Page:Landon in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book 1840.pdf/26

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And yet what grievous wrong is wrought, Unnoticed and unknown, Until some noble one stands forth, And makes that wrong his own! So stood he forth who first denounced The slave-trade's cursed gain; Such call upon the human heart Was never made in vain.

For generous impulses and strong Within our nature lie: Pity, and love, and sympathy May sleep, but never die. Thousands, awakened to the sense, Have never since that time Ceased to appeal to God and man Against the work of crime.

The meanest hut that ever stood Is yet a human home; Why to a low and humble roof Should the despoiler come? Grant they are ignorant and weak, We were ourselves the same: If they are children, let them have A child's imploring claim.

The husband parted from the wife, The mother from the child— Thousands within a single year, From land and home exiled. For what?—to labour without hope Beneath a foreign sky; To gather up unrighteous wealth— To droop—decline—and die!

Such wrong is darkly visited; The masters have their part— For theirs had been the blinded eye, And theirs the hardened heart. Evil may never spring unchecked Within the mortal soul; If such plague-spot be not removed, It must corrupt the whole.