Page:The Fall of the Alamo.djvu/99

 Their bad example cannot prove contagious, But must pass off like vapors in the sun,— Still they are useful, necessary here. Brought hither by the Great Economist That rules this universe, they are no less Than all the good, that here reside, His tools Wherewith He works His deep, mysterious plans. Here to erect a grand, a noble State, A monument to His Eternal Widom, He needs rough stones to lay its firm foundation. And coarse cement wherewith to bind its seams. The worst materials are the best for this; Without their aid no State was ever built. These are quite novel theories to me; But pray, proceed, Miss Bradburn, for I long To hear your more than curious eulogy Of rogues and desperadoes to the end. Virtue at rest is indolent and slow, And needs a spur to rouse her energies; For her regard for peace, her reverence For law and order, her dislike to strife, Cause often her to bear what she ought not. It is the bad whose utter recklessness, Whose bold defiance of authority,