Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/350

318   :Down-pillowed, deaf to moaning want; Pay tithes for soul-insurance; keep
 * Six days to Mammon, one to Cant.

In such a time, give thanks to God,
 * That somewhat of the holy rage
 * With which the prophets in their age

On all its decent seemings trod,
 * Has set your feet upon the lie,

That man and ox and soul and clod
 * Are market stock to sell and buy!

The hot words from your lips, my own,
 * To caution trained, might not repeat;
 * But if some tares among the wheat

Of generous thought and deed were sown,
 * No common wrong provoked your zeal;

The silken gauntlet that is thrown
 * In such a quarrel rings like steel.

The brave old strife the fathers saw
 * For Freedom calls for men again
 * Like those who battled not in vain

For England’s Charter, Alfred’s law;
 * And right of speech and trial just

Wage in your name their ancient war
 * With venal courts and perjured trust.

God’s ways seem dark, but, soon or late,
 * They touch the shining hills of day;
 * The evil cannot brook delay,

The good can well afford to wait.
 * Give ermined knaves their hour of crime;

Ye have the future grand and great,
 * The safe appeal of Truth to Time!

1em

To His unworthy servant!—I arrived Safe at the Mission, via Westport where I tarried over night, to aid in forming A Vigilance Committee, to send back, In shirts of tar, and feather-doublets quilted With forty stripes save one, all Yankee comers, Uncircumcised and Gentile, aliens from The Commonwealth of Israel, who despise The prize of the high calling of the saints, Who plant amidst this heathen wilderness Pure gospel institutions, sanctified By patriarchal use. The meeting opened With prayer, as was most fitting. Half an hour, Or thereaway, I groaned, and strove, and wrestled, As Jacob did at Penuel, till the power Fell on the people, and they cried “Amen!” “Glory to God!” and stamped and clapped their hands; And the rough river boatmen wiped their eyes; “Go it, old hoss!” they cried, and cursed the niggers— Fulfilling thus the word of prophecy, “Cursëd be Canaan.” After prayer, the meeting Chose a committee—good and pious men— A Presbyterian Elder, Baptist deacon, A local preacher, three or four class-leaders, Anxious inquirers, and renewed back-sliders, A score in all—to watch the river ferry, (As they of old did watch the fords of Jordan,) And cut off all whose Yankee tongues refuse The Shibboleth of the Nebraska bill. And then, in answer to repeated calls, I gave a brief account of what I saw In Washington; and truly many hearts Rejoiced to know the President, and you And all the Cabinet regularly hear The gospel message of a Sunday morning, Drinking with thirsty souls of the sincere Milk of the Word. Glory! Amen, and Selah!


 * Here, at the Mission, all things have gone well:

The brother who, throughout my absence, acted As overseer, assures me that the crops Never were better. I have lost one negro, A first-rate hand, but obstinate and sullen. He ran away some time last spring, and hid In the river timber. There my Indian converts