[CONVERSION.]
When this world's pleasures for my soul sufficed,
Ere my heart's plummet sounded depths of pain,
I called on Reason to control my brain,
And scoffed at that old story of the Christ.
But when o'er burning wastes my feet had trod,
And all my life was desolate with loss,
With bleeding hands I clung about the cross,
And cried aloud, "Man needs a suffering God!"
[ONE WOMAN'S PLEA.]
Now God be with the men who stand
In Legislative halls, to-day.
Those chosen princes of our land--
May God be with them all, I say,
And may His wisdom, guide, and shield them,
For mighty is the trust we yield them.
Oh, men! who hold a people's fate,
There in the hollow of your hand.
Each word you utter, soon, or late,
Shall leave its impress on our land,--
Forth from the halls of legislation,
Shall speed its way, through all the Nation.
Then may The Source of Truth, and Light,
Be ever o'er you, ever near.
And may He guide each word aright;
May no false precept, greet the ear,
No selfish love, for purse, or faction,
Stay Justice's hand, or guide one action.
And may no one, among these men
Lift to his lips, the damning glass,
Let no man say, with truth, again,
What _has been said_, in truth, alas,
"Men drink, in halls of legislation--
Why shouldn't we, of lower station!"
Oh, men! you see, you hear this beast,
This fiend that pillages the earth.
Whose work is death--whose hourly feast,
Is noble souls, and minds of worth--
You see--and if you will not chain him,
Nor reach one hand forth, to detain him.
For God's sake, do not give him aid,
Nor urge him onward. Oh, to me,
It seems so strange that laws are made
To crush all other crimes, while he
Who bears down through Hell's gaping portals
The countless souls, of rum wrecked mortals,