So mind and heart uncultured run to waste;
The noblest natures serving but to show
A denser growth of passion's deadly fruit.
Another error of our social state--
We charter sin when chartering temptation.
We see the ensnarer, like a spider, sit
Weaving his web; and we permit the work.
How many souls Intemperance has destroyed,
Lured to his den by opportunities
The law allows! The prisoner at the bar
Is one of these unhappy instances.
The testimony offered here has shown
He bore a character unstained by crime.
Nay, more--an active, honest, prudent man,
Prisoner, you have appeared, since you came here
Five years ago. You came with us to share,
In this free land, the blessings we enjoy;
Blessings by law secured, by law sustained;
The impartial law that, like the glorious sun,
Sends from its central light a beam to all,
And binds in magnet interest all as one.
And you had married here, and were a father
And prospered in your plans, and all was well.
Nay, more--'tis proved you had a generous heart,
And had been kind to your poor countrymen,
The homeless emigrants who gather here,
Like men escaped from sore calamities,
Where only life is saved from out the wreck.
And one of these, an early friend, who died
Beneath the kindly shelter of your roof,