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Dark lowered the brows of Endicott, and with a deeper red

O'er Rawson's wine-empurpled cheek the flush of anger spread;

"Good people," quoth the white-lipped priest, "heed not her words so wild,

Her Master speaks within her-the Devil owns his child."

But grey heads shook, and young brows knit, the while the sheriff read

That law the wicked rulers against the poor have made,

Who to their house of Rimmon and idol priesthood bring

No bended knee of worship, nor gainful offering.

Then to the stout sea-captains the sheriff turning said;
"Which of ye, worthy seamen, will take this Quaker maid?
In the isle of far Barbadoes, or on Virginia's shore,

Ye may hold her at higher price than Indian girl or Moor."

Grim and silent stood the captains; and when again he cried,
"Speak out, my worthy seamen!”—no voice nor sign replied;
But I felt a hard hand press my own, and kind words met my ear:
"God bless thee, and preserve thee, my gentle girl and dear!"

A weight seemed lifted from my heart,—a pitying friend was nigh,
I felt it in his hard, rough hand, and saw it in his eye;
And when again the sheriff spoke, that voice, so kind to me,
Growled back its stormy answer like the roaring of the sea :

"Pile my ship with bars of silver-pack with coins of Spanish gold,
From keel-piece up to deck-plank, the roomage of her hold,
By the living God, who made me-I would sooner in your bay
Sink ship, and crew, and cargo, than bear this child away!"

"Well answered, worthy captain; shame on their cruel laws!" Ran through the crowd in murmurs loud the people's just applause. "Like the herdsman of Tekoa, in Israel of old,

Shall we see the poor and righteous again for silver sold?"

I looked on haughty Endicott; with weapon half-way drawn,

Swept round the throng his lion-glare of bitter hate and scorn;
Fiercely he drew his bridle-rein, and turned in silence back,
And sneering priest, and baffled clerk, rode murmuring in his track.

Hard after them the sheriff looked, in bitterness of soul;
Thrice smote his staff upon the ground, and crushed his parchment roll;
"Good friends," he said, "since both have fled, the ruler and the priest,
Judge ye if from their farther work I be not well released."

Loud was the cheer which full and clear swept round the silent bay,
As with kind words and kinder looks he bade me go my way;

For He who turns the courses of the streamlet of the glen,
And the river of great waters, had turned the hearts of men.

Oh, at that hour the very earth seemed changed beneath my eye,
A holier wonder round me rose the blue walls of the sky,
A lovelier light on rock and hill, and stream and woodland lay,
And softer lapsed on sunnier sands the waters of the bay.

Thanksgiving to the Lord of life!-to Him all praises be,
Who from the hands of evil men hath set his handmaid free;
All praise to Him before whose power the mighty are afraid,
Who takes the crafty in the snare which for the poor is laid!

Sing, oh, my soul, rejoicingly; on evening's twilight calm,
Uplift the loud thanksgiving-pour forth the grateful psalm;
Let all dear saints with me rejoice, as did the saints of old,
When of the Lord's good angel the rescued Peter told.

And weep and howl, ye evil priests and mighty men of wrong!
The Lord shall smite their pride and break the jaw-teeth of the strong.

Wo to the wicked rulers in His avenging hour!

Wo to the wolves who seek the flock to raven and devour!

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A MAN'S A MAN, FOR A' THAT.

BY ROBERT BURNS.

Is there for honest poverty,

Wha hangs his head and a' that? The coward slave we pass him by, And dare be poor for a' that. For a' that, and a' that,

Our toils obscure, an' a' that; The rank is but the guinea stamp,

The man's the gowd, for a' that.

What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hodden grey, and a' that?

Gie fools their silk, and knaves their wine,
A man's a man, for a' that.

For a' that, and a' that,

Their tinsel show, an' a' that;

An honest man. though ne'er sae poor,
Is chief o' men for a' that.

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord,
Wha struts and stares, and a' that,
Tho' hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif for a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,

His ribband, star, and a' that;
A man of independent mind,
Can look, and laugh at a' that.

The king can mak' a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, and a' that,
An honest man's aboon his might,
Gude faith he manna fa' that!
For a' that, and a' that,

His dignities and a' that!

The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, Are grander far than a' that.

Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it shall for a' that;

That sense and worth o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, and a' that;

For a' that, and a' that,

It's coming yet, for a' that; Whan man to man, the warld o'er, Shall brothers be, and a' that.

FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS.

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

When the hours of Day are numbered,
And the voices of the Night
Wake the better soul, that slumbered,
To a holy, calm delight;

Ere the evening lamps are lighted,
And, like phantoms grim and tall,
Shadows from the fitful fire-light
Dance upon the parlour wall;
Then the forms of the departed
Enter at the open door;
The beloved, the true-hearted,

Come to visit me once more;

He, the young and strong, who cherished
Noble longings for the strife,
By the roadside fell and perished,

Weary with the march of life!

They, the holy ones and weakly,

Who the cross of suffering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly,

Spake with us on earth no more! And with them the Being Beauteous Who unto my youth was given, More than all things else to love me, And is now a saint in heaven. With a slow and noiseless footstep

Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine. And she sits and gazes at me

With those deep and tender eyes, Like the stars, so still and saint-like, Looking downward from the skies. Uttered not, yet comprehended,

Is the spirit's voiceless prayer,
Soft rebukes, in blessings ended,
Breathing from her lips of air.

O, though oft depressed and lonely,
All my fears are laid aside,

If I but remember only

Such as these have lived and died!

That which thou with truckling spirit,
Bending to the crowd shall say,
Dust and darkness shall inherit,

Time shall hurl like chaff away-
But the silent earnest thought,
To thine inmost nature taught,
Shall not fade away to nought.

Longings in deep anguish working,
Powers like sudden flames that start,
And though baffled, still stay lurking,
Are the seedfields unto art:
Thence upsprings its glorious flower
In its will appointed hour,
And to heaven itself doth tower.

WM. W. STORY.

LINES,

Written on reading several pamphlets published by clergymen against the abolition of the gallows.

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.

The suns of eighteen centuries have shone

Since the Redeemer walked with men, and made The fisher's boat, the cavern's floor of stone, And mountain moss, a pillow for His head; And He, who wander'd with the peasant Jew, And broke with publicans the bread of shame, And drank, with blessings in His Father's name, The water which Samaria's outcast drew, Hath now His temples upon every shore,

Altar, and shrine, and priest-and incense dim Evermore rising, with low prayer and hymn, From lips which press the temple's marble floor, Or kiss the gilded sign of the dread Cross He bore!

Yet, as of old, when, meekly doing good,"
He fed a blind and selfish multitude,
And even the poor companions of His lot,
With their dim, earthly vision, knew Him not,
How ill are His high teachings understood!
Where He hath spoken Liberty, the priest

At His own altar binds the chain anew;
Where He hath bidden to life's equal feast,

The starving many wait upon the few; Where He hath spoken peace, His name hath been The loudest war-cry of contending men; Priests, pale with vigils, in His name have blessed The unsheathed sword, and laid the spear in rest, Wet the war-banner with their sacred wine, And crossed its blazon with the holy sign; Yea, in His name who bade the erring live, And daily taught His lesson-to forgive! Twisted the cord, and edged the murderous steel; And, with His words of mercy on their lips, Hung gloating o'er the pincer's burning grips,

And the grim horror of the straining wheel; Fed the slow flame which gnawed the victim's limb, Who saw before his searing eye-balls swim

The image of their Christ, in cruel zeal, Through the black torment-smoke, held mockingly

to him!

The blood which mingled with the desert sand,
And beaded with its red and ghastly dew,
The vines and olives of the Holy Land-

The shrieking curses of the hunted Jew-
The white-sown bones of heretics, where'er
They sank beneath the Crusade's holy spear-
Goa's dark dungeons-Malta's sea-washed cell,
Where with the hymns the ghostly fathers sung,
Mingled the groans by subtle torture wrung,
Heaven's anthem blending with the shriek of Hell!
The midnight of Bartholomew-the stake

Of Smithfield, and that thrice-accursed flame Which Calvin kindled by Geneva's lake— New England's scaffold, and the priestly sueer

Which mocked its victims in that hour of fear, When guilt itself a human tear might claim— Bear witness, O Thou wronged and merciful One! That earth's most hateful crimes have in Thy name been done!

Thank God! that I have lived to see the time
When the great truth begins at last to find
An utterance from the deep heart of mankind,
Earnest and clear, that ALL REVENGE IS CRIME!

That man is holier than a creed-that all

Restraint upon him must consult his good, Hope's sunshine linger on his prison wall,

And Love look in upon his solitude. The beautiful lesson which our Saviour taught Through long, dark centuries, its way has wrought Into the common mind and popular thought; And words, to which by Galilee's lake shore The humble fishers listened with hushed oar, Have found an echo in the general heart, And of the public faith become a living part.

Who shall arrest this tendency? Bring back
The cells of Venice and the bigot's rack?
Harden the softening human heart again,
To cold indifference to a brother's pain?
Ye most unhappy men!-who, turn'd away
From the mild sunshine of the gospel day,

Grope in the shadows of man's twilight time,
What mean ye, that with ghoul-like zest ye brood
O'er those foul altars streaming with warm blood,
Permitted in another age and clime?
Why cite that law with which the bigot Jew
Rebuked the Pagan's mercy, when he knew
No evil in the Just One?-Wherefore turn
To the dark, cruel past?-Can ye not learn
From the pure Teacher's life, how mildly free
Is the great Gospel of Humanity?
The Flamen's knife is bloodless, and no more
Mexitli's altars soak with human gore;
No more the ghastly sacrifices smoke
Through the green arches of the Druid's oak;
And ye of milder faith, with your high claim
Of prophet-utterance in the Holiest name,
Will ye become the Druids of our time?

Set up your scaffold-altars in our land, And, consecrators of law's darkest crime,

Urge to its loathsome work the hangman's hand? Beware-lest human nature, roused at last, From its peeled shoulder your incumbrance cast,

And, sick to loathing of your cry for blood, Rank you with those who led their victims round The Celt's red altar and the Indian's mound, Abhorred of Earth and Heaven-a pagan brotherhood!

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