Lifting the lowest up.

Press on! and we who may not share
The toil or glory of your fight
May ask, at least, in earnest prayer,
God's blessing on the right!
1843.




THE HUMAN SACRIFICE.

Some leading sectarian papers had lately published the letter of a
clergyman, giving an account of his attendance upon a criminal (who had
committed murder during a fit of intoxication), at the time of his
execution, in western New York. The writer describes the agony of the
wretched being, his abortive attempts at prayer, his appeal for life,
his fear of a violent death; and, after declaring his belief that the
poor victim died without hope of salvation, concludes with a warm eulogy
upon the gallows, being more than ever convinced of its utility by the
awful dread and horror which it inspired.

I.
FAR from his close and noisome cell,
By grassy lane and sunny stream,
Blown clover field and strawberry dell,
And green and meadow freshness, fell
The footsteps of his dream.
Again from careless feet the dew