Would lake a warning from his fearful fate,
And "touch not, taste not" make their solemn pledge,
And so he parts with all in charity.

[_A pause--the sobs of the prisoner's wife and
sister are heard._

CRIER OF THE COURT.
Silence!


CLERK OF THE COURT.
Prisoner, stand up and listen to the sentence.


JUDGE BOLTON (_solemnly_).
Laws hitherto are framed to punish crime
All legislators have been slow to deal
With vice in its first elements; and here
Lie the pernicious root and seeds of sin.
That children are permitted to grow up
From infancy to youth without instruction,
Is a grave wrong, and ne'er to be redeemed
By penal statutes and the prisoner's cell.
We leave the mind unfortified by Truth,
And wonder it should fill with wayward Error.
There's no blank ignorance, as many dream;
Each soul will have its growth and garnering.
As the uncultured prairie bears a harvest
Heavy and rank, yet worthless to the world,