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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
POETICAL WRITINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 ISAAC M. INMAN 
 
 SEASIDE EDITION 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 THE "MODIFIER," AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 Nbw York. 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE TRADE. 
 
 1883. 
 
-Il 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 
 
 ISAAC M. INMAN. 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LIFE . 
 
 13 
 
 THE FLAME 
 
 14 
 
 GOD 
 
 15 
 
 SHADOWS . . 
 
 16 
 
 SCIENCE 
 
 17 
 
 RUM AND SUPERSTITION 
 
 19 
 
 CONSUMPTION 
 
 20 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 22 
 
 PHYSIC 
 
 23 
 
 TO SWEAR BEFOREHAND .... 
 
 24 
 
 NECESSITY 
 
 25 
 
 THE OATH 
 
 26 
 
 ATOMS 
 
 27 
 
 VERSE 
 
 28 
 
 A SUGGESTION 
 
 29 
 
 DIGESTION 
 
 30 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 32 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PERFECTION 33 
 
 THE SCRIPTURE ■ . . 34 
 
 LONGEVITY 36 
 
 PIRATES 37 
 
 JUSTICE . 38 
 
 THE MILL 40 
 
 AGE 41 
 
 THE SPIRIT 42 
 
 LEARNING 45 
 
 DEAREST MOTHER 48 
 
 PAIN 50 
 
 PARNELL 53 
 
 DARWIN 57 
 
 THE HEALTH 53 
 
 HYGIENE .67 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS 73 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT 75 
 
 BEECHER 77 
 
 DEATH 78 
 
 INFIDELS 80 
 
 ASSISTANCE 81 
 
 MONSTROSITY 82 
 
PREFACE 
 
 When physic clogs, oh! then we go 
 
 The road to over Jordan, 
 
 But exercises seldom fail 
 
 To ease us of our burden. 
 
 Rocks have gold and wisdom thorns, 
 
 The lion teeth and cattle horns ; 
 
 The pen a point to prick the ear 
 
 That modern thought may wisdom hear ; 
 
 The dove can coo, the sheep can bleat, 
 
 The winds can blow and waters meet ; 
 
 The stars may shine, the planets glow, 
 
 The sun consume all here below ; 
 
 The churchmen rail, and kings may rule, 
 
 The teacher criticise his school ; 
 
 A chief may sway an ignorant horde, 
 
 Who see no further than their lord ; 
 
 And the physician claim his pay, 
 
 Because he turns disease away ; 
 
 And I. in differing, with the rest 
 
 Can have my way ; as 1 think best. 
 
13 
 
 LIFE. 
 
 The earth from desolation took its rise, 
 And change in form is all the word implies; 
 Nor yet creation can the mind conceive, 
 But change of form in, all that we believe. 
 Like to a lamp which serves our purpose well, 
 When oil and fire and wick ignited dwell, 
 The wick and oil ignited turn to flame, — 
 Thus flesh and blood to life, and so remain; 
 And still like fire is in all nature hid, 
 Which comes to light when proper measures bid; 
 So mind in matter, in the stars that glow, 
 The earth, the ocean, and all that we know. 
 As is the body when the life has fled, 
 As is the life when from the body sped, 
 As God conceived the great designs we see 
 In space beyond us and on earth that be, 
 
14 THE FLAME. 
 
 So man took part in the existing plan, 
 As earth is part of matter that we scan, 
 The mind is God in matter, man and beast; 
 . In bird and insect, or what lives the least, 
 In tree and shrub, in every flower that blooms, 
 On every planet, or where life presumes, 
 All that has life or in the future will 
 All that exist no other end fulfill. 
 And every death wherein disease has wrought 
 The fatal end, prevention can be taught; 
 Nor with the past still longer to lament 
 What labor can perform nor art prevent. 
 
 THE FLAME. 
 
 The flame which rends the forest oak 
 
 Produces residue and smoke, 
 
 The gorgeous plumage of the tree 
 
 No longer bears divinity; 
 
 But that which gave it life before 
 
 Renews again with plumage o'er. 
 
GOD. 15 
 
 Life in the atmosphere abounds, 
 In ocean dwells, and space surrounds, 
 O'er every mountain and its vale, 
 On every hill and in its dale. 
 Thus life is common that we see 
 In man and beast, in bird and tree, 
 In all that in the air abound, 
 Within the sea, upon the ground. 
 
 GOD. 
 
 The mind is God which on the brain descends, 
 Producing thought imperfect in its ends. 
 
16 
 
 SHADOWS. 
 
 Christ, the delight of all mankind, 
 
 And highest figure of the mind; 
 
 The hero of this world of ours, 
 
 Where sin or wickedness devours; 
 
 Whose precepts are above the view 
 
 Of all that human can subdue; 
 
 And like the planets which display 
 
 Another's light to all they may; 
 
 And like the birds which deck the air 
 
 With arts above the human pair. 
 
 The poor, he promised a reward 
 
 As truly given by the Lord; 
 
 And none are Christians who despise 
 
 The poor, the ignorant or unwise. 
 
 The greatest wisdom is to see 
 
 The power of God in earth and sea; 
 
 To comprehend his mighty plan 
 
 In all the universal clan; 
 
 Nor is there in this modern age 
 
 A church which represents the Sage. 
 
 'Tis strange, indeed, divines may know 
 
 All learning that the world can show, 
 
 Nor yet contaminate the good 
 
 In churches taught if learning would; 
 
SCIENCE. 17 
 
 Hence we behold within their sphere 
 
 A monarchial atmosphere; 
 
 And none has wisdom who defends 
 
 The ignorance which the church comments. 
 
 Christ's teachings are by none fulfilled, 
 
 By some approached, by others willed ; 
 
 Yet who can still observe and see, 
 
 But lack in their efficiency, 
 
 And which has emanated from 
 
 The selfishness in priesthooddom. 
 
 SCIENCE. 
 
 The Church in morality further excels 
 Than all other wisdom we know; 
 
 And hence I will praise her for all she expels 
 Of that which increases our woe. 
 
 And, like a fond mother, she oft will caress 
 Her offspring, though guilty they be; 
 
18 SCIENCE. 
 
 While the strong hand of Science will never evade, 
 But will argue till both shall agree. 
 
 Trie father and mother of all that we know, — 
 
 But contentions will often arise; 
 And while the fond mother cannot look below, 
 
 The father will not view the skies. 
 
 So onward they plod in rapture's embrace, 
 
 Dissenting each step as they go; 
 Till a thousand bright years as onward they chase, 
 
 As a day to us mortals below. 
 
 The spires oi her palaces reach to the skies, 
 While gcience her workman has none 
 
 Bedecked with the jewels from earth and on high 
 Of all that her workman hath won. 
 
 When the twain are united in action and thought, 
 Then the highest productions will rise ; 
 
 But while disconnected, no matter how taught, 
 The two will each other despise. 
 
19 
 
 RUM AND SUPERSTITION 
 
 Rum and Superstition are the same, 
 
 Nor any difference can we name, 
 
 Yet opposites as poisons do 
 
 But counteract each other, too; 
 
 And either makes the mind appear 
 
 Unto itself as wholly clear. 
 
 One gives a fortune in an hour, 
 
 The other supernatural pow.er: 
 
 Hence, take my purse or aught you find, 
 
 And give me liberty of mind. 
 
 But of the two, their victims lay 
 
 As ten to one religion's way; 
 
 And he who lives till threescore years 
 
 And ten have passed, between them steers. 
 
20- 
 
 CONSUMPTION. 
 
 Consumption is the first I will describe, 
 
 Of all the horrid ills that men betide. 
 
 Should earth but cease its motion round the sun, 
 
 Then were consumption of the earth begun; 
 
 Imagine what infections then would spring 
 
 Upon the earth to every living thing. 
 
 To eat and drink will not suffice for man, 
 
 But like the earth he must a circle span, 
 
 And every law which may to health apply 
 
 Fulfill it quite or of diseases die. 
 
 Consumption is the chief of all the ills 
 
 That indolence contracts and work expels. 
 
 Disease and lightning have one end in view 
 
 To crush the filthy and the good renew. 
 
 Dyspepsia is the next I choose to treat 
 
 As one effect of indolence we meet. 
 
 All fevers from dyspepsia take their rise, 
 
 As waters from the ocean flood the skies; 
 
 And what the earth without those waters were 
 
 The system without labor can infer. 
 
 As all diseases have their source and flow 
 
 Through lack of effort, we a cure may know; 
 
 An effort to restrain from overcare, 
 
 To leave undone that which will health impair; 
 
CONSUMPTION. 21 
 
 To exercise the mind more than the frame, 
 When health requires it, or the mind restrain ; 
 To change our habits, or increase our care, 
 To give to others what is not our share. 
 The brute alone beneath the power to choose 
 Must subject be, because it cannot use 
 The power of thought, the exercise of miud, 
 The energy of will and frame combined. 
 No fears of death enchant us nor disarm, 
 Like serpents' eyes upon the birds they charm, 
 
22 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 That which compels is what we heed, 
 From error free 'twill bless the deed ; 
 Like to the lever and the press, 
 Hydraulic power, the world to bless. 
 
 'Tis not in learning, nor in books 
 By infidels, 'tis in the testament he looks, 
 Beyond them all and sees a light 
 Which with his faith obscures the night. 
 
 Since culture then is what we need, 
 To cultivate, he then must read 
 The Scriptures over many times, 
 Without he sought, within he finds 
 
 The pathway open to his view 
 Where good for evil he must do ; 
 To love his foe more than his friend 
 And to the bad assistance lend ; 
 
 To study nature's laws and do, 
 As Christ has taught we have in view ; 
 Whose will is still within our frame 
 With life implanted to remain. 
 
23 
 
 PHYSIC 
 
 In the absence of knowledge we take that which 
 brings 
 
 The greatest influence for good, 
 And thus with religions, the moral man sings 
 
 A chorus by him understood. 
 
 As a child while in creeping makes effort to walk, 
 
 Considering each object a prize 
 That assists in the least, and to it will talk, 
 
 But later such efforts despise, 
 
 So when we are able to resist a disease 
 
 By mental and physical law, 
 We'll forsake the weak efforts we made then of 
 these 
 
 And the worship of objects we saw. 
 
24 
 
 TO SWEAR BEFOREHAND. 
 
 Excuse my wanderings which appear 
 So unconfined to christian faith ; 
 
 Christ taught that no one should foreswear ; 
 To break His laws is our disgrace. 
 
 But we foreswear because He taught 
 
 That it is sinful so to do ; 
 Foreswearing means to swear before ; 
 
 That we'll perform the act in view. 
 
 The greatest ill that e'er befell 
 
 The human race which He foresaw ; 
 
 But let your words be yes, or no 
 To judge and jury, or withdraw. 
 
 I see within the sacred book, 
 Its teachings are by far the best 
 
 To do, believe, nor further look, 
 Since nought in other giveth rest. 
 
 Swear not at all, is what He taught, 
 
 By heaven, nor earth, nor aught besides ; 
 
 Nor on the Scripture which He wrought — 
 Since each translation alters wide. 
 
25 
 
 NECESSITY. 
 
 Some things I see as necessary quite 
 To health preserve for him who takes delight. 
 The first is that I may conviction bring, 
 The second is that truth o'er falsehood wing ; 
 The third is to believe, the fourth to see, 
 The fifth to do, the sixth to equal be ; 
 The seventh is to labor when he feels 
 That indigestion through his system steals ; 
 The eighth to know what causes the abuse, 
 The ninth a remedy and proper use. 
 All fevers, aches, — nor can we name an ill 
 That effort will not cure, if so we will ; 
 The high, the low, the rich and poor, alike 
 Fall victims to the snare, with health in sight 
 
26 
 
 THE OATH, 
 
 The oath includes the superstitions taught 
 In all religions, nor perfection sought ; 
 And thus, sectarian in the highest sense, 
 Enforcing all, nor offering defence. 
 Thus, may we shudder, at our nation's wrong 
 Of idol worship, which it helps along 
 In e'er rejecting what is not of creed, 
 Despising honor, if from error freed. 
 A perfect mind is not the chief delight 
 Of this, our nation, to enforce the right ; 
 But, superstitions it at once admits 
 And in admitting, it the more begets. 
 
27 
 
 ATOMS 
 
 As a single drop of water 
 
 To a river in its fall, 
 So is man, nor less important 
 
 Than the God who ruleth all ; 
 
 As a river to an ocean, 
 
 Giving increase to the store, 
 
 So is man, — with all rewarded 
 
 That he gives, — to God, and more. 
 
 As an ocean to the ether, 
 
 As the planets to the sun, 
 So is man to God, to either, 
 
 And to each and every one ; 
 
 As the system to all others 
 Where the mind alone can go, 
 
 So is all the eye discerneth 
 
 When compared with what we know ; 
 
 As that which, in comprehending, 
 Fills the mind with peace and joy, 
 
 So, the smallest sin offending 
 Changes it to an alloy. 
 
28 
 
 VERSE. 
 
 Some kinds of verse my soul rejects, 
 And some enliven and inflame 
 
 My inward sense to see ; 
 Though by one hand they both were wrought. 
 Yet half is dead to inward thought 
 
 Nor all relates for me ; 
 
 But other minds the rest entrance, 
 Absorbing interest and advance 
 
 In fields where they delight ; 
 So bees for honey roam at will, 
 And find reserved for them to fill 
 
 Their sacks, and take their flight. 
 
 While others still on prose are bent, 
 And nectar find to their content, 
 
 And loathe poetic minds ; 
 But of the two I must confess, 
 That poetry so gaily dressed, 
 
 To higher flight inclines. 
 
29 
 
 A SUGGESTION. 
 
 Religions, so true, but the future should view, 
 
 And not, to the present confine 
 Their prophecies, with, a promise to give 
 
 What labor, alone, can devine. 
 
 If their good, has surmounted the evils I've 
 counted, 
 
 In admitting that health is in law, 
 That may I discover, as of truth I'm a lover, 
 
 And in future detraction withdraw : 
 
 And yet I affirm it ; as, we may discern it, 
 
 That all in compliance does rest ; 
 But, that health through digestion, is out of the 
 question, 
 
 Unless, with religion we're blessed. 
 
30 
 
 DIGESTION 
 
 How thousands suffer from the dire effects 
 Of indigestion, and its rules complex ! 
 A thousand arrows furrow through the brain, 
 And every art renews a former pain. 
 Dire indigestion, with its train of ills, 
 Performs its course and ever} r circle fills. 
 A problem for relief let all prepare, 
 And take unto themselves an equal share. 
 As geometrical reasoning we survey, 
 So of the system to prevent decay. 
 How may I raise the standard of this work, 
 That all shall see what objects in it lurk ? 
 First, none believe, and, though they feel decay, 
 Still doubt the truth and turn the good away. 
 Labor, of all the graces, is my theme, 
 And much adored in every line shall teem ; 
 The sluggard and the sot have here no part, 
 But grace and beauty, science, love and art, 
 Are what compel my pen each line to run, 
 To give the sot his due, nor sluggard shun. 
 Let education be the first to name, 
 And every good will follow in its train ; 
 It gives us health, it gives us all we need ; 
 Defies the doctor and despises creed. 
 
DIGESTION. 31 
 
 Doctors are swords which lay the patient low, 
 And preachers pamper to an easy show. 
 Eeason gives health, and the reverse decay : 
 To cure disease give energy its sway. 
 The sun in liquid ore gives forth its heat, 
 And radiant light in rapid waves retreat ; 
 The fishes glide from every nook to scan, 
 All life observes, nor, wondering, solves the plan. 
 Death, the most potent of all human ills, 
 And dire disgrace to him who early fills. 
 Life is the sweetest of all earthly charms, 
 The rose of nature dappled in her arms ; 
 Bright, fragrant, long an ever-blooming rose, 
 Which shocks her most to prematurely close. 
 The grandest gem of all that being works, 
 And in whose trust her every effort lurks. 
 Matter we name for all that does exist 
 Separate from mind in other worlds or this. 
 Eeason in every natural law perceive, 
 Far as the eye can see or mind believe : 
 But why I write is not to overthrow 
 The good I see, but evil that I know. 
 From lack of thought the system withers down, 
 The nerves relax, and all the ills abound. 
 When all goes sweetly as the babbling brook, 
 No pain attends,but sweetness crowns each look. 
 Though, when from other causes death assails, 
 
32 OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 The bank o'erflows and torrents fill the vales. 
 But two conditions intercept our path : 
 Age, when matured, and indolence at last. 
 Thus, laws impartial sway with equal force, 
 Nor spare the rubbish in their destined course ; 
 Which laws are perfect, and would death defy 
 Ere age, matured, would every man comply ; 
 And with each organ in its full display, 
 No future equals what we know to-day : 
 Impartial quite, to infant as to man, 
 To creed impartial and to every plan. 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES. 
 
 Of every ill the mind surveys, 
 
 As idle steps and thoughtless ways, 
 
 Neglect of time and chance, 
 The last it teaches us to prize, v 
 Nor comes again, but onward flies, 
 
 Though after we advance ; 
 
PERFECTION. 33 
 
 Like birds alight, like loves they come, 
 Like stars that twinkle in the sky ; 
 Too far away by night and day, 
 And thus we miss them, you and I. 
 
 PERFECTION. 
 
 Perfection is not seen in any creed; 
 Yet be ye perfect as therein we read: 
 But all religions have some good in view, 
 To profit in this life, and after too. 
 As still our raiment and our food, we know, 
 To great exertion in ourselves we owe, 
 So indolence suggests that all beyond, 
 The faith supplies an inexhaustive fund, — 
 Blasphemous words that devils could command, 
 And with a flood of woe submerge the land. 
 Thanks to the churches for their useful art, — 
 And all who toil therein may claim a part; 
 But when religions can assume a sway, 
 They curse the land and generate decay. 
 What great convulsions Gallileo wrought 
 
34 ATHEISM. 
 
 Within the church by giving birth to thought; 
 The laws of health are equally as clear, 
 And they who can observe no sickness fear; 
 Enough exertion to digest our food 
 Supplies existence and asserts the mood. 
 But too much labor is like too much rain, 
 Which overflows the land and drowns the grain; 
 And not enough is like the parching hill 
 That thirsteth for the valley's overfill. 
 Thus are the rich in opulence oppressed, 
 The poor through want and poverty distressed ; 
 And in the two extremes is every woe 
 That God would overcome and man forego. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Its teachings are equal and each book a sequel, 
 Like steps in ascending up higher to view, 
 
 Of all that preceded, of all that is needed, 
 And all a perfection and each of them new. 
 
 But that which was heeded, as formerly needed, 
 As witches, no longer disturbs our repose ; 
 
THE SCRIPTURE. 35 
 
 Opinions will alter, so never to falter, 
 
 Say that which deters me, now overboard goes. 
 
 For time will determine, that parts are but vermin,. 
 
 Which now we believe and hold them as true ; 
 'Tis not what it stateth, 'tis not what it hateth, 
 
 But that which is taught us determines our view. 
 
 As, the churches in number increase and en- 
 cumber, 
 Where, formerly, one drew all to itself ; 
 So let the great teacher, become our own 
 preacher, 
 For power is within him, when not on the 
 shelf. 
 He cannot mislead you, his wisdom will feed you 
 With bread, and with meat, and with raiment 
 besides ; 
 And your disbelieving, will vanish, on leaving 
 Those parts where you stumble, the others 
 abide. 
 
 Like a ship on the ocean, so pay your devotion 
 
 So far as you're able, at least in your way, 
 If thirst, or if hunger had pressed you, though 
 
 younger, 
 You'd have searched for a morsel, by night and 
 
 by day. 
 
36 
 
 LONGEVITY. 
 
 To health preserve we must observe 
 
 The laws of God to man, 
 In all their multitude of ways, 
 
 And note their chief demand : 
 
 As raiment may protract our day, 
 
 So proper food will give 
 Some elements which law demands, 
 
 That we may longer live. 
 
 Yet words convey but half we say ; 
 
 So little good, I fear, 
 Is in the line I now design 
 
 To make my meaning clear. 
 
 Though oft need enforces, and daily discourses, 
 To energy prompts us against our desire ; 
 
 Yet indolence teaches that slothfulness reaches 
 The root of diseases, and thus we expire. 
 
 To death defy, with law comply, 
 
 Till exercise of mind 
 And body too, the system through, 
 
 Cleanse all as God designed; 
 
PIRATES. 37 
 
 Till age arrives to precious lives, 
 
 When exercise will fail, 
 And mind give way at close of day, 
 
 And nature draws the veiL 
 
 Then things occult give a result 
 
 Reversing all we do, 
 When death arrives and us deprives 
 
 Of all that's earthly too. 
 
 PIRATES. 
 
 Where goodness, comfort, peace and plenty; 
 
 Pleasure, happiness, delight; 
 All that go to charm our senses, 
 
 Or to make the future bright; 
 
 Where the ocean's massive billows 
 Crown the shore with crystal spray, 
 
 And a light the night dispelling, 
 Changing darkness into day; 
 
38 
 
 Cankered, cancered and corrupted, 
 Cursed with filth of soul and mind ; 
 
 Sprung from harlots and detested 
 That invented the design; 
 
 Ignominious, leprous liars, 
 Filthy and polluted through, 
 
 From the dregs of populations 
 Are they who repeated too. 
 
 Pirates they ? Not son, nor daughter, 
 Nor descendants of a band; 
 
 And as evidence substantial, 
 Let my honor fall or stand. 
 
 JUSTICE, 
 
 A justice sat upon the bench; 
 
 His hair was grey, his beard was white" 
 His features represented strength, 
 
 Which nought but culture can unite. 
 
JUSTICE. 39 
 
 The judge's princely pay is but 
 
 A theft from culture of the poor, 
 Which, if in education used, 
 'Twere as a harvest at their door. 
 
 Six thousand years "will not suffice, 
 Though he has written a digest, — 
 
 Perhaps a multitude of lies, — 
 
 At least he sanctions them at best: 
 
 But pride and pomp ne'er stoop to think 
 
 And view the misery around; 
 One sees itself as on the brink 
 
 The other on perpetual ground: 
 
 Between the two the poor succumb 
 To misery and shame, through fear 
 
 Of claiming what they justly own, 
 But usurped by a prouder peer. 
 
 Do you believe the Bible ? he 
 
 A question asked me to propound ; 
 
 But, where there contradictions seem, 
 I can observe that truths abound. 
 
 As, in the sentences, we read, 
 An eye for eye, a tooth for tooth, 
 
10 THE MILL. 
 
 The like, which Christ again decreed 
 With love, a bitterer reproof. 
 
 So, all such contradictions seen 
 Are reconciled, if we will view 
 
 The spirit, meaning and intent, 
 
 With which the prophets had to do. 
 
 Whose subjects matter were ; as, we 
 Take things at hand, oft poorly sought, 
 
 To represent some truths we see, 
 
 So, Christ with such perfection taught. 
 
 THE MILL. 
 
 Creation is my theme, — not to restore, 
 But to make plain what was not so before. 
 Laws do exist which govern distant suns ; 
 From those which govern ours the knowledge 
 
 comes. 
 Like to a mill with every part complete, 
 And power to turn the wheel and grind the wheat 
 
AGE. 41 
 
 Whose organ is the mind, whose wheat is thought, 
 Whose system is the mill as God has wrought. 
 Condition is the source of a disease, 
 More than the food we eat or air we breathe ; 
 Nor Will our raiment for that part suffice. 
 Exertion is the power that most supplies, 
 Which acts unseen, unaided, undefined, 
 To check diseases, and by God designed. 
 
 AGE 
 
 In various ways I've tried to take the fort 
 Which baffles every effort and support; 
 And how we should proceed to overcome 
 Death in maturing age, is taught by none. 
 Nature alone heals more than we suppose 
 In forcing some to labor for their clothes; 
 Others, through pride that they may all excel; 
 But more to keep from starving longer dwell. 
 Some efforts of the mind alone will do, 
 But more require the muscles active too. 
 
42 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 A cold requires that raiment added be, 
 And fevers ice to cool the burning sea ; 
 So Indolence requires an active brain, 
 And too much labor that we rest again. 
 
 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Unable, to perceive that which is right, 
 Through sins of flesh which wrap the soul in night, 
 Whose fleshy lust is foremost in the mind 
 As of a beast, in man and woman kind ; 
 
 The high, seraphic, spiritual sight 
 Of Christ, is lost when other thoughts delight. 
 The right performed, no more we need advance, 
 ^Tlie pathway clear, new joys our soul enhance. 
 
 Nature succumbs, and clouds all disappear, 
 The sun breaks forth with music to the ear ; 
 As in a garden cultivated well, 
 Where roses bloom, whose odors we can smell. 
 
THE SPIRIT. 4B 
 
 So is the path of righteousness within, 
 While that without is tumult fear and sin ; 
 A righteous man or woman helps to make 
 A better world, of which we all partake ; 
 
 And thus of evils, what have been before, 
 Nor rooted up, stand ready at the door. 
 Because of being equal to the word 
 In Scriptures taught, the honor was conferred . 
 
 On Christ, who answered and was equal to 
 What prophecy foretold, in Him we view 
 A man, but perfect ; human, yet divine, 
 God in the flesh, and born of womankind, 
 
 The time will come to free Him from the earth v 
 By God created, and without a birth ; 
 As now from man His birth is not beheld, 
 So then, from woman He shall be expelled ; 
 
 Born of a goddess, etherial, divine ; 
 Not born of flesh, nor yet of womankind, . 
 Descended from the clouds, a gift divine, 
 Till mith and mystery the whole entwine ; 
 
44 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 When, fables will arise around the head, 
 Obscure His virtues, and pronounce them dead; 
 His teachings will, when rightly understood, 
 Perfect our health ; as He desired they should. 
 
 Thus, take a solid footing that will last, 
 Proclaim Him man, and hold His virtues fast ; 
 The spiritual meanings are too fine 
 For flesh and blood, we need a coarser kind ; 
 
 More like ourselves, but perfect all throughout, 
 In thought, in action, and as God devout ; 
 A model for all men, and yet divine, 
 Born not of man and yet of womankind. 
 
45 
 
 LEARNING. 
 
 The dregs and poverty, 
 The filth and woe 
 
 Of human carnage teem 
 Where'er we go ; 
 
 And in proportion to 
 The learning had, 
 
 Morality alone 
 O'ercomes the bad ; 
 
 Once barren lands, 
 
 As fertile fields appear, 
 
 When that which gives health 
 Allays our fear. 
 
 Books are the best 
 To temper every part, 
 
 The sciences preferred 
 And those of art ; 
 
 Whose power is yet unseen, 
 Whose worth unknown ; 
 
4£ LEARNING. 
 
 From darkness unto light 
 The world has grown. 
 
 Kings totter on their thrones, 
 The pulpit bends ; 
 
 Physicians own their sway 
 As light ascends. 
 
 All crooked limbs, 
 
 Impediments of speech ; 
 
 What physic will not cure 
 This art will teach. 
 
 It gives us life ; 
 
 It raises from the dead ; 
 It heals the sick, 
 
 And sees the hungry fed ; 
 
 It clothes the naked, 
 And it gives us light ; 
 
 It makes our pathway clear 
 And broad and bright ; 
 
 It heals the blind, 
 
 And makes the future clear 
 
LEARNING. 47 
 
 The past a pleasure, 
 And the present dear. 
 
 Like grace once had, 
 
 So they who often fall 
 Benew their strength 
 
 By going over all. 
 
 The festering parts of cities 
 
 Need this cure, 
 Of country towns 
 
 And villages obscure. 
 
 Though doctors will deny 
 
 And preachers scorn, 
 But effort will supply, 
 
 Of carnage shorn. 
 
 Like wolves they prey, 
 
 Like vultures swoop above 
 
 The weaker forms 
 
 They but profess to love; 
 
 Whose lives enriching theirs, 
 Whose strength they need, 
 
48 DEAREST MOTHER. 
 
 Whose only morsel 
 Satisfies their greed: 
 
 DEAREST MOTHER. 
 
 Dearest mother, life's long treasure, 
 May thou ne'er forsake the earth, 
 
 Ere thy fruitful seeds of wisdom 
 In me sown may prove thy worth. 
 
 Though I vary from thy teachings, 
 Yet thy virtue is the root ; 
 
 To reclaim me thou art thinking, 
 For thy guide the holy book : 
 
DEAREST MOTHER. 49 
 
 Ever pointing onward, upward 
 
 Where I plainly see the light ; 
 And thine own unwearied efforts, 
 
 As of angels, aid my sight. 
 
 Since, departed to that haven 
 
 Where all tongues and kindreds meet, — 
 As the sunrise out of darkness, 
 
 In its brightness guide my feet. 
 
50 
 
 PAIN 
 
 Christ preached the truth, but noue believed 
 
 Save they who would excel; 
 For want of occupation, none 
 
 But fishermen would tell, 
 Or they who knew not what to do; 
 
 And so to-day, as well. 
 
 His teachings are philosophy 
 
 Developed in this age; 
 Ere time began, ere it shall end, 
 
 No alteration made. 
 Had he not lived, the same had been, 
 
 But darker and delayed. 
 
 God in the ocean, on the land, 
 
 And in the stars is seen; 
 And they who would protection know 
 
 Need only be serene, 
 And count his blessing as they flow, 
 
 Nor part with any while below. 
 
PAIN. 51 
 
 That more abundant we may live, 
 
 And more abundant see 
 That more abundant we may feel, 
 
 And more abundant be, 
 'j?o heal the woe that mortals know, 
 
 And from it to be free. 
 
 This is God's law, but some excel 
 
 In manner and in form, 
 In decency, but all as well 
 
 Are equally forlorn 
 Who lose a life in any strife 
 
 But a decrepit form. 
 
 Nor do they all, nor any one 
 
 Perform the will of God, 
 Who has an ache, a pain, a cramp, 
 
 That treadeth on his sod, 
 Since all are free who will so be 
 
 As free from pain as God. 
 
 Nor do I in myself survey 
 A power that thus can heal: 
 
 God is the author, to convey, 
 I inwardly do feel, 
 
52 PAIN. 
 
 An irresistible desire 
 To every part reveal 
 
 If I the gateway may be made 
 
 By which they enter in 
 From that perfection as they see, 
 
 But which I know is sin; 
 Then were I made what I would be, 
 
 An instrument of Him. 
 
53 
 
 PARNELL. 
 
 A man with wisdom from on high, 
 
 Such as the churches give, 
 
 Deficient quite to aid the right, 
 
 To show the wrong, oppose the strong: 
 
 An orator of high degree, 
 
 But not a match for Poi3ery. 
 
 Nor can he see the ancient wrong 
 Which bows his people down; 
 
 And which has drained 
 
 The land of wealth, its soul of health; 
 And though all men to pity yield, 
 The right alone must gain the field. 
 
 But Borne; thou prostituted place, 
 Extravagant, unwise; 
 
 Where all the wealth of Ireland flows; 
 
 Diminished brain, 
 Till, like a desert, it presents 
 The want of sound intelligence. 
 
54 PARNELL. 
 
 Eeduced to idiotic state 
 
 Through pontifical power, 
 
 From whence it never can regain 
 What it has lost, excepting shame ;- 
 
 A maniac and nothing more, 
 
 A fool, a slave to Popish lore. 
 
 An indigent, descanting race 
 The papal powers have been, 
 
 A herd of rascals, thieves and knaves, 
 
 The confidence to win; 
 And, but for opposition made, 
 The world in poverty were laid. 
 
 As Ireland is, so every land 
 
 That's sanctioning thy power; 
 A want of intellect shall reap, 
 A cause to suffer and to weep; 
 
 Diminished brain, diminished strength; 
 
 Nor intellect at all, at length. 
 
 And what, as in return, hast thou, 
 
 The vilest power, to give ? 
 
 The teachings all of Christ are plain 
 Which thou obscurest to remain; 
 
PARNELL. 55 
 
 Nor like his teachings hast thou been. 
 Nor canst thou be, because of sin. v 
 
 He had no place to lay his head, — 
 
 Thy followers the same; 
 
 He washed their feet, but they kiss thine : — 
 Art thou the fruit of such a vine ? 
 
 I think not, but of the same 
 
 That he did thorns and thistles name. 
 
 And hence thy needs can but increase, 
 
 Thy favors are but frowns, — 
 The only recompense we see 
 Which can proceed at all from thee. 
 
 And had poor Ireland but retained 
 
 Her wealth, her honor yet remained. 
 
 But aid by God to her is sent, 
 
 That she have leisure to repent, 
 And cease to aid the Papal power 
 Which thus her portion can devour; 
 
 Or, as the wealth already lost. 
 
 Her name be added to the cost. 
 
 The race, no longer then distinct, 
 Will leave the land which gave it birth; 
 
56 PARNELL. 
 
 Like hosts upon a phantom sea, 
 
 Into the blank eternity; 
 But rather may she e'er remain, 
 And scorn the land which wrought her shame. 
 
 Without the means to purchase bread; 
 How may her intellect increase ? 
 
 Not by a ritual, understood 
 
 By none who listen, though 'twere good; 
 But rather with the teacher's aid, 
 From elements in science made. 
 
 ^-tsSgfe^ 
 
 w 
 
57 
 
 DARWIN 
 
 Lulled in the bosom of eternal thought, 
 Descent to trace and progress to behold ; 
 
 Beyond whose ken the vilest wretch perceives 
 A hope not by him told. 
 
 The soul like matter is eternal too, 
 
 Which none can prove, but each may compre- 
 hend, 
 And he who fears the whirlpool Darwin drew 
 
 Shall surely enter in. 
 
 Who deals with matter and with it alone, 
 
 But whence the mind that drew the picture 
 bright ; 
 
 Christ gave us hope without a darker doom, 
 But Darwin gave us night. 
 
 From whence a mind that cannot comprehend, 
 That which a greater did not fail to see ? 
 
 Each in his part is right nor hope to find 
 In such, a unity. 
 
58 THE HEALTH. 
 
 THE HEALTH. 
 
 Indications of consumption are the results of 
 neglect, which geometrical exercises and phys- 
 ical exertions will cure. Physicians should not 
 be blamed for desiring a large practice, nor is it 
 ever too large for them ; neither should they 
 blame me for striving to diminish it ; a task 
 which they would not attempt ; and which is a 
 very difficult matter, since our labors are, as it 
 were, laid down by a supreme hand, and to 
 whose providence we ascribe all premature 
 deaths ; but the disgrace of which, since it is 
 nothing else, rests with ourselves. Food taken 
 into the stomach, without proper mental and 
 physical exertion to digest it, has killed more 
 than the sword ; and medicines taken to give it 
 digestion, has killed more than the food. The 
 human system is as perfect as the mind of the 
 Author who formed it, and hence it is adapted 
 to enjoy continued health. I believe in the use 
 of medicines, but exercises act on the system 
 like leaven does in bread, and makes us healthy. 
 
THE HEALTH. 59 
 
 The world has never given the subject proper 
 attention, and by some, manual labor is consid- 
 ered as being disgraceful ; but such should die 
 early. God has given us more means for pre- 
 serving the health than he has for satisfying the 
 palate. Creation and preservation are alike, 
 and he who preserves his life amid the advanc- 
 ing host of diseases which surround us, and 
 arrives at an honorable old age, has divinity in 
 him. 
 
 There is a power in mental exertion alone 
 which will set all of the machinery of the human 
 system in motion ; and it is of that kind which 
 requires the greatest effort to accomplish, and a 
 sufficient amount of such exercises added to an 
 abundance of manual labor, will give us health 
 — nor ought we to know that malaria or other 
 diseases exist in our atmosphere. Such labors 
 create an appetite, and hungry people have no 
 need of a physician. Hunger, created by medi- 
 cines, has sent thousands to Florida, but more 
 to eternity. Many people who go to the moun- 
 tains in search of health, die on the way, 
 
60 THE HEALTH. 
 
 because they forget to take it with them. There 
 is no place like home for health, as there, one 
 is under no restraint ; he can become his own 
 servant, and create an appetite for himself. 
 Every house has health in it, you cannot drive 
 it out, you cannot look without seeing it, which 
 flows in like daylight. 
 
 Now, as a musical instrument when out of 
 tune never can tune itself, so the human system 
 when out of order can never put itself in order, 
 therefore, it is plain that the mind must be 
 employed to do so. When we have no appetite, 
 to eat food will not give us one, and when the 
 art of the physician fails to create an appetite 
 for us, it is evident that we have no remedy but 
 in an intelligence superior to his. Had we no 
 need of such intelligence, or were premature 
 deaths as rare as we could wish, or, if our ceme- 
 teries were not filled with the graves of children 
 and the middle aged, I would not disturb the 
 tranquil waters which allow their millions to 
 sink early in life. There is a tree, which is that 
 of sorrow, bearing fruit over the graves of 
 
THE HEALTH. 61 
 
 youth, while over that of a mature life there is 
 none ; and since we have every facility for pro- 
 longing life, it is worth our while to preserve it. 
 The older we become the more interested we 
 are in the affairs of this world, and as there is 
 nothing but what we would give in exchange 
 for life, so every day is gain. 
 
 The conditions which go to support existence, 
 seem to be so complicated that we flee from 
 them and embrace death, and in so doing, we 
 go over to the enemy, but never without having 
 first discharged half of our ammunition into his 
 face, when the whole of it would have van- 
 quished him. 
 
 The low esteem in which life is held, gives 
 rise to all of the diseases which afflict humanity. 
 The human system is a natural structure, but a 
 divine comprehension of it is what we need ; 
 nor is it to be learned in the dissecting-room, 
 nor in a medical laboratory, nor in anything 
 which pertains to them, as, in such has never 
 been discovered the art by which mental energy 
 sets all of its machinery in motion. Physicians 
 
62 THE HEALTH. 
 
 may see that the system is in order, but there is 
 something needed beyond their power, and that 
 rests in the patient. 
 
 Manual labor has fountains of health as large 
 as the solar system ; but geometrical exercises 
 have fountains as large as the universe. They 
 are natural springs which will cost us nothing 
 but effort, and one will support the other. 
 They act upon a diseased system like rain does 
 upon vegetation — they nourish and give it color. 
 They are rivers of health which will flow on till 
 eternity ; nor ought we to expect that former 
 efforts will suffice for the present. Who can 
 conceive of anything more beautiful than the 
 world on which we live, with vast oceans, beau- 
 tiful vegetation, mountains and valleys. I am 
 sure that God could have made it no better, 
 and if we cannot suggest an improvement, it is 
 the best condition in which we can exist. The 
 sciences have two values, one to instruct the 
 mind and the other to make us healthy ; the 
 effort of the mind sets the system in motion, 
 and the system sets all that is foreign to it in 
 
THE HEALTH. 63 
 
 motion, which manual labor accomplishes in a 
 like manner. That a strong and robust con- 
 stitution is a gift independent of our own 
 actions is usually allowed, but that it should 
 be given to mechanics, and to others whose 
 labors require it, proves that their constitutions 
 conform to their habits, and that manual exer- 
 cises are healthy. 
 
 Society has strange . laws, many of which are 
 not founded upon reason ; as that which ban- 
 ishes all exercises but those of a mental nature ; 
 and if things themselves did not cause a com- 
 plete revolution in our planinng, the Earth would 
 become depopulated, since having to labor is 
 bitterly lamented, but, as the soul has no death, 
 it is our duty to preserve the health, and I am 
 sure that this life is the most excellent of all. 
 
 Health is an attribute of the mind which 
 relates to the body, and for this reason it has 
 been treated with contempt and neglect by the 
 churches, by whom it is considered as a gift, 
 and so death is looked upon as being the will 
 of God at the time it takes place, and our own 
 
64 THE HEALTH. 
 
 errors become a form of worship. There are 
 many kinds of employments that will make us 
 healthy, providing, if one of them is not suffi- 
 cient that another be added to it ; as geometry, 
 the effort required in mechanical exercises, 
 manual labor and recreations. 
 
 Had we no knowledge of an existence of the 
 soul after death, our merits would entitle us to 
 rewards, and our sins to punishments ; but as 
 advocating love has failed to accomplish perfect 
 results, we must add capacity to it. 
 
 Education is the foundation of an infidelity 
 which enlightens the mind, gives us health, 
 frees us from priestcraft, and a train of super- 
 stitions which enslave the mind and torment 
 our lives. 
 
 "Whenever we hate an individual, or a people, 
 on account of religion, we call it love. As long 
 as we believe that diseases and afflictions are 
 God's will, we have no right to counteract 
 them, as it increases our sins and defeats the 
 Almighty. 
 
 The sciences have religion in them, as what 
 
THE HEALTH. 65 
 
 we eat has of intoxicating liquors : and, as one 
 is sufficient for the body so is the other for the 
 mind, without being distilled. God exhausts 
 his own strength continually, nor will he ever 
 be more powerful than he is to-day, bat man 
 has not comprehended himself. The mind is 
 governed by matter, and matter by the mind 
 alternately, and, unless the organs of the body 
 are kept in a healthy condition they will reject 
 their tenant. Superstitions make us at war 
 with our own existence, as they destroy our 
 health and shorten our lives. 
 
 The art of the physician will be considered as 
 a secondary one before the laws of nature are 
 understood. 
 
 That the result of those laws — as games for 
 amusement, literature, mathematical exercises, 
 and many others which assist digestion and 
 divert the mind from any sad condition of the 
 body should be wholly forgotten by the medical 
 faculty — is an evidence that they treat the sys- 
 tem of man as though it were that of a brute, 
 and without knowing that the mind can be so 
 
66 THE HEALTH. 
 
 employed as to give digestion to its own mem- 
 bers, and that the human family differ in this 
 respect from the rest of the animal creation. 
 
 In health, manual labor and mental exertion 
 act upon the digestive organs like water falling 
 upon the wheel of a mill, which gives motion to 
 all of its machinery, and until that is understood 
 and acted upon, the system, when deprived of 
 its usual activity, will be troubled with an indi- 
 gestion affecting the whole body, and over 
 which the art of the physician can have but lit- 
 tle influence. 
 
 However beneficial labor may be, yet recre- 
 ation becomes necessary, and from the .over- 
 worked brain of one to the vegetating growth in 
 another, we should break through all barriers 
 till we reach the age of perfection, and extend 
 the average of life from thirty years to that of 
 eighty, until a disease in no case can interrupt 
 our existence, and an equilibrium is accom- 
 plished in us. 
 
67 
 
 HYGIENE. . 
 
 The Son of God, as no one else, was Christ : 
 But thorns grow where the roses most entice. 
 As, in the sayings of the poets, too, 
 Facts are preserved in fictions that we view. 
 His many words, herculean strength support, 
 Applied to self they are our last resort ; 
 But what in Him was wanting, is supplied 
 In more abundance with the present tide. 
 Within thyself behold what Earth affords, 
 What heaven can give, and with thy hope ac- 
 cords. 
 Seek, rather than without, that which may guide 
 Where fountains murmur and where rivers hide. 
 But men are better far than when He came, 
 And through His teachings that we yet retain ; 
 Whose outward chasings all attract the eye, 
 And some with diamonds in their lustres vie ; 
 Yet are His meanings varied in extent, 
 As colors of the sun to objects lent : 
 But what advantage can the priesthood see 
 In all I've written on longevity, 
 
68 HYGIENE. 
 
 Since every death that's premature in years 
 Their order as a sacrifice prepares ? 
 The fishes and the loaves illustrate quite, 
 How nature multiplies beyond our sight. 
 Christ is the germ, the ancients Him declared, 
 And we should cultivate what He prepared. • 
 The clown enjoys a versatile display, 
 The statesman honor, and the lawyer pay ; 
 The preacher reverence, but the poet pride 
 In what present cannot now decide. 
 But, pending fires in Earth the mountains move, 
 And mutterings of the mind as cyclones prove. 
 A want of prayer our inward sense obstructs, 
 Creates diseases and the world corrupts ; 
 So that which lengthens life can be observed, 
 Throughout His teachings in the books pre- 
 served. 
 All truth survives, the evils disappear, 
 And time alone can make His teachings clear. 
 Sift education from among the chaff, 
 And with its many virtues guard thy path ; 
 The heart to strengthen and His will to know, 
 Ourselves to comprehend and what we owe ; 
 
HYGIENE. GO 
 
 Of God the essence and of men the first, 
 Whose culminating virtues through Him burst. 
 No prayer is answered but that which is right, 
 Thus prayers are futile in defective sight. 
 Great is the Earth but omnipresence more, 
 On which the Earth depends for fruitful store. 
 Pain is aversion, pleasure is delight, 
 From either wrong proceeds, from either right. 
 Impetuous youth runs headlong in the race, 
 While all is new and phantoms only chase ; 
 The middle-aged on sterner things are bent ; 
 Observing follies which the youth invent ; 
 But hoary heads, whose life is nearly run, 
 Have tried the whole and repetition shun. 
 If Christ, from Abraham and David rose, 
 Why, then, but Joseph's pedigree disclose : 
 But more important still and without end, 
 Is that on which the length of lives depend, 
 Digestion first, of all the arts we view, 
 Is that to be acquired in what we do ; 
 Nor is my muse impartial to the kind 
 Of labors I shall name for frame and mind. 
 Some love the field, while others love the flood, 
 
70 HYGIENE. 
 
 And some the mountain ranges or the wood. 
 First, measure what fatigue thou canst endure, 
 With plow or axe, or hunting ground secure : 
 Gro where the fishes in the water glide, 
 And find their haunts with each returning tide ; 
 Or, where the meadow birds in sedges sleep, 
 And with thy gun and dog upon them creep ; 
 Rise with the sun, or ere the break of day, 
 And roam the field and mountain for thy prey ; 
 Let perspiration through thy clothing run 
 As from a bath again to homeward come ; 
 Be teamster now and to the stables go, t 
 Hitch up the horses and assist to mow 
 If in the winter on the ice be found, 
 And with thy skates to measure circle round ; 
 But if on literature thy mind is bent 
 Forsake the poets as an evil sent ; 
 Choose mathematics, and those parts survey, 
 Where problems enter in, to prove the way ; 
 Or, search the hidden parts of Earth to know, 
 How mountains form and where at last they go ; 
 Why shells are found beneath the surface rock, 
 And what the ancients were as fish or flock ; 
 
HYGIENE. 71 
 
 Nor level with a beast, to all depend 
 
 Upon a drug, and haste untimely end, 
 
 Then elements united scatter death, 
 
 Demoralize the mind and stop the breath ; 
 
 Perspiring always, without which no good 
 
 At all results, nor am I understood. 
 
 Some kinds of seeds will not with others mix, 
 
 And some again their attributes affix ; 
 
 So I, while differing in a minor part, 
 
 My own engraft the sciences and art. 
 
 God cannot make men perfect or he would, 
 
 Perfection is by none yet understood ; 
 
 Whose power is second, that of man is first 
 
 To accomplish good and maladies reverse. 
 
 Learning alone must elevate the low, 
 
 As without learning none presume to know ; ' 
 
 Each age produces what the past has not, 
 
 And every era has a Christ begot. 
 
 The Trinity at last shall men include, 
 
 And to that end the priesthood are imbued. 
 
 The sermon on the Mount I highly prize, 
 
 And many another part with wisdom vies ; 
 
 As much there is in every book we find, 
 
72 HYGIENE. 
 
 Explaining truth and fathoming the mind. 
 Thus, life in various ways to men appear 
 As right divine to kings, in sects 'tis fear ; 
 In the unlearned, 'tis knowledge leads astray, 
 And with the Jews that we should them obey. 
 But like a pyramid is what I've built, 
 Of problems outward, and within of silt, 
 Not yet cemented by the hand of time, 
 As all, imperfect, that we think divine. 
 Health, peace and plenty every step affords 
 Excess to shun and indolence abhorred ; 
 All that is known for recreations find, 
 To church on Sunday, as by God designed, 
 For evenings games and converse by the way ; 
 Through daylight labor and in darkness pray. 
 
73 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 God cannot do what men desire 
 
 If to the wrong they still aspire, 
 
 As then 't were wrong in God the same, 
 
 As God is just in thought and name ; 
 
 A portion is for men to do, 
 
 As Gods' he sees us in his view. 
 
 A thief is he who having power, 
 
 As king or prince, with tax devours 
 
 The homes and pleasures of the poor, 
 
 But smaller thieves break through the door. 
 
 God is a spirit like to man 
 
 Who thinks and works by rule and plan. 
 
 All sins are great, however small 
 
 Accumulating one and all ; 
 
 So if we do not turn and give 
 
 Our hearts to God we cannot live, 
 
 For in the one or other way 
 
 We are increasing day by day. 
 
 A debt once paid is cancelled quite 
 
 And wrong is cancelled with the right ; 
 
 But if the wrongs alone exist, 
 
 What good can come if we subsist ; 
 
74 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 'Twere better not to have been born 
 
 Unless some good we do perform. 
 
 Hard labor in an honest way 
 
 Will profit all men in their day, 
 
 And they who scorn the working man 
 
 Are thieves, no matter where they stand ; 
 
 For labor can alone produce 
 
 The food we eat and clothes for use. 
 
 The smallest vice, the greatest sin, 
 
 We scarcely feel it is within ; 
 
 Temptation finds it by the way 
 
 And then the vice begins to sway ; 
 
 It overpowers the brain and all 
 
 Of good resolves that we may fall. 
 
 It was as large but yet unseen 
 
 While many years, did intervene, 
 
 It was contracted in our youth 
 
 When all the vices seemed as truth. 
 
 The young receive impressions all 
 
 And store them up in spring for fall, 
 
 Like seeds of thistle and of thorn 
 
 With those of fruit and those of corn, 
 
 Unable with their youthful brain 
 
 To sift them o'er, hence all remain ; 
 
 And which in after-years will grow, 
 
 As they received again they sow. 
 
THE NEW TESTAMENT. 75 
 
 A pure beginning would insure 
 
 A perfect life entirely pure. 
 
 'Tis not the parents' fault alone, 
 
 However pure they may have sown, 
 
 However careful they may be 
 
 However great the family ; 
 
 Associations will seduce, 
 
 Corrupt the young with its abuse. 
 
 A gray haired man with words of guile 
 
 Upon his lips, is yet as vile 
 
 As sewers are beneath a street, 
 
 And should be shunned by all who meet. 
 
 From men the youthful form their ways 
 
 To spend their lives and end their days. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Forever new, forever bright, 
 
 Like to the sun at noonday height ; 
 
 Where, here and there, a cloud obscures 
 Its direct rays which time endures. 
 
76 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Within its pages we may find 
 
 That which will elevate the mind, 
 
 And like the priesthood that we see, 
 Let masses educated be. 
 
 The testament in schools should be 
 Taught over scientifically, 
 
 Since it contains what most we need 
 And teaches manliness indeed. 
 
 Let every scholar who can read, 
 Peruse, recite, declaim till freed ; 
 
 And other reading matter shun 
 
 In public schools when once begun. 
 
 Excej)t in scientific truth, 
 A spirit of immortal youth, 
 
 The Roman church has never erred, 
 Nor have the Protestants conferred. 
 
 The poor will soil the velvet pew, 
 Contaminate the preacher too ; 
 
 So little has the church of grace 
 That poverty is out of place. 
 
77 
 
 BEECHER. 
 
 Deep in the recess of his heart, 
 Is sympathy for human woe ; 
 
 Not perfect, many will exclaim, 
 
 Who is more perfect that we know ? 
 
 Unveil the hearts of all mankind, 
 Each judging others by himself. 
 
 Judge, Tilton's school by what we find ; 
 Hear Tilton crying o'er the pelf, 
 
 Who offered fruit from his own vine, 
 Who said partake and share with me ; 
 
 Whose downfall was his own design, 
 The outcome of his theory. 
 
 to 
 
 But, if the evil which it wrought 
 
 Is manifested to the world, 
 A righteous lesson has been taught ; 
 
 To future ages then unfurled ; 
 
 And those who do not them forgive 
 
 Have not a spiritual sight ; 
 Forgiveness is the christian's sword 
 
 For changiDg darkness into light. 
 
78 
 
 DEATH 
 
 We seek a shelter from its blast, 
 
 We pride ourselves upon our worth ; 
 
 None are exempt while life can last, 
 We counteract its force with mirth. 
 
 A million forms of sin there are, 
 And some by none yet understood ; 
 
 They come from near and from afar, 
 They smite the bad and spare the good. 
 
 We weep, we suffer pain, we die ; 
 
 The causes are obscure and far — 
 A million years may bring them nigh, 
 
 But now we suffer as we are. 
 
 Without the power to all fulfill, 
 
 Which we behold and call by name ; 
 
 Without the power to do thy will, 
 Without the power to fix the blame. 
 
 God speaks to us through pain of mind, 
 Through pain of body all of sin ; 
 
 A part we understand, nor all 
 
 We comprehend, which is from Him, 
 
DEATH. 79 
 
 Great God! when may we understand, 
 And see with eyes which are divine ; 
 
 When may we comprehend thy hand 
 That cuts us down before our time. 
 
 When shall we realise that pain, 
 In any form denotes thy will ; 
 
 Why are our efforts all in vain, 
 Nor aught we would at all fulfill ? 
 
 For sins of one a million fall, 
 The sins of many on us press ; 
 
 Associations are of all, 
 
 The most to dread, the most to bless. 
 
 Pain is the only law we know, 
 
 Which leads us on to what is right t 
 
 We suffer, and we do again, 
 That which is evil in thy sight. 
 
 We have no power to comprehend, 
 Beyond that pain is present here ; 
 
 For little pleasures we descend, 
 To every evil that is near. 
 
80 INFIDELS. 
 
 Give us thy mind wherewith we may, 
 Distinguish 'twixt the good and bad ; 
 
 Nor for the pleasures of a day, 
 
 Do that which makes a lifetime sad. 
 
 INFIDELS. 
 
 All Infidels whenever found, 
 In ancient times or modern bound, 
 Denying revelation through, 
 Ignore the good in Scriptures too ; 
 
 A wild chemerical design 
 Before their eyes seems, as divine ; 
 Like Thomas Paine, and many more, 
 Like Ingersoll, they close the door ; 
 
 And like Voltaire, they search in vain 
 That which the churches call profane ; 
 As Plato, and the ancient school 
 Of Epicurus, for a rule, 
 
 Confucius, the Stoics too, 
 Zoraster, and the ancients through ; 
 Of which the fruit of all is found 
 Within the Scriptures neatly bound. 
 
81 
 
 ASSISTANCE. 
 
 When man surveys that which is right, 
 As seemeth best unto his sight, 
 Let him not parley, but withstand 
 Ttie words which women have at hand. 
 
 Until, he can, without a shock 
 
 Eeceive their blows, though hard they knock, 
 
 He is but feminine withall, 
 
 And totters for a sudden fall. 
 
 The voice of woman is a blast, 
 We feel its shock, which, soon as past 
 Oat from the other quarter comes, 
 Like thunder roars, and lightning runs. 
 
 But he, the man, who can behold 
 The tempest of a woman's scold ; 
 Nor from his reverie be won, 
 Hath her assistance as bernm. 
 
82 
 
 MONSTROSITY. 
 
 That which takes place in regular form 
 Produces what before has been ; 
 
 'Tis that which never was before, 
 Irregular form, that's free from sin. 
 
 Christ was thus born by Holy power, 
 Conceived from longings of the soul ; 
 
 'Tis woman's nature to be pure ; 
 
 'Tis such that changes nature's whole, 
 
 Which, taking place in plant and flower, 
 
 In animal, as well as man ; 
 Departing from what's been before, 
 
 Is comprehending nature's plan. 
 
 Thus marvel not that Christ was born, 
 Conceived of spirit and of power ; 
 
 But not of man, we see the same 
 Is changing nature every hour. 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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