- Descending on all from the Father above.
- With one fervent prayer for His grace to sustain
- And guide me, my steps were turned earthward again.
- Some ruins near by, I found to disclose
- The spot where in old time a theatre rose,
- In one day by spontaneous combustion destroyed,
- While the place where it stood was a huge gaping void.
- Men were clearing the rubbish and cinders away,
- Odd relics of former years bringing to day;
- Two masks that still seemed to be making grimaces,
- Supposed to be dried skins of two actors’ faces;
- Then a long rusted steel, whose use none could divine,
- In a scarlet robe wrapped, with one blazoned line
- Inscribed thereupon--’twas the name of a play,
- And the legible words were, “The Devil’s Birthday.”
- A hemlet of copper, with vizor of brass
- Was seen melted down, in a black, confused mass,
- With beads, trinkets, buttons and jewelry rare,
- To allure the gay worldling or deck the frail fair.
- “How sad!” said a voice, “they could ever bestow
- Time and thought on such follies a century ago!
- But soon shall we raise on this desolate site,
- A house sacred to truth, to knowledge and right,
- Whence millions of Bibles shall issue, to bless
- Distant nations still hungering for righteousness.”
- Musing deeply on all I had seen and had heard,
- Of the wondrous changes I said not a word,
- But slowly went on, of adventures in quest,
- In a spot with such peace and prosperity blest.
- Each face, young and old, with intelligence beamed;
- Every eye with love and with sympathy gleamed;
- No discord was known--no unrestrained tongue
- Gave utterance to words of slander or wrong;
- Such a sense of true happiness filled all the air,
- It seemed more than the spirit of mortal could bear;
- And the heavenly anthem re-echoed again,
- “To God all the glory and good will to men!”
- Pure fountains of water unceasingly flowed,
- Till all nature with health and with happiness glowed;
- On every side, in long colonnade,
- Pines, cedars and palms, threw their deep cooling shade
- On seats, for the tired, heated travellers made;
- While the thick boughs above were filled with a throng
- Of birds of gay plumage and exquisite song,
- Unsuspicious of man, for his nature was changed
- And his love for all beings, no longer estranged.
- They lived and they loved the green alcoves among,
- Or reared, year by year, unmolested, their young.
- Wrong, crime and deceit existed no more;
- All houses were open--unguarded each door;
- No bolts and no bars told of robbers by night,
- No high prison walls offended the sight,
- Stores of merchandise lay exposed to full view,
- For at last men were found to be honest and true.
- None was tempted one moment his neighbor to cheat,
- No deception was practiced in house or on street,
- But one price was asked for each article sold,
- And the sole money used was silver and gold.
- None knew what a panic in currency meant,
- A run upon banks or a gain cent per cent;
- Stock gamblers on change no longer were seen,
- “Bulls” and “Bears,” were strange names that once might have been.
- Of palaces built by legalized theft
- Or foul speculation, no vestige was left.
- Fraud in buying or selling was wholly unknown;
- Light weight and short measure had obsolete grown;
- Heaped high and pressed down and still running over
- Was the sole rule and practice that I could discover,
- And, as no long accounts were kept day after day,
- No bankrupts were heard of--no failures to pay.
- It seemed as if flying through vast unknown space,
- At last I had reached some wonderful place,
- Where sin had not entered to blast and defile
- Scenes blest at creation by Deity’s smile.
- Unlike our own earth, since the dawning of Time,
- Despoiled by oppression or blackened by crime.
- Rambling on in this deep contemplative mood,
- Before a vast pile I instinctively stood;
- High in air rose a dome on which glittered a star,
- Like a lonely night beacon to wanderers afar,
- And on it, in lines pure as heaven’s own blue,
- “The old is now past and all things are new.”
- I entered--strange forms arrested the eye,
- Of human inventions in ages gone by;
- Tools for use--toys for pleasure--weapons of war,
- Idols, altars and priestly shrines worshipped no more;
- Here was seen the rude ponderous Chaldean plow,
- With the crown that adorned Melchizedek’s brow,
- The first harp that was made by old Tubal Cain,
- An image of Bel from a Syrian plain,
- The chariot of Pharoah, by Miriam sung,
- For ages of silence with Red sea-weed hung,
- Now placed on the threshold of Dagon’s black shrine
- Where fell the foul god, smit by vengeance divine;
- Huge engines found buried in Egypt’s deep sand,
- No doubt, by the builders of pyramids planned,
- Jewish hammers once used on the mountains of Tyre
- Persian censers where glowed perpetual fire,
- Pagodas from China, of porcelain rare,
- Gilt, silvered and papered with exquisite care,
- And the image of gold on Dura’s vast plain
- Where the furnace of fire was thrice heated in vain.
- Here, lay the light frame of an Indian canoe,
- There, a square Roman gallery attracted the view.
- All these and a thousand more relics of old,
- In its measureless rooms did the edifice hold.
- But, greater by far, both in number and cost,
- Of murderous implements grim war could boast,
- To cut, maim and mingle the fair human form
- In private revenge or in battle’s wild storm.
- In another huge hall lay the rough knotty brand,
- Still stained as it dropped from Cain’s murderous hand;
- The spears and the swords of nations of yore,
- Ere the deluge a vile generation swept o’er.
- Here stood the old chariots, each wheel with a scythe,
- Beneath which men prostrate in anguish would writhe,
- There, ranged as in former stern battle array
- Shone the armor of brass used in Rome’s warlike day,
- Helmets, spears, shields, javelins, pikes, swords and slings
- And the banners, surmounted by eagles’ broad wings.
- The cross-bows of England and rude culverin
- Side by side with the Fijean war-club were seen.
- The battle-axe, steeped in Mohammedan gore,
- The Indian tomahawk--Scottish claymore
- And the rude scalping knife of the savage there lay
- With the civilized bayonet rusting away.
- Guns, pistols, revolvers, mortars, cannon and bombs
- Were placed in the midst of gongs and of drums.
- Here new patent rifles from near and from far
- Disclosed the latest improvements in war.
- All sorts of vessels for fight were displayed,
- The Malayan war junk, for piracy made,
- The frigate, with rows of black guns gaping wide,
- And the iron-ribbed Monitor’s steel-plated side.
- On the long lofty walls of the building, were hung
- Scenes of strife, from the day that our planet was young,
- To the hour, when mankind, by one solemn vow,
- Were pledged no longer such crimes to allow.
- ’Twas a sickening sight--like demons from hell,
- Glared the eyes of the wounded and dying who fell,
- Trampled down in hot haste, like the mire in the street,
- Unregarded or spurned by the wayfarers’ feet.
- Above, the dun war-clouds their canopy drew,
- And with horror I shrunk from the terrible view,
- Weeping much that man, made in likeness divine,
- To conflict and bloodshed should ever incline.
- But, as gleams of bright silver will oft line a cloud
- Cold, dismal and black as a funeral shroud,
- So, high o’er the red tide of battle, a scroll
- Inscribed by an angel-hand, seemed to unroll:
- “The work of the just and the righteous is peace--
- Its effect, rest and surety that never shall cease.”
- Light breaking again in my sorrowful heart,
- With more cheerful feelings I rose to depart,
- But again was amazed, more relics to find
- Of the devil’s vast power and rule o’er mankind.
- Man’s record was here with Slavery’s stains,
- Its whips and its handcuffs--its fetters and chains.
- In the midst, the old time-worn whipping-post stood,
- Its platform deep stained with long streams of blood,
- And on it the form of a suppliant slave
- Beseeching for mercy and aid no one gave.
- Jeers and taunts from the crowd were the only reply
- And demoniac hate shone forth from each eye.
- Near by was an auction, whence rose the loud cry,
- “Likely negroes for sale! come, gentlemen, buy!
- Here goes a mulatto, young, handsome and sound,
- Note her beautiful teeth, her limbs smooth and round.
- Mark her elegant bust, her long glossy hair,
- And her ankle that will with Venus’ compare.
- Such a bright, lovely face is not seen every day;
- Then put her up, gentlemen, what do you say?
- Not a thousand is bid!--she must go on the shelf;
- At such a low price I will take her myself.
- Two thousand! “down came the quick hammer, “she’s gone.”
- The auctioneer growled in a low sneering tone,
- And the only reply was the slave’s subdued groan.
- Here’s another chance, gentlemen--come near the stand!
- A healthy young negress, brought up by hand,
- Her regular teeth prove her yet in her prime,
- While her well-knitted arms tell of work in her time.
- She can cook, wash and iron--pick cotton or sew,
- And the twins at her side, productiveness show.
- We will sell them together or singly, as best
- You may judge, for their owner no choice has expressed.
- How much shall I have for the mother, alone?
- ’Tis a positive sale of flesh and of bone--
- Six hundred is all that I hear--what a price!
- You may double it safely, is all my advice.
- Seven, eight--cheap as dirt! nine, ten, are you done?
- A bargain for you, sir! an A., number one!
- And now for a boy; stand up, you young dog!
- Don’t be blubbering there like a water-soaked log;
- Give a fair bid at once--right quick, if you please,
- My friends, for I shall not dwell long upon these!”
- “O! massa!” for mercy, my darling boys buy!
- Cried the wo-stricken mother, “without them I die!”
- A tittering laugh was the sole answer given,
- But I knew that appeal was recorded in heaven.
- Again the sharp ring of the hammer was heard,
- And with it, the oath-enforced threatening word,
- “Tear the niggers apart, gag the woman’s black mouth!
- Let the young rascals stay while she goes further south.”
- I felt my blood boil--my arm rising to deal
- One blow at the wretch, conscience hardened as steel,
- When a low, gentle voice I could but obey,
- Whispered: “Vengeance is mine--I the Lord, will repay!”
- Looking upwards, sweet faces, like angels’ were seen,
- Of those who the friends of the bondsman had been.
- Once, hated and scorned by the proud ones of earth,
- None could tell in that day the amount of their worth.
- They toiled to remove all oppression and crime,
- With faith ever strong in their mission sublime.
- In the white harvest field, ’till their sands were all run,
- And the welcome was heard, “Faithful servant! well done!”
- Once more, to another apartment I turned;
- My bosom, with more indignation yet burned,
- When I viewed all the engines of torture employed
- Under guise of religion, when thousands destroyed,
- Confessed before man a God answering prayer,
- And died in the faith they had lived to declare.
- Here were thumbscrews, racks, pillories, scaffolds and thongs--
- Here, the irons oft-heated to bore human tongues,
- With the chains and the whips to torment, maim and slay
- Christian sufferers in dungeons remote from the day.
- In the middle arose the huge black corner stone
- Of that building of Rome, long centuries known,
- When the devil’s own priests loved to torture and pain,
- And autos de-fe soiled the blue skies of Spain.
- “O! shame!” I exclaimed, that Satan should bind
- In such hellish arts the souls of mankind--
- That man, the object of Infinite Love.
- The cruelest foe to his brother should prove!”
- “Too true, my dear sir,” a mild voice replied,
- And, turning, I saw an old man at my side,
- Whose silver locks swept his broad shoulders--whose brow
- Showed no furrow or scar from Time’s rugged plow;
- His eye beaming bright as in infancy’s days,
- While his every word seemed attuned unto praise.
- “Too true! but ’tis past--all the horrors of war,
- Persecution and slavery, now are no more.
- This edifice, piled with mementos of sin,
- Tells how wicked and vile former ages have been,
- When, to deepest abysses of infamy hurled,
- They lived and they died without God in the world.
- But, thanks be to Him, the Father and Son--
- An unending reign of peace hath begun,
- And the Holy Spirit now circling the earth,
- All creation is pure as when called into birth.
- But few enter here--too painful the sight--
- Other scenes, other objects our people invite;
- To do good and communicate is our sole aim
- And our works prove, as Christians, we merit the name.
- Then mourn not, my friend, at the picture of crime
- That polluted the world and the record of Time,
- Up! pilgrim! I bid thee, God-speed on thy way
- ’Till it lead through the mists to perpetual day!”
- I arose--deep gratitude filling my heart,
- From such a wise counsellor, loth to depart.
- “Many thanks,” I rejoined, “for thy true kindness shown--
- Henceforth I will look on the bright side alone.
- Farewell! for thou art well, thy words clearly prove
- Though thy home be on earth, thy life is above!”
- We parted, with souls in communion true,
- He, to point out the past, I my path to pursue.
- Deep musing upon the old things I had seen.
- To doubt almost inclined that such had e’er been,
- But in grateful emotion that vice, crime and war
- O’er this our fair earth should run riot no more,
- I stood by the edge of a wide and deep bay,
- Whose blue waters mingled with ocean’s white spray;
- On its shore vessels lay with canvass full furled,
- While others were fitting to sail round the world.
- They floated as light on the clear glassy tide
- As snow-breasted swans in their beauty and pride;
- Buoyed up by some new--some magical art,
- The gentlest zephyr impelled them to start,
- And when, leaving port, the wind filled each sail,
- They skimmed the wide waters like leaves in a gale.
- But, far stranger than these--a wonderful sight,
- High above, were vast air-ships, with pinions as light
- As those of the sea bird, that, day after day,
- Unwearied, in solitude wings its long way.
- Bright streamers on every side gracefully swayed,
- Now tossed high in air and now pendent in shade,
- And I read, as I stood mid the gathering crowd,
- “The Arrow, the Meteor, the Swift Flying Cloud,
- The Sunbeam, Wave, Northern Light, Iris,” and more,
- Moored proudly above that dense peopled shore.”
- ’Twas a glorious sight as they swung in the air,
- Impatient, as ’twere, their burden to bear,
- And, tempted, I stepped up a spiral stairway,
- A short flying visit to Europe to pay.
- Rung the note of departure--outspread the huge wings,
- And we rose, so to speak, o’er terrestrial things.
- Fainter came from the crowd each last parting cheer,
- ’Till in one confused hum, they were lost to the ear.
- Faded then from the sight the houses and trees
- As we went higher up, swept along by the breeze,
- And the land and the sea far below in mist lay,
- ’Till we lost sight of mountain, rock, river and bay.
- And now as the twilight still deepened to night,
- O’erhead shone the stars in a full blaze of light,
- And the broad calm expanse of ocean below
- We saw like another bright galaxy glow.
- So fair was the scene, I asked one near by,
- “Do tempests ne’er blow or clouds darken your sky?”
- “No! no! my good friend, by Omniscient decree,
- From storm, fire and flood, earth forever is free.
- The elements now are propitious to man,
- And nothing now mars a wise Deity’s plan.
- The winds are not fickle nor faithless the deep,
- For He, who hath promised, His sure word will keep.”
- For many an hour I gazed at the sky,
- Unwilling to shut from such splendor my eye,
- ’Till, tired at the thought of infinite space,
- I sought in the cabin, a calm resting place.
- It was filled with guests from every land.
- From cold Labrador to Afric’s hot sand--
- The Chinaman, Hindoo, Turk, Arab and Jew,
- Men in fact, from all parts of the old world and new.
- The light that illumed the spacious saloon
- Was as white and as clear as the midsummer moon;
- ’Twas the pure beam galvanic, soft, steady and free
- From all noxious fumes that with health disagree.
- And I heard that the engine that moved our light bark
- Was the same that gave out the bright flashing spark;
- That no oil was now used, nor explosive compound,
- On earth, among all nations was found,
- And light, heat and motion at last were attained,
- By one simple and practical instrument gained.
- The sides of that noble apartment were dressed
- With gems of rare art from the east and the west;
- Here a statue stood poised, just ready to fly,
- There, a picture of Saturn’s new belt caught the eye,
- And one thing I noticed--or fiction, or fact,
- The good of mankind prompted every act--
- Nay, the converse of all, whether light, grave or gay,
- Was married by no folly, whate’er men night say.
- But the bell sounded one--I entered my berth.
- To rest in mid air, safe as on the firm earth,
- And all the night long heard the quivering beat
- Of the wings in their slow and measured repeat.
- “Up! sunrise is reddening the earth and the sky!”
- Cried the voice of some one, without waiting reply,
- And I sprang from my couch to watch the long gleam
- Tip our beautiful pennon with morning’s first beam.
- It came and it bathed in warm rosy hue
- The vessel, as faster through light mists it flew,
- Till we thought of that word that once echoed sublime,
- “Light! be!” and Day marked the divisions of time.
- Thus we winged our swift course through the cool upper air,
- Now meeting a ship in the atmosphere rare,
- Now skimming above the blue boundless deep
- With its waves by warm zephyrs lulled softly to sleep.
- At last a gray cloud seemed to rise in the north;
- It neared us--and soon the glad sea-cry went forth,
- “Land! ho! ’tis old England--her white cliffs arise!”
- And we crowd to the front in joy and surprise.
- There it lay, in green beauty, but not as of yore,
- With its forts and its cannon bristling the shore;
- All hushed were the thunders that rolled o’er the land
- And no vessels of war polluted her strand.
- We stopped just above the world-renowned mart
- Of London, where science, wealth, learning and art,
- The treasures of ages, in countless store lay,
- Reserved ’till the dawn of a happier day.
- Then, softly descending, we stepped on firm ground
- To view the new objects and people around.
- The grim Tower rose before us--we entered the gate,
- Unguarded, as once by stern orders of state,
- For the jewels that in the rich diadems shone,
- No longer could tempt one to take for his own.
- Exposed on all sides, were rich scepters of kings,
- Tiaras, pearls, gems and a thousand bright things,
- Once prized as the emblems of place and of power,
- But now thought mere childish toys of the hour.
- The vestments of royalty too were displayed,
- Silk, satin, chenille, velvet, plush and brocade,
- With exquisite work of silver and gold,
- In fine threads that shone on each rich wavy fold,
- And I heard with surprise an attendant confess,
- ’Twas the work of long years to complete a court dress.
- “What folly!” I cried, “to deck the outside
- With garments to flatter and foster one’s pride,
- While the soul, the true being, of measureless worth,
- Is less prized and less cared for than mean things of earth.”
- “Where now are the lions,” I asked, “once confined,
- Brute prisoners, to show the power of mankind?”
- “O! their nature was changed and unchained now they roam,
- To find in the wide world, food, shelter and home.
- The curse that on Adam in Paradise fell,
- Scattering seeds of hate, desolation and hell,
- Is now gone forever--no wild beasts abound,
- And at last in his works God’s true image is found.”
- Looking down on the river, I marked its calm face
- Half hid by white sails from every place,
- The strange looking junk from distant Japan,
- Unchanged in its form since the empire began,
- The light buoyant bark of more modern time,
- Adapted for use in every clime,
- The swift gliding steamer with paddle or screw,
- The frigate, no longer exposing to view
- Its port-holes whence issued the missiles of war--
- For strife, hate and conflict existed no more.
- A hundred bright flags were floating in air,
- Each, the name of some country or race to declare;
- Not, as once, the proud banner to wave in the fight,
- The theme of the poet--the warrior’s delight,
- But the emblem of peace and of love among men
- Long ago sung by angels on Bethlehem’s plain.
- ’Twas a glorious sight--but I could not delay;
- So, descending the Tower, swiftly passed on my way.
- All the streets seemed alive with a slow-moving throng,
- But no jostling was known as they travelled along;
- Every one knew another, each face beamed with joy
- And nought was heard, seen, or felt to annoy.
- The streets and the pavements were so smoothly laid,
- For safety and ease, both for man and beast made,
- That one might walk on from morning till night.
- Unfatigued, to enjoy each varying sight.
- A thousand wide stores were thrown open to view.
- Piled with goods whose use our fathers ne’er knew.
- There were garments for all, without stitch or seam,
- Robes dyed as in colors of sunset’s rich beam,
- Wings on frames, to be used on the earth or in air.
- With speed on his journey the pilgrim to bear;
- But time will not allow me the list to rehearse
- Of all these strange sights, in this fugitive verse;
- Suffice it to say, every thing that I saw
- Was strictly conformed to one excellent law
- That forbade all mankind to make or to use
- Any goods that a Christian would ever refuse.
- No trimmings nor ribbons hung flying around,
- No vile trashy novels on book shelves were found,
- No flaring, gay posters announced some bold lie
- Made only to catch the gaping crowd’s eye.
- No cards in the windows were seen to declare
- That the cheapest and best in the world were sold there;
- No drinking saloons stared full in one’s face,
- No compounders of liquors were seen in the place;
- They had all gone below with the spirits accursed,
- Of all Satan’s agents the vilest and worst.
- Tobacco was none--no smoker’s breath there
- Annoyed the nice sense or corrupted the air.
- Surprised at the fact, “How is this? I enquired,
- When a patriarch near me, in pure white attired.
- Replied, “Is it true that one being on earth
- Knows not that the world was reformed in new birth!
- I have heard, when a boy, my grandsire affirm
- That the plant in one night was destroyed by a worm,
- And never since then, half a century ago,
- Has any one seen it or known it to grow;
- The panic from pole to equator was great
- As any past earthquake was known to create,
- And some ventured to say that thousands indeed
- Would die for the want of their favorite weed.
- But the prophecy failed--from disuse followed health,
- Purer lives, better morals and wisdom and wealth.
- “And where are the dram shops--the houses for dance,
- Where, heated by wine and lost as in trance,
- Full many a maiden drank, stumbled and fell,
- (Once pure as a snow-flake) from heaven to hell.”
- “Alas! my dear friend, how little you know
- Of the great revolution the world now can show.
- When mankind o’er the globe acknowledged the sway
- Of the great King of kings all are bound to obey,
- All sin disappeared; lust, passion and crime
- No longer defiled the annals of Time;
- None dared to entice his weak brother to wrong,
- None wished to provoke or by action or tongue,
- None, the health or the comfort of one living soul
- For a moment would wish to restrain or control.
- And with feelings like these, who, the heavens below,
- Could continue a trade fraught with ruin and wo!
- No! no! pure religion can never annoy
- The peace of mankind or their good-will destroy.
- For if God, as his works clearly argue, be love,
- Whose dwelleth in Him shall his follower prove.
- Every thing that the soul of man can defile,
- Is purged from the earth by Deity’s smile.
- Who hath cleansed the whole world, through his only Son’s blood,
- And seen, as in Paradise, all his works good.”
- “Delightful!” I cried, “that all evil hath ceased,
- And man from the thraldom of sin is released;
- Who e’er would have dared, amid doubts and fears
- To predict such a change in the past hundred years?”
- We parted, and, entering a new city car
- On polished rails sliding, without noise or jar,
- I was soon the rich and green pastures among,
- In history famed and by poets long sung.
- Lovely hamlets and villages dotted each vale,
- While the sweet breath of wild flowers scented the gale.
- The vine clung to the roof with its clusters of fruit,
- The fig, fearless of winter, expanded each shoot,
- And the bright golden orange gleamed through the dark leaves
- Where the robin her nest built beneath the low leaves.
- I looked, but could see no idler there,
- Sounds of labor alone arose on the air,
- Each his neighbor would aid if his own part were done.
- From day’s early dawn to the set of the sun,
- As a bee hive, the land seemed with people alive.
- And all nature in peace and in plenty to thrive;
- By the wayside stood rows of wide spreading trees
- Whose yield or whose shade could refresh or could please.
- For one law reigned o’er all--each, with Christian regard.
- Sought his neighbor’s best good as his own rich reward.
- I looked for the buildings benevolence reared--
- There were none, for the paupers had all disappeared;
- No blind, sick, deaf, lame, or feeble of mind,
- In all my wide wanderings on earth could I find.
- The homes for the friendless, deserted or poor,
- Vainly hoped by their founders, all time to endure,
- Were devoted to Science, not blind, as of old,
- When Alchemy sought to turn dross into gold,
- But certain and true, illumed from on high,
- To the pure Fount of light ever turning her eye,
- There were school rooms, lyceums and vast lecture halls
- With all treasures of Time, densely filling the walls,
- While professors of every known science and art,
- Sought the mind to inform or to lead the young heart.
- The longs rows of workshops for artisans made,
- No longer their low, dusty windows displayed,
- Where faint, toil-worn hundreds met sickness and death
- In the close stifling air, corrupted by breath;
- But sunlight enlivened each lofty-walled room
- And each rounded cheek showed freshness and bloom.
- The master was ever the workers among,
- Their health to secure--not their labors prolong.
- No law was required--as a Christian, he knew
- He to others should act as he wished them to do.
- No poisonous gas was floating in air
- Sowing germs of disease and of death everywhere,
- For the vapors evolved, by chemical skill
- Were innocuous made, other ends to fulfil.
- The men who long delved in the deep gloomy mine,
- Mid’ the fire-damp, allowed their bright lanterns to shine;
- As the light they now used created no heat,
- ’Twere idle to think any danger to meet,
- And the air, so mephitic of old time, became
- As oxygen pure, when it met the soft flame.
- Roamed the deer through the streets of the populous town.
- Not now with swift steeds and fierce dogs hunted down.
- The fox and the hare lived in the same den
- On intimate terms, unmolested by men,
- Every beast, bird or fish, by night and by day,
- No longer regarded each other its prey,
- But, protected by man, to his friendship proved true,
- And love bound all creatures in league ever new.
- Nought was seen, nought was heard but gladness and praise
- For the blessings that crowned those bright halcyon days,
- And even from Erin thanksgiving was heard,
- ’Till the gray crags of Scotland with echoes were stirred.
- I returned to the sea where the white cliffs arose
- As landmarks to show how the tide ebbs and flows;
- “Adieu to Old England! exulting, I cried,
- Where order, peace, love and religion abide!
- Of the nations who spent blood and treasure in war,
- She, who once was the first, ambitious no more,
- Now sends forth her people to each distant land
- To teach and to preach at the Saviour’s command!”
- As I gazed o’er the deep, entranced at the view,
- Not a vapor or cloud dimmed the fair boundless blue.
- At my feet the waves with joy seemed to dance
- Through the piers of an air-tube, the high road to France,
- And, lying at ease on a rich velvet bed,
- Impelled like an arrow, in safety I sped
- O’er the channel that washes each bold rocky shore,
- First united--then severed--but now linked once more.
- The manners of every one caused such surprise,
- Unprepared as I was, I could scarce trust my eyes.
- The butterfly airs and the light lively tone
- By which, time out of mind, the Frenchman was known.
- Had been changed to a sober yet cheerful address
- Marked with smiles and true dignity, few can express.
- Every look, every gesture evinced that they knew
- That courtesy based on religion is true.
- All frivolity gone--vain amusements forgot,
- I found not in city or country one spot,
- Where an opera, ball-room or theatre stood
- To arouse evil thoughts or to stifle the good.
- The Sabbath, profaned for long centuries past,
- Was observed, not by sorrowful penance or fast,
- But the nation obeyed the divine command given,
- To rest and to worship one day in seven.
- The gay gardens and palaces, open of yore,
- Where drinkers and dancers by turns trod the floor,
- Were thronged by a multitude ever inclined
- To read or to hear what would profit the mind.
- No imperial rule forced each class to obey,
- No autocrat, king or dictator held sway,
- A firm free Republic framed long time ago,
- Proved popular still, as Time’s chronicles show.
- No soldier police stood guard to detect,
- Arrest or confine--there was none to suspect.
- Throughout the wide land not a murmur was heard.
- No quarrel was known--none spake an ill word,
- And I thought, as I travelled through country or town,
- ’Twas as if heaven itself, to earth had come down.
- We passed on the rail, swift as birds cleave the air,
- Vales dotted with villages--mountain peaks bare,
- But tinged in the sunlight with soft golden hue,
- For many a league ’till the Alps met our view.
- There they stood--their proud forms towering up in the sky
- But no traces of glaciers or snow, met the eye;
- Since the time all mankind had known the new birth,
- One perpetual spring had encircled the earth.
- Cold, heat, frost, storm and ice were unknown;
- No earthquakes now rumbled beneath each broad zone;
- Volcanoes were none--their fires were decayed,
- And cities no longer in ruins were laid.
- As the slopes of Italian vales caught the sight,
- Every glance at the scene called forth new delight.
- The sun-embrowned peasants in vineyard or field
- Were tilling each crop or gathering the yield.
- Rich clambering vines o’er the road threw their shade,
- The tropic banana its broad leaf displayed,
- While the palm, like a monarch with sceptre and crown,
- O’er the lowlier trees of the forest looked down.
- The olive, the fig and the pomegranate there
- Repaid in abundance the laborer’s care,
- And the mingled perfume of a thousand sweet flowers,
- Like incense arose from the thick orange bowers.
- But the train still sped on, and now in the haze
- That purpled the hills in the sun’s level rays,
- The columns and temples of Rome rose in view,
- Spires, domes and palaces, ancient and new.
- We entered where once the chariots rolled
- To the vast Coliseum, when centuries old
- Saw the sandy arena clotted with gore,
- While above the death groan rung the lion’s wild roar.
- No longer the massive walls crumbled and fell,
- Its decay and its ruin for ages to tell;
- The huge pile was now used for a far higher aim
- Than the praise of a pagan emperor’s name.
- Rebuilt and remodelled, it rung with the cry,
- “Our Lord, GOD omnipotent reigneth on high!”
- To the city then hastening, I marked with surprise,
- No Romish processions attracted all eyes,
- No beggars, the pest of the traveller, were seen,
- No long lines of priests with crosses between,
- No nuns in black robes paraded the street,
- No close-shaven monks with bare head and feet.
- The poverty, dirt and all the vile trade
- That beggary everywhere brings to its aid.
- Existed no more in that land once debased,
- (Their name and remembrance forever effaced.)
- Each dark piercing eye with a purer light shone,
- Passion, anger and feuds were entirely unknown.
- And the love, the apostle once preached, by God’s grace,
- Inspired every heart and lit up each face.
- Soon we neared the vast--the magnificent shrine,
- Where once to base man was paid homage divine;
- The noble proud dome named St. Peter’s of old,
- In the warm sunset gleaming resplendent as gold.
- No cross now surmounted the dizzying height,
- A star hung above it, as pure and as bright
- As the one that once stood o’er the manger and bed
- Where the Saviour of sinners first rested his head.
- I entered the courts, for hundreds of years
- Trod by the pilgrims deluded, in sorrow and tears,
- Where thousands knelt bowing to image or cross,
- More than true worship loving the world and its dross.
- No crucifix now was lifted on high,
- No priest called for penance from crowds passing by,
- No form carved in ivory, wood, brass or stone,
- Mocked the traits that belong to the Godhead alone.
- No sensuous pictures of Virgin and child
- Pleased the mass, to false adoration beguiled.
- A light, clear and holy, words cannot express,
- Pervaded the spot and illumined each recess,
- As the hosts of the faithful from every land,
- Admired the change wrought by Almighty command,
- In that temple where infancy, manhood and youth
- Worshipped God, their Creator, in spirit and truth.
- “Does the Pope,” I enquired, “in the Vatican live,
- And the people yet think he their sins can forgive?”
- “Oh! no!” said a gray-haired old man at my side.
- “Many years have elapsed since the last Pontiff died.
- On a far distant shore, exiled, pining he lay,
- His soul filled with remorse at the thought of that day,
- When he claimed, in his pride, God’s vicegerent to be,
- Receiving vile homage of lip and of knee.
- Of all the long line of the popes, there was none
- Save he, who confessed to his Saviour alone;
- Yet, through mercy divine, his own sins forgiven,
- His purified soul passed from earth into heaven.
- This house, once the scene of debauch and of crime,
- Where blasphemy reigned supreme at one time,
- Now, sacred to worship, pure, heart-felt and true,
- Is blest with a Presence old ages ne’er knew.
- Here the gospel is preached, undefiled as of yore,
- By Science, so called, to false doctrines the door,
- For the Scriptures, first penned for the comfort of men,
- Are read by the light of the Spirit again.”
- “Do the people to image or crucifix bow,
- Or the priests for all crimes absolution allow?”
- “From your question, my friend, I judge that you came
- From some other planet, unknown yet by name,
- Or perhaps may have slumbered, unconscious of time,
- While the world was restored in its innocent prime.
- Come then to the halls where Science combined,
- With truth and religion enlighten the mind,
- Where genius, art and sound reason are found,
- And errors of schoolmen no longer abound.
- Superstition has fled, like the mists of the night,
- Dispersed when the sun comes in glorious light.
- Rome, once the foul den of crime, lust and sin,
- Is purged from all evil, her precincts within,
- Remain then and see what treasures untold
- They who witness Messiah’s blest advent, behold.”
- “Time presses,” I said, “in an hour I must start
- In an ocean-bound steamer, ready to part.
- Thanks for all I have seen and have heard thee declare;
- And now, to the New World, glad tidings I bear,
- That the kingdoms of earth all acknowledge the Lord,
- Redeemed and restored by his life giving word.”
- We parted--then taking some newly-formed shoes,
- For swift and sure travel on water to use,
- I passed down the Tiber--not yellow as when
- Its stained turbid wave, washed valley and glen,
- But sparkling, fresh, clear and pure as the dew
- That on every spray reflects heaven’s own blue.
- White villas, temples and towns lined the shore,
- And the gondolier sung, as he dipped his light oar,
- While the hills echoed back the sweet solemn hymn,
- From morning’s first dawn, ’till the daylight grew dim.
- With long rapid strides o’er the waters I sped
- And distanced the sea-gulls that flew o’er my head;
- Soon the wide river entered a rich, grassy plain
- Where its fresh waters mingled with those of the main.
- There, lay the fair vessel with quivering wings
- Like a bird on the tree-top that flutters and sings,
- Just ready to soar through the measureless sky,
- O’er mead, hill and vale, and precipice high.
- The clarion rung--we left Italy’s shore,
- And the old classic sea were fast flying o’er;
- In a day we touched Cadiz--that bold rocky height
- Where the guns of Gibraltar once blazed in the fight,
- But now streaming with flags from every clime,
- In token that Peace held dominion sublime.
- ’Twas dusk--a brilliant red rocket flew high
- O’er the vertical wall far up in the sky,
- While another swept down in the ocean below
- And lingered long after in roseate glow.
- The parting salute, with cheer upon cheer,
- Was answered, ’till sound died away on the ear,
- And nothing was heard but the murmuring deep
- Of the wings’ measured stroke inviting to sleep.
- We glided as swift on the ocean’s expanse
- As the leaves that in the wild hurricane dance.
- The sea glowed with fire from creatures unknown,
- Brighter far than the stars in the zenith they shone.
- And myriad flocks of strange sea birds lay
- On the face of the deep, awaiting the day.
- No moon rose that night, but e’re twilight was gone,
- The sky seemed to glow with a rich northern dawn,
- And not ’till our flag in the morning breeze swayed.
- Did its soft lambent light from the firmament fade.
- Thus for three days and nights we skimmed the blue main,
- Now watching the air ships again and again,
- Now noting far down in the green, glassy brine,--
- Iron vessels with fins--a submarine line,
- Propelled by galvanic action alone,
- And made to explore ocean’s chambers unknown.
- Meantime I conversed with some that I knew
- Came from far distant climes, new wonders to view,
- Of the change wrought on earth since the era began
- When Christ reigned supreme, acknowledged by man.
- No pen could describe nor could language declare
- The glory His saints were permitted to share,
- When the devil and all his foul works were destroyed,
- And happiness dwelt in each heart unalloyed.
- “But how,” I inquired, “was the old world renewed?
- In a day by Omniscient fiat made good?
- Or purged in long years from sin and its leaven,
- ’Till God saw on its bosom the image of heaven?”
- “As a thief in the night breaks in unaware,
- So flashed on the earth, mid its pleasure and care,
- A splendor surpassing the sun’s noontide ray
- Foretelling the dawn of millenial day.
- Attended by thousands of saints came the Lord,
- To bless his redeemed and to drive the abhorred.
- As erst he once drove the angels that fell
- From allegiance, down from high heaven to hell.
- But ’till then, increased both evil and good,
- As men a false phantom or true peace pursued.
- Though tales of new crime thrilled the ear and the soul,
- The spirit of prayer seemed its power to control;
- Reform spread, as years rolled rapidly by,
- And at last from all races beneath every sky,
- With shouts of thanksgiving and praises again
- Earth echoed the cry, “Alleluia! Amen!”
- But the soft evening wind that our light bark swept o’er,
- Flower-scented, announced we were nearing the shore,
- And ere night’s somber curtain had veiled the red sky,
- The glare of bright lamps arrested the eye.
- ’Twas a populous city of wealth and of fame,
- Filled with thousands of every class, country and name.
- I passed through the streets--no tumult was there,
- No low profane words polluted the air.
- No theatre belched out at midnight a throng
- Inflamed with drugged wine and lascivious song;
- All was peaceful and still, as a calm Sabbath day,
- For man was no more to his brother a prey.
- Each dwelling I entered revealed the true sign
- Of Christian communion--the Presence Divine,
- For they in whose souls His graces abide,
- In each other’s friendship forever confide.
- Fatigued with my journey--deprived of my rest,
- Long time I remained in that city a guest,
- Pondering deeply on all I had seen and had heard
- ’Till my soul from its deepest recesses was stirred.
- There was seen in all things such a marvellous change,
- One could hardly imagine an era so strange;
- Here a library stood with its wide open door,
- The clerks and librarian needed no more,
- As the readers took works from their place on the shelves
- And duly returned them uninjured themselves.
- No comic nor frivolous lectures were known,
- Instruction and knowledge were sought for alone,
- There were schools for the infant, the child and the aged;
- In all labors of love the fair sex was engaged;
- No voting was heard of--no taxes were paid,
- For religion from government needed no aid.
- Throughout the wide world not a vestige was found
- Of weeds that for ages were known to abound,
- Nor a poisonous serpent to sting or annoy,
- Nor an insect, the rich harvest hopes to destroy.
- The sun, moon and stars each in turn gave their light,
- One scorched not by day, while the rest warmed the night;
- And nature was fair as the garden of God,
- The Paradise once by angel feet trod.
- “Blest world!” I exclaimed, “all honor and praise
- Be to Him who now rules these millenial days!”
- With fervor I spoke--raised my hand towards the sky,
- And heard the soft whisper of some one near by;
- Then turned just in time to see sunset’s last gleam,
- When the present rushed back, and lo! ’twas a dream!
-
- [Illustration]
-
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- The Project Gutenberg eBook of 1970. A Vision, by John Collins.
-</title>
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-<body>
-<pre style='margin-bottom:6em;'>The Project Gutenberg EBook of 1970: A Vision of the Coming Age, by John
-Collins
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this ebook.
-
-Title: 1970: A Vision of the Coming Age
-
-Author: John Collins
-
-Release Date: December 07, 2020 [EBook #63980]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Tim Lindell, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
- Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
- produced from images generously made available by The Internet
- Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1970: A VISION OF THE COMING
-AGE ***
-</pre><hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="c">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt="" />
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<div class="bbox"><div class="bboxx">
-<h1><b><big>1970.</big></b><br /><br />
-A &nbsp; V I S I O N</h1>
-
-<p class="c">OF<br /><br />
-
-<big><img src="images/coming.jpg"
-width="80%"
-alt="THE COMING AGE." /></big>
-<br /><br /><br />
-BY<br /><br />
-<i>JOHN COLLINS</i>.<br /><br /><br />
-
-&mdash;&mdash;
-<br /><br />
-BURLINGTON, N. J.<br /><br />
-&mdash;&mdash;<br />
-1870.</p>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span>&nbsp; </p>
-
-<h1><img src="images/title.jpg"
-width="175"
-alt="1970"
-/></h1>
-
-<div class="poetry">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="ig"><span class="letra">
-<img src="images/i.png"
-height="60"
-alt="I" /></span> WAS musing alone one hot afternoon,<br /></span>
-<span class="ih">In the shade of a vine on a bright day in June;<br /></span>
-<span class="ih">Not a sound in the air but the hum of the bees,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor a zephyr to sway the tops of the trees;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The cricket seemed tired of the shrill noise he made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The butterfly folded his wings in the shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The flowers, so fragrant when day had begun,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer breathed perfume before the fierce sun:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er nature a dull sleepy silence had grown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And even the clouds seemed moveless as stone.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Reclined in a chair, with my face towards the sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The tall posts of the telegraph thought-road near by,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I fancied I heard every word sent along,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The short business message&mdash;the tale of some wrong,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">An accident, <i>not</i> on the Jersey railway,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The prices of stocks&mdash;events of the day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The lover’s popped question, brief, pithy and sweet,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The assent of his charmer, his wishes to meet,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A summons to haste to the bed of a friend,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose life’s flickering taper drew near to its end,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">An invite to a wedding, a lecture or ball,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A county convention&mdash;a lyceum hall;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like leaves by the wild winter wind swept along,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They came and they passed in a vast countless throng,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I watched and I listened with eager desire<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To find out what passed through the quick thrilling wire.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The date I was sure of&mdash;again and again.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It was “nineteen hundred and threescore and ten.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Came the first to a merchant of rank in Japan,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Saying “Forward those teas as soon as you can.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In two minutes returned, “I will do as you say,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But send me the Bibles you promised to-day.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Buy for me,” said a lady in Boston, in haste,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To a dear Cuban friend, “(I trust to your taste);<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A barrel of oranges, fresh from the tree,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A dozen pine-apples, the fairest you see,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Two bunches of large, ripe bananas&mdash;a cask<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the best of preserves&mdash;’tis all that I ask,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And a few limes or lemons&mdash;smooth, juicy and bright,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In time to prepare for my party to-night.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In half an hour came, propelled through the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fruits and the sweets packed with exquisite care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the fair one, delighted, sent word to each friend<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Far or near, a long sociable evening to spend.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Methought that they came by balloon or by rail,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By the pneumatic tube, by steam or by sail,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At the rate of a thousand of miles in a day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To the hub of New England hurrying away.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The next bit of news my very soul stirred,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas the greatest explosion that ever was heard:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">An engine blew up, attached to a train<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of a hundred full cars on the Omaha plain&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To atoms it flew, but no one was hurt,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Only some of the passengers covered with dirt.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fireman was found half a mile from the spot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Safely lodged in a village whose name I’ve forgot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the engineer’s body was plunged in the sand<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Hid entirely from sight save a part of one hand.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Both were struck with amaze at the quick change of base,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But the sole damage done, was a scratch on each face.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The reason was clear&mdash;their lives were insured<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And their limbs and their senses forever secured<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By a policy made with the greatest reliance<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the “Fearless Assurance and Perpetual Defiance.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The next sound arresting my listening ear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was so soft and so musical, gentle and clear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I knew it was sent by a company famed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">(The Harmonic Acoustic Tube Union, named,)<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To a dozen performers, each one at his home,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In London, Pekin, Paris, Athens and Rome,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To give in New York, at mass concerts free,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Oratorios by telegraph under the sea.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then was heard such a hum from the mingled replies,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I could hear nothing more, but, trusting my eyes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Looked around as I strolled along each crowded street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Some items to learn or acquaintance to meet.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The houses looked strange as if turned all to stone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With huge gaudy creepers and ivy o’ergrown.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whether brick, wood or plaster, no signs of decay<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Could be seen, though an age had no doubt rolled away<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Since each corner-stone was laid deep and fast<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By the wise master builder, all time to outlast.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas a certain tried method, not patent, for all<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Enjoyed, free from tax, what inventions we call.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A liquid cement was poured on each place,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That hardened in time to a smooth flinty face.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No wear could affect it&mdash;hot, cold, wet or dry,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It was always the same to the touch and the eye.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Here’s a hint” I exclaimed, “to the men of our day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose work is so apt to break or decay.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“We are all honest, friend!” said some one quite near,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Your remark shows how little you know of us here.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I turned to reply, but no one was in sight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When I saw with surprise and indeed with delight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That a double-track railway, as smooth as a floor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Had been thoroughly laid, a few years before.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A train was approaching&mdash;no whistle was heard<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In loud screeching tones to drown every word,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, soft as the evening wind wafted along,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rung out the soft notes of that sweet Sabbath song<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“There’s a happy land, far away, far away!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till I thought they foretold a millenial day.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I wondered to see cars go noiselessly by,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When the rubber-tired wheels arrested my eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While each one inside looked calm and composed.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As they talked or they wrote, reflected or dozed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And no thought of danger produced any dread,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For a tall thin Director walked quickly ahead.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In less than a minute the cars disappeared,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I judged, on that line no collision was feared.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Rambling on, as before, along the wide street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A smooth wooden pavement tempting the feet,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Some boys stopped to greet me in passing to school,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas the custom of all, not enforced by a rule.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Can you tell me, my children,” I asked, with a smile,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where to find the hotel, to tarry awhile?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“My dear sir,” replied one with a bright, thoughtful face,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“I never have seen in my life such a place.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The word sometimes is read on history’s page.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But no buildings so-called, exist in this age.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All houses are open to strangers who find<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A home and warm friends if to stay they’re inclined.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Then show me, I pray, Dr. Cure-em-all’s room,”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“He died long ago&mdash;none can point out his tomb.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No sickness is known here&mdash;diseases nor pains&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But pure blood is bounding in even old veins.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In doubt, I enquired, “Where is now Lawyer Grip?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Oh! he gave, as they say, all his clients the slip;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Some affirm that he went over seas&mdash;others think<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That he drowned his senses, and life too, in drink.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here his sign you may see, though the letters are pale,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With the emblem beneath, a fox’s long tail.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Happy years to you, sir! to school we must haste<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor longer the precious, short study-hours waste.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">They ran on in glee and left me alone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Still in quest of the tavern that once I had known.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At last it appeared, but such a great change<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Had been made, that it looked surprisingly strange.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The low dirty room, dark with stains and with smoke,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where revelry oft midnight sleepers awoke,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The scene of mad riot and murderous strife,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With blasphemy vile and obscenity rife,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was now the clean entrance that led to a hall,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Not built, as with us, for one sect, but for all,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the rich and the poor, a true Christian band,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In loving communion as brothers might stand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To unite in thanksgiving, with hearts in accord,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To the same risen Saviour&mdash;one Father and Lord.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Night and day tones of prayer and praise filled the air<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till the Spirit’s blest presence seemed hovering there;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No priest, man ordained, cried, “Know, brother, the Lord!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Our High Priest and Minister gave the sure word,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While o’erhead, wreathed with clouds, in letters of light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shone the words, “Be ye holy and clean in my sight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the pure in heart only my face shall behold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And forever dwell safe in the heavenly fold.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">How long in that temple divine was my stay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I never have known, as no words can convey.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sense of the bliss, and ecstacy felt<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In my spirit, unconscious of all as I knelt,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Save the heavenly gift of Infinite Love<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Descending on all from the Father above.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With one fervent prayer for His grace to sustain<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And guide me, my steps were turned earthward again.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Some ruins near by, I found to disclose<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The spot where in old time a theatre rose,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In one day by spontaneous combustion destroyed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the place where it stood was a huge gaping void.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Men were clearing the rubbish and cinders away,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Odd relics of former years bringing to day;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Two masks that still seemed to be making grimaces,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Supposed to be dried skins of two actors’ faces;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then a long rusted steel, whose use none could divine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In a scarlet robe wrapped, with one blazoned line<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Inscribed thereupon&mdash;’twas the name of a play,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the legible words were, “The Devil’s Birthday.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A hemlet of copper, with vizor of brass<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was seen melted down, in a black, confused mass,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With beads, trinkets, buttons and jewelry rare,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To allure the gay worldling or deck the frail fair.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“How sad!” said a voice, “they could ever bestow<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Time and thought on such follies a century ago!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But soon shall we raise on this desolate site,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A house sacred to truth, to knowledge and right,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whence millions of Bibles shall issue, to bless<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Distant nations still hungering for righteousness.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Musing deeply on all I had seen and had heard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the wondrous changes I said not a word,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But slowly went on, of adventures in quest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In a spot with such peace and prosperity blest.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Each face, young and old, with intelligence beamed;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every eye with love and with sympathy gleamed;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No discord was known&mdash;no unrestrained tongue<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Gave utterance to words of slander or wrong;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Such a sense of true happiness filled all the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It seemed more than the spirit of mortal could bear;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the heavenly anthem re-echoed again,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“To God all the glory and good will to men!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Pure fountains of water unceasingly flowed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Till all nature with health and with happiness glowed;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On every side, in long colonnade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pines, cedars and palms, threw their deep cooling shade<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On seats, for the tired, heated travellers made;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the thick boughs above were filled with a throng<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of birds of gay plumage and exquisite song,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unsuspicious of man, for his nature was changed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And his love for all beings, no longer estranged.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They lived and they loved the green alcoves among,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or reared, year by year, unmolested, their young.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Wrong, crime and deceit existed no more;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All houses were open&mdash;unguarded each door;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No bolts and no bars told of robbers by night,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No high prison walls offended the sight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Stores of merchandise lay exposed to full view,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For at last men were found to be honest and true.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None was tempted one moment his neighbor to cheat,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No deception was practiced in house or on street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But one price was asked for each article sold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the sole money used was silver and gold.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None knew what a panic in currency meant,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A run upon banks or a gain cent per cent;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Stock gamblers on change no longer were seen,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Bulls” and “Bears,” were strange names that once might have been.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of palaces built by legalized theft<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or foul speculation, no vestige was left.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Fraud in buying or selling was wholly unknown;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Light weight and short measure had obsolete grown;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Heaped high and pressed down and still running over<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was the sole rule and practice that I could discover,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, as no long accounts were kept day after day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No bankrupts were heard of&mdash;no failures to pay.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">It seemed as if flying through vast unknown space,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At last I had reached some wonderful place,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where sin had not entered to blast and defile<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Scenes blest at creation by Deity’s smile.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unlike our own earth, since the dawning of Time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Despoiled by oppression or blackened by crime.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rambling on in this deep contemplative mood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Before a vast pile I instinctively stood;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">High in air rose a dome on which glittered a star,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like a lonely night beacon to wanderers afar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And on it, in lines pure as heaven’s own blue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“The old is now past and all things are new.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I entered&mdash;strange forms arrested the eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of human inventions in ages gone by;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tools for use&mdash;toys for pleasure&mdash;weapons of war,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Idols, altars and priestly shrines worshipped no more;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here was seen the rude ponderous Chaldean plow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With the crown that adorned Melchizedek’s brow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The first harp that was made by old Tubal Cain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">An image of Bel from a Syrian plain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The chariot of Pharoah, by Miriam sung,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For ages of silence with Red sea-weed hung,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now placed on the threshold of Dagon’s black shrine<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where fell the foul god, smit by vengeance divine;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Huge engines found buried in Egypt’s deep sand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No doubt, by the builders of pyramids planned,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Jewish hammers once used on the mountains of Tyre<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Persian censers where glowed perpetual fire,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pagodas from China, of porcelain rare,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Gilt, silvered and papered with exquisite care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the image of gold on Dura’s vast plain<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the furnace of fire was thrice heated in vain.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Here, lay the light frame of an Indian canoe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There, a square Roman gallery attracted the view.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All these and a thousand more relics of old,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In its measureless rooms did the edifice hold.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, greater by far, both in number and cost,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of murderous implements grim war could boast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To cut, maim and mingle the fair human form<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In private revenge or in battle’s wild storm.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">In another huge hall lay the rough knotty brand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Still stained as it dropped from Cain’s murderous hand;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The spears and the swords of nations of yore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ere the deluge a vile generation swept o’er.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here stood the old chariots, each wheel with a scythe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Beneath which men prostrate in anguish would writhe,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There, ranged as in former stern battle array<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Shone the armor of brass used in Rome’s warlike day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Helmets, spears, shields, javelins, pikes, swords and slings<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the banners, surmounted by eagles’ broad wings.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The cross-bows of England and rude culverin<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Side by side with the Fijean war-club were seen.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The battle-axe, steeped in Mohammedan gore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Indian tomahawk&mdash;Scottish claymore<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the rude scalping knife of the savage there lay<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With the civilized bayonet rusting away.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Guns, pistols, revolvers, mortars, cannon and bombs<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were placed in the midst of gongs and of drums.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here new patent rifles from near and from far<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Disclosed the latest improvements in war.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All sorts of vessels for fight were displayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Malayan war junk, for piracy made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The frigate, with rows of black guns gaping wide,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the iron-ribbed Monitor’s steel-plated side.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">On the long lofty walls of the building, were hung<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Scenes of strife, from the day that our planet was young,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To the hour, when mankind, by one solemn vow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were pledged no longer such crimes to allow.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas a sickening sight&mdash;like demons from hell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Glared the eyes of the wounded and dying who fell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Trampled down in hot haste, like the mire in the street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unregarded or spurned by the wayfarers’ feet.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Above, the dun war-clouds their canopy drew,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And with horror I shrunk from the terrible view,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Weeping much that man, made in likeness divine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To conflict and bloodshed should ever incline.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, as gleams of bright silver will oft line a cloud<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cold, dismal and black as a funeral shroud,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So, high o’er the red tide of battle, a scroll<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Inscribed by an angel-hand, seemed to unroll:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“The work of the just and the righteous is peace&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its effect, rest and surety that never shall cease.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Light breaking again in my sorrowful heart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With more cheerful feelings I rose to depart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But again was amazed, more relics to find<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the devil’s vast power and rule o’er mankind.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Man’s record was here with Slavery’s stains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its whips and its handcuffs&mdash;its fetters and chains.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the midst, the old time-worn whipping-post stood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its platform deep stained with long streams of blood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And on it the form of a suppliant slave<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Beseeching for mercy and aid no one gave.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Jeers and taunts from the crowd were the only reply<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And demoniac hate shone forth from each eye.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Near by was an auction, whence rose the loud cry,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Likely negroes for sale! come, gentlemen, buy!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here goes a mulatto, young, handsome and sound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Note her beautiful teeth, her limbs smooth and round.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Mark her elegant bust, her long glossy hair,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And her ankle that will with Venus’ compare.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Such a bright, lovely face is not seen every day;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then put her up, gentlemen, what do you say?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Not a thousand is bid!&mdash;she must go on the shelf;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At such a low price I will take her myself.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Two thousand! “down came the quick hammer, “she’s gone.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The auctioneer growled in a low sneering tone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the only reply was the slave’s subdued groan.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here’s another chance, gentlemen&mdash;come near the stand!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A healthy young negress, brought up by hand,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Her regular teeth prove her yet in her prime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While her well-knitted arms tell of work in her time.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She can cook, wash and iron&mdash;pick cotton or sew,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the twins at her side, productiveness show.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We will sell them together or singly, as best<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">You may judge, for their owner no choice has expressed.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">How much shall I have for the mother, alone?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Tis a positive sale of flesh and of bone&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Six hundred is all that I hear&mdash;what a price!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">You may double it safely, is all my advice.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Seven, eight&mdash;cheap as dirt! nine, ten, are you done?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A bargain for you, sir! an A., number one!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And now for a boy; stand up, you young dog!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Don’t be blubbering there like a water-soaked log;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Give a fair bid at once&mdash;right quick, if you please,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">My friends, for I shall not dwell long upon these!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“O! massa!” for mercy, my darling boys buy!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cried the wo-stricken mother, “without them I die!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A tittering laugh was the sole answer given,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But I knew that appeal was recorded in heaven.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Again the sharp ring of the hammer was heard,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And with it, the oath-enforced threatening word,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Tear the niggers apart, gag the woman’s black mouth!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Let the young rascals stay while she goes further south.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I felt my blood boil&mdash;my arm rising to deal<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">One blow at the wretch, conscience hardened as steel,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When a low, gentle voice I could but obey,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whispered: “Vengeance is mine&mdash;I the Lord, will repay!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Looking upwards, sweet faces, like angels’ were seen,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of those who the friends of the bondsman had been.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Once, hated and scorned by the proud ones of earth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None could tell in that day the amount of their worth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They toiled to remove all oppression and crime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With faith ever strong in their mission sublime.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the white harvest field, ’till their sands were all run,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the welcome was heard, “Faithful servant! well done!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Once more, to another apartment I turned;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">My bosom, with more indignation yet burned,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When I viewed all the engines of torture employed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Under guise of religion, when thousands destroyed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Confessed before man a God answering prayer,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And died in the faith they had lived to declare.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here were thumbscrews, racks, pillories, scaffolds and thongs&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here, the irons oft-heated to bore human tongues,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With the chains and the whips to torment, maim and slay<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Christian sufferers in dungeons remote from the day.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the middle arose the huge black corner stone<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of that building of Rome, long centuries known,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When the devil’s own priests loved to torture and pain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And autos de-fe soiled the blue skies of Spain.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“O! shame!” I exclaimed, that Satan should bind<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In such hellish arts the souls of mankind&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That man, the object of Infinite Love.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The cruelest foe to his brother should prove!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Too true, my dear sir,” a mild voice replied,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, turning, I saw an old man at my side,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose silver locks swept his broad shoulders&mdash;whose brow<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Showed no furrow or scar from Time’s rugged plow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">His eye beaming bright as in infancy’s days,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While his every word seemed attuned unto praise.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Too true! but ’tis past&mdash;all the horrors of war,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Persecution and slavery, now are no more.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">This edifice, piled with mementos of sin,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tells how wicked and vile former ages have been,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When, to deepest abysses of infamy hurled,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They lived and they died without God in the world.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, thanks be to Him, the Father and Son&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">An unending reign of peace hath begun,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the Holy Spirit now circling the earth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All creation is pure as when called into birth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But few enter here&mdash;too painful the sight&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Other scenes, other objects our people invite;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To do good and communicate is our sole aim<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And our works prove, as Christians, we merit the name.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then mourn not, my friend, at the picture of crime<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That polluted the world and the record of Time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Up! pilgrim! I bid thee, God-speed on thy way<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till it lead through the mists to perpetual day!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">I arose&mdash;deep gratitude filling my heart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From such a wise counsellor, loth to depart.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Many thanks,” I rejoined, “for thy true kindness shown&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Henceforth I will look on the bright side alone.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Farewell! for thou art well, thy words clearly prove<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Though thy home be on earth, thy life is above!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">We parted, with souls in communion true,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He, to point out the past, I my path to pursue.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Deep musing upon the old things I had seen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To doubt almost inclined that such had e’er been,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But in grateful emotion that vice, crime and war<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er this our fair earth should run riot no more,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I stood by the edge of a wide and deep bay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose blue waters mingled with ocean’s white spray;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On its shore vessels lay with canvass full furled,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While others were fitting to sail round the world.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They floated as light on the clear glassy tide<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As snow-breasted swans in their beauty and pride;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Buoyed up by some new&mdash;some magical art,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The gentlest zephyr impelled them to start,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And when, leaving port, the wind filled each sail,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They skimmed the wide waters like leaves in a gale.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, far stranger than these&mdash;a wonderful sight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">High above, were vast air-ships, with pinions as light<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As those of the sea bird, that, day after day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unwearied, in solitude wings its long way.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Bright streamers on every side gracefully swayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now tossed high in air and now pendent in shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I read, as I stood mid the gathering crowd,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“The Arrow, the Meteor, the Swift Flying Cloud,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Sunbeam, Wave, Northern Light, Iris,” and more,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Moored proudly above that dense peopled shore.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas a glorious sight as they swung in the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Impatient, as ’twere, their burden to bear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, tempted, I stepped up a spiral stairway,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A short flying visit to Europe to pay.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rung the note of departure&mdash;outspread the huge wings,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And we rose, so to speak, o’er terrestrial things.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Fainter came from the crowd each last parting cheer,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till in one confused hum, they were lost to the ear.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Faded then from the sight the houses and trees<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As we went higher up, swept along by the breeze,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the land and the sea far below in mist lay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till we lost sight of mountain, rock, river and bay.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And now as the twilight still deepened to night,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’erhead shone the stars in a full blaze of light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the broad calm expanse of ocean below<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We saw like another bright galaxy glow.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So fair was the scene, I asked one near by,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Do tempests ne’er blow or clouds darken your sky?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“No! no! my good friend, by Omniscient decree,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From storm, fire and flood, earth forever is free.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The elements now are propitious to man,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And nothing now mars a wise Deity’s plan.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The winds are not fickle nor faithless the deep,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For He, who hath promised, His sure word will keep.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">For many an hour I gazed at the sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unwilling to shut from such splendor my eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till, tired at the thought of infinite space,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I sought in the cabin, a calm resting place.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It was filled with guests from every land.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From cold Labrador to Afric’s hot sand&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Chinaman, Hindoo, Turk, Arab and Jew,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Men in fact, from all parts of the old world and new.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The light that illumed the spacious saloon<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was as white and as clear as the midsummer moon;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas the pure beam galvanic, soft, steady and free<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From all noxious fumes that with health disagree.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I heard that the engine that moved our light bark<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was the same that gave out the bright flashing spark;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That no oil was now used, nor explosive compound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On earth, among all nations was found,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And light, heat and motion at last were attained,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By one simple and practical instrument gained.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sides of that noble apartment were dressed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With gems of rare art from the east and the west;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here a statue stood poised, just ready to fly,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There, a picture of Saturn’s new belt caught the eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And one thing I noticed&mdash;or fiction, or fact,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The good of mankind prompted every act&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nay, the converse of all, whether light, grave or gay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was married by no folly, whate’er men night say.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But the bell sounded one&mdash;I entered my berth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To rest in mid air, safe as on the firm earth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And all the night long heard the quivering beat<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the wings in their slow and measured repeat.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Up! sunrise is reddening the earth and the sky!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cried the voice of some one, without waiting reply,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I sprang from my couch to watch the long gleam<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tip our beautiful pennon with morning’s first beam.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It came and it bathed in warm rosy hue<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The vessel, as faster through light mists it flew,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Till we thought of that word that once echoed sublime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Light! be!” and Day marked the divisions of time.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thus we winged our swift course through the cool upper air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now meeting a ship in the atmosphere rare,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now skimming above the blue boundless deep<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With its waves by warm zephyrs lulled softly to sleep.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At last a gray cloud seemed to rise in the north;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">It neared us&mdash;and soon the glad sea-cry went forth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Land! ho! ’tis old England&mdash;her white cliffs arise!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And we crowd to the front in joy and surprise.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There it lay, in green beauty, but not as of yore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With its forts and its cannon bristling the shore;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All hushed were the thunders that rolled o’er the land<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And no vessels of war polluted her strand.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We stopped just above the world-renowned mart<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of London, where science, wealth, learning and art,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The treasures of ages, in countless store lay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Reserved ’till the dawn of a happier day.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then, softly descending, we stepped on firm ground<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To view the new objects and people around.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The grim Tower rose before us&mdash;we entered the gate,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unguarded, as once by stern orders of state,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the jewels that in the rich diadems shone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer could tempt one to take for his own.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Exposed on all sides, were rich scepters of kings,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tiaras, pearls, gems and a thousand bright things,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Once prized as the emblems of place and of power,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But now thought mere childish toys of the hour.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The vestments of royalty too were displayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Silk, satin, chenille, velvet, plush and brocade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With exquisite work of silver and gold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In fine threads that shone on each rich wavy fold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I heard with surprise an attendant confess,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas the work of long years to complete a court dress.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“What folly!” I cried, “to deck the outside<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With garments to flatter and foster one’s pride,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the soul, the true being, of measureless worth,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is less prized and less cared for than mean things of earth.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Where now are the lions,” I asked, “once confined,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Brute prisoners, to show the power of mankind?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“O! their nature was changed and unchained now they roam,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To find in the wide world, food, shelter and home.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The curse that on Adam in Paradise fell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Scattering seeds of hate, desolation and hell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is now gone forever&mdash;no wild beasts abound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And at last in his works God’s true image is found.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Looking down on the river, I marked its calm face<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Half hid by white sails from every place,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The strange looking junk from distant Japan,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unchanged in its form since the empire began,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The light buoyant bark of more modern time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Adapted for use in every clime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The swift gliding steamer with paddle or screw,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The frigate, no longer exposing to view<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its port-holes whence issued the missiles of war&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For strife, hate and conflict existed no more.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A hundred bright flags were floating in air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Each, the name of some country or race to declare;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Not, as once, the proud banner to wave in the fight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The theme of the poet&mdash;the warrior’s delight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But the emblem of peace and of love among men<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Long ago sung by angels on Bethlehem’s plain.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas a glorious sight&mdash;but I could not delay;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So, descending the Tower, swiftly passed on my way.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">All the streets seemed alive with a slow-moving throng,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But no jostling was known as they travelled along;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every one knew another, each face beamed with joy<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And nought was heard, seen, or felt to annoy.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The streets and the pavements were so smoothly laid,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For safety and ease, both for man and beast made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That one might walk on from morning till night.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unfatigued, to enjoy each varying sight.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A thousand wide stores were thrown open to view.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Piled with goods whose use our fathers ne’er knew.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There were garments for all, without stitch or seam,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Robes dyed as in colors of sunset’s rich beam,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Wings on frames, to be used on the earth or in air.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With speed on his journey the pilgrim to bear;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But time will not allow me the list to rehearse<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of all these strange sights, in this fugitive verse;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Suffice it to say, every thing that I saw<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was strictly conformed to one excellent law<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That forbade all mankind to make or to use<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Any goods that a Christian would ever refuse.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No trimmings nor ribbons hung flying around,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No vile trashy novels on book shelves were found,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No flaring, gay posters announced some bold lie<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Made only to catch the gaping crowd’s eye.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No cards in the windows were seen to declare<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That the cheapest and best in the world were sold there;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No drinking saloons stared full in one’s face,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No compounders of liquors were seen in the place;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They had all gone below with the spirits accursed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of all Satan’s agents the vilest and worst.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tobacco was none&mdash;no smoker’s breath there<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Annoyed the nice sense or corrupted the air.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Surprised at the fact, “How is this? I enquired,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When a patriarch near me, in pure white attired.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Replied, “Is it true that one being on earth<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Knows not that the world was reformed in new birth!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I have heard, when a boy, my grandsire affirm<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That the plant in one night was destroyed by a worm,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And never since then, half a century ago,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Has any one seen it or known it to grow;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The panic from pole to equator was great<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As any past earthquake was known to create,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And some ventured to say that thousands indeed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Would die for the want of their favorite weed.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But the prophecy failed&mdash;from disuse followed health,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Purer lives, better morals and wisdom and wealth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“And where are the dram shops&mdash;the houses for dance,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where, heated by wine and lost as in trance,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Full many a maiden drank, stumbled and fell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">(Once pure as a snow-flake) from heaven to hell.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Alas! my dear friend, how little you know<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the great revolution the world now can show.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When mankind o’er the globe acknowledged the sway<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the great King of kings all are bound to obey,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All sin disappeared; lust, passion and crime<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer defiled the annals of Time;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None dared to entice his weak brother to wrong,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None wished to provoke or by action or tongue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">None, the health or the comfort of one living soul<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For a moment would wish to restrain or control.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And with feelings like these, who, the heavens below,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Could continue a trade fraught with ruin and wo!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No! no! pure religion can never annoy<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The peace of mankind or their good-will destroy.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For if God, as his works clearly argue, be love,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose dwelleth in Him shall his follower prove.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every thing that the soul of man can defile,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is purged from the earth by Deity’s smile.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Who hath cleansed the whole world, through his only Son’s blood,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And seen, as in Paradise, all his works good.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Delightful!” I cried, “that all evil hath ceased,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And man from the thraldom of sin is released;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Who e’er would have dared, amid doubts and fears<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To predict such a change in the past hundred years?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">We parted, and, entering a new city car<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On polished rails sliding, without noise or jar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I was soon the rich and green pastures among,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In history famed and by poets long sung.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Lovely hamlets and villages dotted each vale,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the sweet breath of wild flowers scented the gale.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The vine clung to the roof with its clusters of fruit,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fig, fearless of winter, expanded each shoot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the bright golden orange gleamed through the dark leaves<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the robin her nest built beneath the low leaves.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I looked, but could see no idler there,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sounds of labor alone arose on the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Each his neighbor would aid if his own part were done.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From day’s early dawn to the set of the sun,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As a bee hive, the land seemed with people alive.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And all nature in peace and in plenty to thrive;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By the wayside stood rows of wide spreading trees<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Whose yield or whose shade could refresh or could please.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For one law reigned o’er all&mdash;each, with Christian regard.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sought his neighbor’s best good as his own rich reward.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I looked for the buildings benevolence reared&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There were none, for the paupers had all disappeared;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No blind, sick, deaf, lame, or feeble of mind,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In all my wide wanderings on earth could I find.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The homes for the friendless, deserted or poor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Vainly hoped by their founders, all time to endure,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were devoted to Science, not blind, as of old,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When Alchemy sought to turn dross into gold,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But certain and true, illumed from on high,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To the pure Fount of light ever turning her eye,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There were school rooms, lyceums and vast lecture halls<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With all treasures of Time, densely filling the walls,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While professors of every known science and art,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sought the mind to inform or to lead the young heart.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The longs rows of workshops for artisans made,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer their low, dusty windows displayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where faint, toil-worn hundreds met sickness and death<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the close stifling air, corrupted by breath;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But sunlight enlivened each lofty-walled room<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And each rounded cheek showed freshness and bloom.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The master was ever the workers among,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Their health to secure&mdash;not their labors prolong.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No law was required&mdash;as a Christian, he knew<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">He to others should act as he wished them to do.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No poisonous gas was floating in air<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sowing germs of disease and of death everywhere,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the vapors evolved, by chemical skill<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were innocuous made, other ends to fulfil.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The men who long delved in the deep gloomy mine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Mid’ the fire-damp, allowed their bright lanterns to shine;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the light they now used created no heat,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twere idle to think any danger to meet,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the air, so mephitic of old time, became<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As oxygen pure, when it met the soft flame.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Roamed the deer through the streets of the populous town.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Not now with swift steeds and fierce dogs hunted down.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The fox and the hare lived in the same den<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On intimate terms, unmolested by men,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every beast, bird or fish, by night and by day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer regarded each other its prey,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, protected by man, to his friendship proved true,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And love bound all creatures in league ever new.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nought was seen, nought was heard but gladness and praise<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the blessings that crowned those bright halcyon days,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And even from Erin thanksgiving was heard,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till the gray crags of Scotland with echoes were stirred.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">I returned to the sea where the white cliffs arose<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As landmarks to show how the tide ebbs and flows;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Adieu to Old England! exulting, I cried,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where order, peace, love and religion abide!<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the nations who spent blood and treasure in war,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">She, who once was the first, ambitious no more,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now sends forth her people to each distant land<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To teach and to preach at the Saviour’s command!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">As I gazed o’er the deep, entranced at the view,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Not a vapor or cloud dimmed the fair boundless blue.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">At my feet the waves with joy seemed to dance<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Through the piers of an air-tube, the high road to France,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And, lying at ease on a rich velvet bed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Impelled like an arrow, in safety I sped<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er the channel that washes each bold rocky shore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">First united&mdash;then severed&mdash;but now linked once more.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The manners of every one caused such surprise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Unprepared as I was, I could scarce trust my eyes.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The butterfly airs and the light lively tone<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By which, time out of mind, the Frenchman was known.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Had been changed to a sober yet cheerful address<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Marked with smiles and true dignity, few can express.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every look, every gesture evinced that they knew<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That courtesy based on religion is true.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">All frivolity gone&mdash;vain amusements forgot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I found not in city or country one spot,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where an opera, ball-room or theatre stood<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To arouse evil thoughts or to stifle the good.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Sabbath, profaned for long centuries past,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was observed, not by sorrowful penance or fast,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But the nation obeyed the divine command given,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To rest and to worship one day in seven.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The gay gardens and palaces, open of yore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where drinkers and dancers by turns trod the floor,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were thronged by a multitude ever inclined<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To read or to hear what would profit the mind.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No imperial rule forced each class to obey,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No autocrat, king or dictator held sway,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A firm free Republic framed long time ago,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Proved popular still, as Time’s chronicles show.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No soldier police stood guard to detect,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Arrest or confine&mdash;there was none to suspect.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Throughout the wide land not a murmur was heard.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No quarrel was known&mdash;none spake an ill word,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And I thought, as I travelled through country or town,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas as if heaven itself, to earth had come down.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">We passed on the rail, swift as birds cleave the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Vales dotted with villages&mdash;mountain peaks bare,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But tinged in the sunlight with soft golden hue,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For many a league ’till the Alps met our view.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There they stood&mdash;their proud forms towering up in the sky<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But no traces of glaciers or snow, met the eye;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Since the time all mankind had known the new birth,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">One perpetual spring had encircled the earth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Cold, heat, frost, storm and ice were unknown;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No earthquakes now rumbled beneath each broad zone;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Volcanoes were none&mdash;their fires were decayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And cities no longer in ruins were laid.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the slopes of Italian vales caught the sight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Every glance at the scene called forth new delight.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sun-embrowned peasants in vineyard or field<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Were tilling each crop or gathering the yield.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rich clambering vines o’er the road threw their shade,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The tropic banana its broad leaf displayed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the palm, like a monarch with sceptre and crown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er the lowlier trees of the forest looked down.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The olive, the fig and the pomegranate there<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Repaid in abundance the laborer’s care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the mingled perfume of a thousand sweet flowers,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like incense arose from the thick orange bowers.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But the train still sped on, and now in the haze<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That purpled the hills in the sun’s level rays,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The columns and temples of Rome rose in view,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Spires, domes and palaces, ancient and new.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We entered where once the chariots rolled<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To the vast Coliseum, when centuries old<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Saw the sandy arena clotted with gore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While above the death groan rung the lion’s wild roar.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No longer the massive walls crumbled and fell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its decay and its ruin for ages to tell;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The huge pile was now used for a far higher aim<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Than the praise of a pagan emperor’s name.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rebuilt and remodelled, it rung with the cry,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Our Lord, GOD omnipotent reigneth on high!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">To the city then hastening, I marked with surprise,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No Romish processions attracted all eyes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No beggars, the pest of the traveller, were seen,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No long lines of priests with crosses between,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No nuns in black robes paraded the street,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No close-shaven monks with bare head and feet.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The poverty, dirt and all the vile trade<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That beggary everywhere brings to its aid.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Existed no more in that land once debased,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">(Their name and remembrance forever effaced.)<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Each dark piercing eye with a purer light shone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Passion, anger and feuds were entirely unknown.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the love, the apostle once preached, by God’s grace,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Inspired every heart and lit up each face.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Soon we neared the vast&mdash;the magnificent shrine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where once to base man was paid homage divine;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The noble proud dome named St. Peter’s of old,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In the warm sunset gleaming resplendent as gold.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No cross now surmounted the dizzying height,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A star hung above it, as pure and as bright<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the one that once stood o’er the manger and bed<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the Saviour of sinners first rested his head.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I entered the courts, for hundreds of years<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Trod by the pilgrims deluded, in sorrow and tears,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where thousands knelt bowing to image or cross,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">More than true worship loving the world and its dross.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No crucifix now was lifted on high,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No priest called for penance from crowds passing by,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No form carved in ivory, wood, brass or stone,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Mocked the traits that belong to the Godhead alone.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No sensuous pictures of Virgin and child<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pleased the mass, to false adoration beguiled.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A light, clear and holy, words cannot express,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pervaded the spot and illumined each recess,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the hosts of the faithful from every land,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Admired the change wrought by Almighty command,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In that temple where infancy, manhood and youth<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Worshipped God, their Creator, in spirit and truth.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Does the Pope,” I enquired, “in the Vatican live,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the people yet think he their sins can forgive?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Oh! no!” said a gray-haired old man at my side.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Many years have elapsed since the last Pontiff died.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On a far distant shore, exiled, pining he lay,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">His soul filled with remorse at the thought of that day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When he claimed, in his pride, God’s vicegerent to be,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Receiving vile homage of lip and of knee.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of all the long line of the popes, there was none<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Save he, who confessed to his Saviour alone;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Yet, through mercy divine, his own sins forgiven,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">His purified soul passed from earth into heaven.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">This house, once the scene of debauch and of crime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where blasphemy reigned supreme at one time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now, sacred to worship, pure, heart-felt and true,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is blest with a Presence old ages ne’er knew.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here the gospel is preached, undefiled as of yore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">By Science, so called, to false doctrines the door,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For the Scriptures, first penned for the comfort of men,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Are read by the light of the Spirit again.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Do the people to image or crucifix bow,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or the priests for all crimes absolution allow?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“From your question, my friend, I judge that you came<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From some other planet, unknown yet by name,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or perhaps may have slumbered, unconscious of time,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the world was restored in its innocent prime.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Come then to the halls where Science combined,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With truth and religion enlighten the mind,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where genius, art and sound reason are found,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And errors of schoolmen no longer abound.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Superstition has fled, like the mists of the night,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Dispersed when the sun comes in glorious light.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Rome, once the foul den of crime, lust and sin,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Is purged from all evil, her precincts within,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Remain then and see what treasures untold<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">They who witness Messiah’s blest advent, behold.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“Time presses,” I said, “in an hour I must start<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In an ocean-bound steamer, ready to part.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thanks for all I have seen and have heard thee declare;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And now, to the New World, glad tidings I bear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That the kingdoms of earth all acknowledge the Lord,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Redeemed and restored by his life giving word.”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We parted&mdash;then taking some newly-formed shoes,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For swift and sure travel on water to use,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I passed down the Tiber&mdash;not yellow as when<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Its stained turbid wave, washed valley and glen,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But sparkling, fresh, clear and pure as the dew<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That on every spray reflects heaven’s own blue.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">White villas, temples and towns lined the shore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the gondolier sung, as he dipped his light oar,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While the hills echoed back the sweet solemn hymn,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From morning’s first dawn, ’till the daylight grew dim.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With long rapid strides o’er the waters I sped<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And distanced the sea-gulls that flew o’er my head;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Soon the wide river entered a rich, grassy plain<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where its fresh waters mingled with those of the main.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There, lay the fair vessel with quivering wings<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Like a bird on the tree-top that flutters and sings,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Just ready to soar through the measureless sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er mead, hill and vale, and precipice high.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The clarion rung&mdash;we left Italy’s shore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And the old classic sea were fast flying o’er;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In a day we touched Cadiz&mdash;that bold rocky height<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the guns of Gibraltar once blazed in the fight,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But now streaming with flags from every clime,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In token that Peace held dominion sublime.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas dusk&mdash;a brilliant red rocket flew high<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">O’er the vertical wall far up in the sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">While another swept down in the ocean below<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And lingered long after in roseate glow.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The parting salute, with cheer upon cheer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Was answered, ’till sound died away on the ear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And nothing was heard but the murmuring deep<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the wings’ measured stroke inviting to sleep.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">We glided as swift on the ocean’s expanse<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the leaves that in the wild hurricane dance.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sea glowed with fire from creatures unknown,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Brighter far than the stars in the zenith they shone.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And myriad flocks of strange sea birds lay<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">On the face of the deep, awaiting the day.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No moon rose that night, but e’re twilight was gone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sky seemed to glow with a rich northern dawn,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And not ’till our flag in the morning breeze swayed.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Did its soft lambent light from the firmament fade.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thus for three days and nights we skimmed the blue main,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now watching the air ships again and again,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Now noting far down in the green, glassy brine,&mdash;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Iron vessels with fins&mdash;a submarine line,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Propelled by galvanic action alone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And made to explore ocean’s chambers unknown.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Meantime I conversed with some that I knew<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Came from far distant climes, new wonders to view,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of the change wrought on earth since the era began<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When Christ reigned supreme, acknowledged by man.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No pen could describe nor could language declare<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The glory His saints were permitted to share,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When the devil and all his foul works were destroyed,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And happiness dwelt in each heart unalloyed.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“But how,” I inquired, “was the old world renewed?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In a day by Omniscient fiat made good?<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Or purged in long years from sin and its leaven,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till God saw on its bosom the image of heaven?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">“As a thief in the night breaks in unaware,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So flashed on the earth, mid its pleasure and care,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A splendor surpassing the sun’s noontide ray<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Foretelling the dawn of millenial day.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Attended by thousands of saints came the Lord,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">To bless his redeemed and to drive the abhorred.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As erst he once drove the angels that fell<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">From allegiance, down from high heaven to hell.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But ’till then, increased both evil and good,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As men a false phantom or true peace pursued.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Though tales of new crime thrilled the ear and the soul,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The spirit of prayer seemed its power to control;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Reform spread, as years rolled rapidly by,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And at last from all races beneath every sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With shouts of thanksgiving and praises again<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Earth echoed the cry, “Alleluia! Amen!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But the soft evening wind that our light bark swept o’er,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Flower-scented, announced we were nearing the shore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And ere night’s somber curtain had veiled the red sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The glare of bright lamps arrested the eye.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Twas a populous city of wealth and of fame,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Filled with thousands of every class, country and name.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I passed through the streets&mdash;no tumult was there,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No low profane words polluted the air.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No theatre belched out at midnight a throng<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Inflamed with drugged wine and lascivious song;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">All was peaceful and still, as a calm Sabbath day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For man was no more to his brother a prey.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Each dwelling I entered revealed the true sign<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of Christian communion&mdash;the Presence Divine,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For they in whose souls His graces abide,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In each other’s friendship forever confide.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Fatigued with my journey&mdash;deprived of my rest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Long time I remained in that city a guest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pondering deeply on all I had seen and had heard<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">’Till my soul from its deepest recesses was stirred.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">There was seen in all things such a marvellous change,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">One could hardly imagine an era so strange;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Here a library stood with its wide open door,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The clerks and librarian needed no more,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">As the readers took works from their place on the shelves<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And duly returned them uninjured themselves.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No comic nor frivolous lectures were known,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Instruction and knowledge were sought for alone,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">There were schools for the infant, the child and the aged;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In all labors of love the fair sex was engaged;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">No voting was heard of&mdash;no taxes were paid,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">For religion from government needed no aid.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Throughout the wide world not a vestige was found<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span><br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Of weeds that for ages were known to abound,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor a poisonous serpent to sting or annoy,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nor an insect, the rich harvest hopes to destroy.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The sun, moon and stars each in turn gave their light,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">One scorched not by day, while the rest warmed the night;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And nature was fair as the garden of God,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The Paradise once by angel feet trod.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">“Blest world!” I exclaimed, “all honor and praise<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Be to Him who now rules these millenial days!”<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">With fervor I spoke&mdash;raised my hand towards the sky,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And heard the soft whisper of some one near by;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Then turned just in time to see sunset’s last gleam,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When the present rushed back, and lo! ’twas a dream!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="c"><img src="images/end.png"
-width="150"
-alt=""
-/></p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-<pre style='margin-top:6em'>
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-</pre>
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