While it nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at the chamber door;
Only this and nothing more.
They were Blue Laws in the offing, with a ghastly, ghostly coughing,
Spreading germs of discontent, dissatisfaction, gloom—all o’er,
Causing men to shrink and shiver, many hearts to quake and quiver,
Hoping something would deliver them from all these laws that bore
Sorrow for them, evermore.
All day Sunday, people sleeping, while the rest are gently weeping,
And weeping as they never wept in all their lives before;