“From that look, and from that instant, all that followed is a blank——”
To what accident the narrator owes his existence is of little consequence, compared with the moral to be derived from the sad story.—“The words are soon spoken, and the act is soon done, which dooms a wretched creature to an untimely death; but bitter are the pangs—and the sufferings of the body are among the least of them—that he must go through before he arrives at it!”
In the narrative there is more than seems to be expressed. By all who advocate or oppose capital punishment—by every being with a human heart, and reasoning powers—it should be read complete in the pages of “Blackwood.”
*
Blind Willie, the Newcastle Minstrel.
Blind Willie, the Newcastle Minstrel.
Lang may wor Tyneside lads sae true,
In heart byeth blithe an’ mellow,
Bestow the praise that’s fairly due
To this bluff, honest fellow—
And when he’s hamper’d i’ the dust,
Still i’ wor memory springin’,
The times we’ve run till like to brust
To hear blind Willie singin’.