The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPrison Poetry

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPrison PoetryThis 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 atwww.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: Prison PoetryAuthor: Hiram Peck McKnightRelease date: May 17, 2014 [eBook #45674]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Giovanni Fini, Caroluyn Jablonski and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISON POETRY ***

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 atwww.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: Prison PoetryAuthor: Hiram Peck McKnightRelease date: May 17, 2014 [eBook #45674]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Giovanni Fini, Caroluyn Jablonski and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive)

Title: Prison Poetry

Author: Hiram Peck McKnight

Release date: May 17, 2014 [eBook #45674]Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Giovanni Fini, Caroluyn Jablonski and theOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net(This file was produced from images generously madeavailable by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISON POETRY ***

In leisure moments cast a lookUpon the pages of this book;And if your thoughts they should engage,Just think of me who wrote this page.And if by chance, in your time of leisure,You, in these pages, should find pleasure,Then dart your mind up to this cell,For here I live in an earthly HELL.

DEDICATION.Go forth, thou little volume,I leave thee to thy fate!To those who read thee faithfullyThy leaves I dedicate.But if your fate should be so sadAs mine who thee have writ,I'd be so vexed to think that IHad made such a poor "hit."But if by chance you meet a friendAlong life's road so dreary,Just cheer his mind till he is blind,And never make him weary.Teach him the way, the live-long day,To lend a helping hand,And never turn or even spurnThose wrecked on life's hard strand.If chance should be you return to me,Along with harvest's golden,I'll vouch for thee to all who see,That thou wilt not embolden.And now go forth, thou little book,I leave thee to thy fate!To those who read thee faithfullyThy leaves I dedicate.

Go forth, thou little volume,I leave thee to thy fate!

To those who read thee faithfullyThy leaves I dedicate.

But if your fate should be so sadAs mine who thee have writ,

I'd be so vexed to think that IHad made such a poor "hit."

But if by chance you meet a friendAlong life's road so dreary,

Just cheer his mind till he is blind,And never make him weary.

Teach him the way, the live-long day,To lend a helping hand,

And never turn or even spurnThose wrecked on life's hard strand.

If chance should be you return to me,Along with harvest's golden,

I'll vouch for thee to all who see,That thou wilt not embolden.

And now go forth, thou little book,I leave thee to thy fate!

To those who read thee faithfullyThy leaves I dedicate.

PREFACE.In the preparation of the verses that fill these pages I have been helped by some of the prisoners of this institution. The donors have been somewhat few, for which I return thanks; but each and every verse is a fair representation of the many phases that the mind of a prisoner passes through, and of his true sentiment. Those that have been donated by my fellow prisoners are accredited to them by either their name or serial number. Some of the verses have been published in our prison "News," but inasmuch as they have reached only an inconsiderable few outside the prison walls, I prepare this little volume and hand it to the wide, wide world. My motto, in so doing, is:May you who enjoy the blessings of liberty and worldly freedom, partake with us of our solitary musings, and enjoy our noblest thoughts and resolutions, as well as for us to enjoy yours; and that you may know that we are not devoid of true, manly, noble principle simply because we are cast—some justly, others unjustly—into prison.May we exchange greetings with you all—shake—and if by chance I have been fortunate enough to interest you, I am well compensated; but if I have been more fortunate, and given you—even one of you—a line of noble, good thoughts and advice—I say, "May the seed fall on good ground and bring forth good fruit; may it not be wasted upon barren rock." In my work on "Crime and Criminals" many of these verses will appear in the "Appendix."Very truly yours,H. P. McKNIGHT,A. D. 1896.O. P., Columbus, O., U. S. A.

In the preparation of the verses that fill these pages I have been helped by some of the prisoners of this institution. The donors have been somewhat few, for which I return thanks; but each and every verse is a fair representation of the many phases that the mind of a prisoner passes through, and of his true sentiment. Those that have been donated by my fellow prisoners are accredited to them by either their name or serial number. Some of the verses have been published in our prison "News," but inasmuch as they have reached only an inconsiderable few outside the prison walls, I prepare this little volume and hand it to the wide, wide world. My motto, in so doing, is:

May you who enjoy the blessings of liberty and worldly freedom, partake with us of our solitary musings, and enjoy our noblest thoughts and resolutions, as well as for us to enjoy yours; and that you may know that we are not devoid of true, manly, noble principle simply because we are cast—some justly, others unjustly—into prison.

May we exchange greetings with you all—shake—and if by chance I have been fortunate enough to interest you, I am well compensated; but if I have been more fortunate, and given you—even one of you—a line of noble, good thoughts and advice—I say, "May the seed fall on good ground and bring forth good fruit; may it not be wasted upon barren rock." In my work on "Crime and Criminals" many of these verses will appear in the "Appendix."

Very truly yours,

H. P. McKNIGHT,

INTRODUCTION.True models of poetic art.Should please the ear and touch the heart:Stamp on the plastic mind of youthDue reverence for Eternal Truth.Paint field and flower in nature's hues,Give to the world the heart's best news,Or, lightly tripping o'er the page,Rejuvenate the blood of age.The sacred Muse should ne'er descend.Vice to guild, nor wound a friend.Heaven gave no man poetic art,Save to improve the human heart.You may not find, in coming page,The ripened wisdom of the age:Yet youwillfind, untrained by art,The deathless music of the heart:And truth shall caress each flaming line.Inspired by The Tuneful Nine;No fear of man nor greed of praiseShall make or mar our tuneful lays;We simply voice the ripest thoughtOf prisoned souls with meaning fraught.Yours it is to praise or blameMy effort to deserve a name!

True models of poetic art.Should please the ear and touch the heart:Stamp on the plastic mind of youthDue reverence for Eternal Truth.Paint field and flower in nature's hues,Give to the world the heart's best news,Or, lightly tripping o'er the page,Rejuvenate the blood of age.The sacred Muse should ne'er descend.Vice to guild, nor wound a friend.Heaven gave no man poetic art,Save to improve the human heart.

You may not find, in coming page,The ripened wisdom of the age:Yet youwillfind, untrained by art,The deathless music of the heart:And truth shall caress each flaming line.Inspired by The Tuneful Nine;No fear of man nor greed of praiseShall make or mar our tuneful lays;We simply voice the ripest thoughtOf prisoned souls with meaning fraught.Yours it is to praise or blameMy effort to deserve a name!

CONTENTS.PAGE.Acrostic to Warden and Mrs. Coffin,ByMcKnight93-95Acrostic to Chaplain and Mrs. Winget,""183-185Acrostic (Initial),""167Acrostic to Capt. J. C. Langenberger,"Van Weighs148Acrostic to Dr. H. R. Parker,"Harrison168Acrostic to Harry Smith,"Van Weighs150A tribute to Capt. Geo. W. Hess,"" "143A Letter From Home,"2413842A Memorial Ode,"Van Weighs110-111A Prisoner's Thanksgiving,"McKnight20-21A Prisoner's Lamentation,""63-64A Prayer For Justice,""87A Prison Vision,"Harrison95-107A Query,"Morse69-70A Sad Warning,"Harrison146-147An Appreciated Friend,"McKnight114-115Be Lenient to the Errant One,"Harrison37Birthday Musings,"Van Weighs88Coming In and Going Out,"Carr50-51Conclusion,"McKnight194Dreams,""48Ella Ree's Revenge,""171-178Erratic Musings of Unfettered Thought,"Harrison25-36Forget? No, Never!"McKnight18Freedom,""17God Bless Them,""18Guilt's Queries and Truth's Replies,"Harrison41-42Hope,"Law39Hope—Eternity,"McKnight21How To Be Happy In Prison,"2270023In Prison,"Harrison24Influence,"Law36Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged,""72Kindness,"Roth46Lines To My Cell,"McKnight111-112Lines To My Wife,"Harrison169Love's Victim,"McKnight58-63Last Night In the Dungeon,""38-39Midnight Musings,""68-69Mother,"Overstreet19My Lawyer,"Gilbert144-145My Mother,"Carr109-110My Prison Garden,"McKnight11Our Board of Managers,""65-66One and a Few,"2106967-68Out of the Depths,"Harrison170Prison Pains,""45Prisoners,"McKnight83Perfect Peace,"McKnight37Reflections,""43-44Rhyme and Reason,""11-16Stray Thoughts,""70-72Salome's Revenge,""115-142She Loves Me Yet,"Harrison149Soul Sculpture,"Doane51The Storms of Life,"Law57The Prisoner Released,"Col. Parsons44The Convict's Prayer,"Harrison73The Great "O. P.""McKnight49The Fall of Sodom,""75-80" " " Canto Second,""78-80There Is No Death,""47The Murderer's Dream,""179-182The Prisoner's Mother,"Mrs. Wirick22The Reformer,"Law43The Under Dog,"Barker45-46The Phantom Boat,"Harrison151-169To A Departed Idol,"Van Weighs91-92Tribute to Dr. G. A. Tharp,"" "113Tribute to the Wolfe Sisters,"Harrison89-91Tribute to the Wolfe Sisters,"McKnight81-82Tribute to Capt. Joseph Smith Acheson,"Harrison108Tribute to Capt. L. H. Wells,"Van Weighs66-67The Mind's the Standard of the Man,"McKnight185-190The Author's Farewell,""192-193Two Letters,"Harrison84-86Weight and Immortality of Words,"McKnight52-53Which Loved Her Best,""54-57Wine vs. Water,""74-75Would They Know,"Collier40

PRISON POETRY.PRELUDE.If you prefer the sounding line,Go read some master of the Nine!Good taste perhaps you will display;Let others read my simple layThat gushes from an honest heartUnawed by fear, unstrained by art.I ne'er will prostitute my MuseThe rich to praise, nor poor abuse;But simply sing as best I canWhate'er may bless my fellow man;I dare not stain a single pageWith outbursts of unreasoning rage,But if one sorrow I can sootheOr one his rugged pathway smooth;One pain relieve, one joy impart,'Twill ease the burden of a heartThat has known for weary yearsNo solace save unbidden tears.Hard is the heart that will refuseDue merit to the Prison Muse.May heaven watch the prisoner's wealAnd mankind for his sorrow feel!

PRISON POETRY.

If you prefer the sounding line,Go read some master of the Nine!Good taste perhaps you will display;Let others read my simple layThat gushes from an honest heartUnawed by fear, unstrained by art.I ne'er will prostitute my MuseThe rich to praise, nor poor abuse;But simply sing as best I canWhate'er may bless my fellow man;I dare not stain a single pageWith outbursts of unreasoning rage,But if one sorrow I can sootheOr one his rugged pathway smooth;One pain relieve, one joy impart,'Twill ease the burden of a heartThat has known for weary yearsNo solace save unbidden tears.Hard is the heart that will refuseDue merit to the Prison Muse.May heaven watch the prisoner's wealAnd mankind for his sorrow feel!

My Prison Garden.In this mind's garden thoughts shall grow,And in their freshness bud and blow;Thoughts to which love has beauty lentAnd memories sweet of sentiment.Now, if I cultivate them right good,They'll furnish me with my mind's food.My enemies may my corpus hail,While onward, upward, thoughts will sailTo realms above, where all is peace,And where the soul may rest with ease.

In this mind's garden thoughts shall grow,And in their freshness bud and blow;Thoughts to which love has beauty lentAnd memories sweet of sentiment.Now, if I cultivate them right good,They'll furnish me with my mind's food.My enemies may my corpus hail,While onward, upward, thoughts will sailTo realms above, where all is peace,And where the soul may rest with ease.

Rhyme and Reason.In contravention of the laws of right,Man's cruel passion and his guilty might,Has bound me tightly with a galling chainOf heaped-up malice and unjust disdain!From front rank lawyer to a felon's cell,Through perjured villains, not by sin I fell!By fiat law my body was consignedTo this grim cell for guilty ones designed.Yet I'm no convict—I have never knownThe deep remorse by guilty wretches shown!I am a martyr—doomed by adverse fateTo brave the billows of malicious hate!Yet I am free, for Nature's august planMakes MIND notmatterconstitute the MAN.Tho' men may curse me and cast out my name,Like some vile bauble on the sea of shame;Brand me as murderer or catiff thief,Or atheistic infidel—steepid in unbelief;Foe to all that's pure and good—wretch unfit to live;Outlaw whom no honest man can even pity give!Yet my soul will still defy your prison bolts and bars,And soaring far on eager wings beyond the faintest stars,Live in a world to you unknown, where only poet soulCan bask in beauty undefiled by cankering control!In vain is all your hate and scorn—vain your prison blight;God loves me, and I feel assured that all will yet be right!I know one law—a perfect law, by Nature's self designed—'Tis Heaven's dearest gift to man—The Freedom of the Mind!If minds and hearts were easy read as faces we can see,Society would lose its dread and many a prisoner free!But what, alas! do people care what's in another's brain?They only seek to hide their share of misery and pain.Were all compelled to truthful be and show their inner life—Great heavens! what a jamboree of sin and shame and strife!How few would measure half a span if Mind alone we closely scan!Where is the man on this broad earth, so pure, so good, so true,That never gave an action birth he dared not bring to view?The Christ alone was sinless here, none other lives aright;All human goodness springs from fear of death's approaching night!There is no soul so white I know but what temptation's powerIts purity can overthrow and all its good deflower!Disguise the truth as best we can, heerrsthe most who most isMan!Come, let us take a journey, with cathode rays supplied,And view the greatest and good in all their pomp and pride!Examine first the churches, where the godly crewTeach poor erring mortals what is best to do.They tell us human nature isonceand always wrong,And prove man's deep depravity in sermon or by song.All natural passion is denounced as deep and deadly sin,Andtruthandvirtuepainted as graces hard to win.Heaven, they tell us, is a place with blisses running o'er;Hell, a lake of torture, where fiery billows roar!A choice eternal all must make between their birth and death;It may be made in early life or with expiring breath!But how this choice must be made each gives a separate plan,That clearly proves how narrow is the erring mind of Man.One tells us naught but good pursue, all evil to eschew;Another swears without God's grace no mortal thus can do;One bids us work salvation out with trembling and with fear,Another swears that God's elect should never shed a tear;One says all must live the life Jesus lived on earth.Another says it can't be done without a Second Birth!Some saywork, otherstrust, others still saywait;Some deem us mere automatons, saved or lost byFate!Some, with philanthropic views, declare all must be saved,Since Christ, the Perfect Offering forall, death's horrors braved!Since Christians never will agree, 'tis best that every manShould listen to his conscience, and do the best he can!God everhasandwilldo right! In His Eternal PlanThe time will come to setarightthe numerous wrongs ofMan!See yonder's pompous deacon, with diamonds clear and bright;He looks a model Christian—just turn on him your light.Great heavens! what a medley ofcantand sin and shame!If the half we see was ever told 'twould ruin his good name!But turn on yonder pastor your strange, mysterious light;I know he is a real good man, who loves Eternal Right.Ye holy saints, protect us!hetoo has gone amiss!When Siren Voice allured him with a seductive kiss!If half the prayers we utter be not a sounding lie,It is but little marvel that we are doomed to die!For each will plead forgiveness for thought or action done,Andnoneby spotless merit eternal bliss hath won.Then gently judge your fellow, his failings lightly scan;Like you, he can not cornerallthe brains of man!See, yonder is our Congress, where wits and fools unite,To declare by the nation's statute whatisfundamental right!They yell of patriotism and the majesty of Law,And are for once unanimous—their salaries to draw!Alas! alas! 'tis ever thus within our halls of State;Sweet Justice is blacklisted—thedollaris too great.Aye, even on judicial bench, where justice should be done,How scattering are the cases whereRightthe victory won!Lawyers, judge and juryexparteview the case—An angel would be ruined in the defendant's place!In vain is protestation, in vain a blameless life;Somemust bedoomed to prison when prejudice is rife!Law must keep its servants in stations high and proud,Tho' every hour should furnish a coffin and a shroud!The modern Shylock of today, unlike his friend of old,Demands the pound of quivering flesh andallhis victim's gold;Nor feels content until he sees his victim's hated faceBehind a wall of rock and steel in garments of disgrace.Then he will raise his dainty hands and loud applaud the lawThatcanprotect such beings, who live without a flaw.Hehas no pity for the weak, who thro' temptation fall,But freely spends histimeandmeansthe guileless to enthrall.He heapshismighty wrath and scorn on every evil done,And speaks in tones of pure disgust of poverty's pale son.But if you bid him look within and study his own heart,He has a task herculean—'tis such atinypart!And as for Mind—ye angels! in fair creation's plan'Twas given to his victim, and left himhalf a man!The modern Clytemnestra no dagger needs to use;She slays her Agamemnon within yourlegalpews,Since judges now are willing to sunder marriage ties,And juries are so truculent when blushing beauty lies.Or if she be aHelen, and Paris suits her taste,She hastes without compunction to lay her honor waste."Society" allows her to have "a special friend,"And a husband issohandy her good name to defend!But alas! Aspasiano mercyneed expect;Her Pericleslionized, but noneherworth detect!And as for poor Thargelianonewill takeherpart;She lives a social outcast, with broken, bleeding heart;But each base seducer, in our social plan.Makes poor, trusting woman bear the sins ofMan!Many men are now misjudged, and meet an awful fate,Whose innocence is published, but alas, it is too late!Many, too, are breathing freedom's precious airWhose vile conduct merits prison dress and fare.Onlylittlerascals in your prisonsdie,Whilestupendousvillians liberty can buy!Each one strives with fervor his neighbor to outshine,And he who has the most of gold is reckoned half divine.You scatter dark temptations around the poor man's path,And when he falls you pour on himallyour vicious wrath.Poverty in public lives all her deeds are seen;Wealth can build a castle herwickednessto screen.Yet many a noble woman and kingly man is foundAs toilers in your factories or tillers of the ground!If cathode rays were freely used to bring to human sightThe dirty methods villians use todamnEternal Right,Many men would be set free and others take their placeWho now can roll in luxury and laugh at their disgrace.A judge and jury now can sit andhanga man at will,But they say 'tis openmurderif butonedares kill!Take a ring of brass and plate it o'er with gold,And 'tis onlybusinesswhen the fraud is sold!Adulterate both food and drink, deal in deadly pills;Law will aid yourrobberyand collect your bills!Give to your profession but a sounding name,Then cut up the devil without fear or shame.Be sure to call itbusinesswhatever you may do,And if you have sufficientgallthat will pull you through.Now throughout this prison rays cathodal dart,And read the hidden secrets of each convict heart.Some have wrought vile deeds, and wrought them o'er and o'er,That surely proves them rotten to their inmost core.And here are wretched fiends, who with consumate art,Ravish every instinct of the human heart.Some men of wit and letters, cultured and refined,Others moral lepers, with heart and conscience blind.From drawing room and brothel, farm and city slum,Some by acts of justice, some through perjury come;The innocent and guilty, callow youth and age,All can be imprisoned in this Christian age!But they who seek for liberty no innocence must plead—Gold, and plenty of it, will be all they need.Some young souls are making, for a stated time,This, their maiden effort, on the sea of crime.Oh, Christians, teach them early what to me is plain;Crime everhasand everwillresult in lasting pain.Do not betoolenient, nortoosoon forgive,Lest allviceshould flourish and novirtuelive.Society demands it, theguiltyshould atone—But take care you punish those, and thosealone!Keep them in your prisons till byvirtueshownThey will know whatisand what isnottheir own.But let all be careful lest bywordoractThose who shouldreformthem from theirgoodsubtract.Rule them wisely, gently—by somehumaneplan,All their faults to conquer as best becomes a MAN.When your work is finished and their habits changed,them honest labor, by the State arranged;Show them honest laborcana living gain,While thesocial outcastharvestswantandshame!Treat them fairly, kindly; teach them all the trueWill be friendly with them whilethe rightthey do.Both principle and policy declare this course is wise;Then why longer act the fool and wisdom's voice despise?Crime nevercannorwilldecrease until inWisdom's SchoolMen learn the noted lesson, "RightthroughLaw should Rule."All tried plans are failures, this none dares deny;Now giveCommon Sensea show and failure dare defy.Dothis, and lash and pistol, now your sole defense,Shall give place to Reason and plain Common Sense!Courts are far too careless when they give men lifeFor offense unnoticed save in time of strife.Naught but some poor chicken or a ham he stole—Shall the devil purchase at such price a soul?If such petty crimes as this deserve such prison fare,Come now, honest reader, what isyourjust share?Was that old Greek right, who, tho' a man of sense,Could mete out death to all for each small offense?Apply his heartless rule, and can you truly sayAny man or woman would be left to slay?Man is only mortal, and to sin is prone;Never cure another's faults till you quit your own.Many are convicted by thepressat large;The Public Mind is rarely Heaven's peculiar charge.Bring the judge and jury who declared my fateFor the shining dollars furnished them by hate,And their guilty conscience by my own arrange,And then tell me frankly if my fate should change!Yet I had sooner die behind these bars of steelThan to have a heart of stone thatcouldnot feel!I know such human tigers, who fatten on distress,Nevercanandneverwill enjoy one hour of rest!Until all hate and malice, all greed and other sinIs burned by awful torture to leave them pure within!Godwillforgive each penitent whate'er his sin may be,Whose heart is overflowing withlovefor bond and free.Oh listen! brothers, listen—'tis Jehovah's plan—And atime is fixedto right the wrongs of Man.

In contravention of the laws of right,

Man's cruel passion and his guilty might,

Has bound me tightly with a galling chain

Of heaped-up malice and unjust disdain!

From front rank lawyer to a felon's cell,

Through perjured villains, not by sin I fell!

By fiat law my body was consigned

To this grim cell for guilty ones designed.

Yet I'm no convict—I have never known

The deep remorse by guilty wretches shown!

I am a martyr—doomed by adverse fate

To brave the billows of malicious hate!

Yet I am free, for Nature's august plan

Makes MIND notmatterconstitute the MAN.

Tho' men may curse me and cast out my name,

Like some vile bauble on the sea of shame;

Brand me as murderer or catiff thief,

Or atheistic infidel—steepid in unbelief;

Foe to all that's pure and good—wretch unfit to live;

Outlaw whom no honest man can even pity give!

Yet my soul will still defy your prison bolts and bars,

And soaring far on eager wings beyond the faintest stars,

Live in a world to you unknown, where only poet soul

Can bask in beauty undefiled by cankering control!

In vain is all your hate and scorn—vain your prison blight;

God loves me, and I feel assured that all will yet be right!

I know one law—a perfect law, by Nature's self designed—

'Tis Heaven's dearest gift to man—The Freedom of the Mind!

If minds and hearts were easy read as faces we can see,

Society would lose its dread and many a prisoner free!

But what, alas! do people care what's in another's brain?

They only seek to hide their share of misery and pain.

Were all compelled to truthful be and show their inner life—

Great heavens! what a jamboree of sin and shame and strife!

How few would measure half a span if Mind alone we closely scan!

Where is the man on this broad earth, so pure, so good, so true,

That never gave an action birth he dared not bring to view?

The Christ alone was sinless here, none other lives aright;

All human goodness springs from fear of death's approaching night!

There is no soul so white I know but what temptation's power

Its purity can overthrow and all its good deflower!

Disguise the truth as best we can, heerrsthe most who most isMan!

Come, let us take a journey, with cathode rays supplied,

And view the greatest and good in all their pomp and pride!

Examine first the churches, where the godly crew

Teach poor erring mortals what is best to do.

They tell us human nature isonceand always wrong,

And prove man's deep depravity in sermon or by song.

All natural passion is denounced as deep and deadly sin,

Andtruthandvirtuepainted as graces hard to win.

Heaven, they tell us, is a place with blisses running o'er;

Hell, a lake of torture, where fiery billows roar!

A choice eternal all must make between their birth and death;

It may be made in early life or with expiring breath!

But how this choice must be made each gives a separate plan,

That clearly proves how narrow is the erring mind of Man.

One tells us naught but good pursue, all evil to eschew;

Another swears without God's grace no mortal thus can do;

One bids us work salvation out with trembling and with fear,

Another swears that God's elect should never shed a tear;

One says all must live the life Jesus lived on earth.

Another says it can't be done without a Second Birth!

Some saywork, otherstrust, others still saywait;

Some deem us mere automatons, saved or lost byFate!

Some, with philanthropic views, declare all must be saved,

Since Christ, the Perfect Offering forall, death's horrors braved!

Since Christians never will agree, 'tis best that every man

Should listen to his conscience, and do the best he can!

God everhasandwilldo right! In His Eternal Plan

The time will come to setarightthe numerous wrongs ofMan!

See yonder's pompous deacon, with diamonds clear and bright;

He looks a model Christian—just turn on him your light.

Great heavens! what a medley ofcantand sin and shame!

If the half we see was ever told 'twould ruin his good name!

But turn on yonder pastor your strange, mysterious light;

I know he is a real good man, who loves Eternal Right.

Ye holy saints, protect us!hetoo has gone amiss!

When Siren Voice allured him with a seductive kiss!

If half the prayers we utter be not a sounding lie,

It is but little marvel that we are doomed to die!

For each will plead forgiveness for thought or action done,

Andnoneby spotless merit eternal bliss hath won.

Then gently judge your fellow, his failings lightly scan;

Like you, he can not cornerallthe brains of man!

See, yonder is our Congress, where wits and fools unite,

To declare by the nation's statute whatisfundamental right!

They yell of patriotism and the majesty of Law,

And are for once unanimous—their salaries to draw!

Alas! alas! 'tis ever thus within our halls of State;

Sweet Justice is blacklisted—thedollaris too great.

Aye, even on judicial bench, where justice should be done,

How scattering are the cases whereRightthe victory won!

Lawyers, judge and juryexparteview the case—

An angel would be ruined in the defendant's place!

In vain is protestation, in vain a blameless life;

Somemust bedoomed to prison when prejudice is rife!

Law must keep its servants in stations high and proud,

Tho' every hour should furnish a coffin and a shroud!

The modern Shylock of today, unlike his friend of old,

Demands the pound of quivering flesh andallhis victim's gold;

Nor feels content until he sees his victim's hated face

Behind a wall of rock and steel in garments of disgrace.

Then he will raise his dainty hands and loud applaud the law

Thatcanprotect such beings, who live without a flaw.

Hehas no pity for the weak, who thro' temptation fall,

But freely spends histimeandmeansthe guileless to enthrall.

He heapshismighty wrath and scorn on every evil done,

And speaks in tones of pure disgust of poverty's pale son.

But if you bid him look within and study his own heart,

He has a task herculean—'tis such atinypart!

And as for Mind—ye angels! in fair creation's plan

'Twas given to his victim, and left himhalf a man!

The modern Clytemnestra no dagger needs to use;

She slays her Agamemnon within yourlegalpews,

Since judges now are willing to sunder marriage ties,

And juries are so truculent when blushing beauty lies.

Or if she be aHelen, and Paris suits her taste,

She hastes without compunction to lay her honor waste.

"Society" allows her to have "a special friend,"

And a husband issohandy her good name to defend!

But alas! Aspasiano mercyneed expect;

Her Pericleslionized, but noneherworth detect!

And as for poor Thargelianonewill takeherpart;

She lives a social outcast, with broken, bleeding heart;

But each base seducer, in our social plan.

Makes poor, trusting woman bear the sins ofMan!

Many men are now misjudged, and meet an awful fate,

Whose innocence is published, but alas, it is too late!

Many, too, are breathing freedom's precious air

Whose vile conduct merits prison dress and fare.

Onlylittlerascals in your prisonsdie,

Whilestupendousvillians liberty can buy!

Each one strives with fervor his neighbor to outshine,

And he who has the most of gold is reckoned half divine.

You scatter dark temptations around the poor man's path,

And when he falls you pour on himallyour vicious wrath.

Poverty in public lives all her deeds are seen;

Wealth can build a castle herwickednessto screen.

Yet many a noble woman and kingly man is found

As toilers in your factories or tillers of the ground!

If cathode rays were freely used to bring to human sight

The dirty methods villians use todamnEternal Right,

Many men would be set free and others take their place

Who now can roll in luxury and laugh at their disgrace.

A judge and jury now can sit andhanga man at will,

But they say 'tis openmurderif butonedares kill!

Take a ring of brass and plate it o'er with gold,

And 'tis onlybusinesswhen the fraud is sold!

Adulterate both food and drink, deal in deadly pills;

Law will aid yourrobberyand collect your bills!

Give to your profession but a sounding name,

Then cut up the devil without fear or shame.

Be sure to call itbusinesswhatever you may do,

And if you have sufficientgallthat will pull you through.

Now throughout this prison rays cathodal dart,

And read the hidden secrets of each convict heart.

Some have wrought vile deeds, and wrought them o'er and o'er,

That surely proves them rotten to their inmost core.

And here are wretched fiends, who with consumate art,

Ravish every instinct of the human heart.

Some men of wit and letters, cultured and refined,

Others moral lepers, with heart and conscience blind.

From drawing room and brothel, farm and city slum,

Some by acts of justice, some through perjury come;

The innocent and guilty, callow youth and age,

All can be imprisoned in this Christian age!

But they who seek for liberty no innocence must plead—

Gold, and plenty of it, will be all they need.

Some young souls are making, for a stated time,

This, their maiden effort, on the sea of crime.

Oh, Christians, teach them early what to me is plain;

Crime everhasand everwillresult in lasting pain.

Do not betoolenient, nortoosoon forgive,

Lest allviceshould flourish and novirtuelive.

Society demands it, theguiltyshould atone—

But take care you punish those, and thosealone!

Keep them in your prisons till byvirtueshown

They will know whatisand what isnottheir own.

But let all be careful lest bywordoract

Those who shouldreformthem from theirgoodsubtract.

Rule them wisely, gently—by somehumaneplan,

All their faults to conquer as best becomes a MAN.

When your work is finished and their habits changed,

them honest labor, by the State arranged;

Show them honest laborcana living gain,

While thesocial outcastharvestswantandshame!

Treat them fairly, kindly; teach them all the true

Will be friendly with them whilethe rightthey do.

Both principle and policy declare this course is wise;

Then why longer act the fool and wisdom's voice despise?

Crime nevercannorwilldecrease until inWisdom's School

Men learn the noted lesson, "RightthroughLaw should Rule."

All tried plans are failures, this none dares deny;

Now giveCommon Sensea show and failure dare defy.

Dothis, and lash and pistol, now your sole defense,

Shall give place to Reason and plain Common Sense!

Courts are far too careless when they give men life

For offense unnoticed save in time of strife.

Naught but some poor chicken or a ham he stole—

Shall the devil purchase at such price a soul?

If such petty crimes as this deserve such prison fare,

Come now, honest reader, what isyourjust share?

Was that old Greek right, who, tho' a man of sense,

Could mete out death to all for each small offense?

Apply his heartless rule, and can you truly say

Any man or woman would be left to slay?

Man is only mortal, and to sin is prone;

Never cure another's faults till you quit your own.

Many are convicted by thepressat large;

The Public Mind is rarely Heaven's peculiar charge.

Bring the judge and jury who declared my fate

For the shining dollars furnished them by hate,

And their guilty conscience by my own arrange,

And then tell me frankly if my fate should change!

Yet I had sooner die behind these bars of steel

Than to have a heart of stone thatcouldnot feel!

I know such human tigers, who fatten on distress,

Nevercanandneverwill enjoy one hour of rest!

Until all hate and malice, all greed and other sin

Is burned by awful torture to leave them pure within!

Godwillforgive each penitent whate'er his sin may be,

Whose heart is overflowing withlovefor bond and free.

Oh listen! brothers, listen—'tis Jehovah's plan—

And atime is fixedto right the wrongs of Man.

Freedom.How sweet thou art, O freedom.To every human heart—Man's privilege most sacred.His being's noblest part.Thou priceless, great possession,Without thee life were done!Its sun gone down forever,For thou and life are one.How dear thou art, O freedom—Our birthright here below!Chief blessing of all blessingsKind heaven doth bestow.Deprived by dark misfortuneOf every other joy,Naught while thou still remainestCan happiness destroy.But thou, O prison penance,Dark shadow by life's board!Of all that men hold mournfulThou art the fullest stored.There's naught on earth worth havingIf't must be shared with thee—O happy, holy freedom!O heaven, set me free.

How sweet thou art, O freedom.To every human heart—

Man's privilege most sacred.His being's noblest part.

Thou priceless, great possession,Without thee life were done!

Its sun gone down forever,For thou and life are one.

How dear thou art, O freedom—Our birthright here below!

Chief blessing of all blessingsKind heaven doth bestow.

Deprived by dark misfortuneOf every other joy,

Naught while thou still remainestCan happiness destroy.

But thou, O prison penance,Dark shadow by life's board!

Of all that men hold mournfulThou art the fullest stored.

There's naught on earth worth havingIf't must be shared with thee—

O happy, holy freedom!O heaven, set me free.

God Bless ThemGod bless the mothers of this land!They are so good and true;And all the sisters of their band,They are so noble, too.If we don't treat them with respect,And court their wholesome 'fluence,Our morals will not be correct,And we will suffer hence.If women are not treated with respect, and made to exercise an influence over the social world, the standard of private virtue and public opinion will be lowered, and the morals of men will suffer.

God bless the mothers of this land!They are so good and true;

And all the sisters of their band,They are so noble, too.

If we don't treat them with respect,And court their wholesome 'fluence,

Our morals will not be correct,And we will suffer hence.

If women are not treated with respect, and made to exercise an influence over the social world, the standard of private virtue and public opinion will be lowered, and the morals of men will suffer.

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