FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122  
123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   >>   >|  
he world! In she plunged boldly,-- No matter how coldly The rough river ran-- Over the brink of it! Picture it--think of it, Dissolute man! Lave in it, drink of it, Then, if you can! Take her up tenderly, Lift her with care! Fashioned so slenderly, Young, and so fair! Ere her limbs, frigidly, Stiffen too rigidly, Decently, kindly! Smooth and compose them; And her eyes, close them, Staring so blindly! Dreadfully staring Through muddy impurity, As when with the daring Last look of despairing Fixed on futurity. Perishing gloomily, Spurred by contumely, Cold inhumanity, Burning insanity, Into her rest! Cross her hands humbly, As if praying dumbly, Over her breast! Owning her weakness, Her evil behavior, And leaving, with meekness, Her sins to her Saviour! THOMAS HOOD. GUILTY, OR NOT GUILTY? She stood at the bar of justice, A creature wan and wild, In form too small for a woman, In feature too old for a child. For a look so worn and pathetic Was stamped on her pale young face, It seemed long years of suffering Must have left that silent trace. "Your name," said the judge, as he eyed her With kindly look, yet keen, "Is--?" "Mary McGuire, if you please, sir." "And your age?" "I am turned fifteen." "Well, Mary--" And then from a paper He slowly and gravely read, "You are charged here--I am sorry to say it-- With stealing three loaves of bread. "You look not like an offender, And I hope that you can show The charge to be false. Now, tell me, Are you guilty of this, or no?" A passionate burst of weeping Was at first her sole reply; But she dried her tears in a moment, And looked in the judge's eye. "I will tell you just how it was, sir; My father and mother are dead, And my little brothers and sisters Were hungry, and asked me for bread. At first I earned it for them By working hard all day, But somehow the times were hard, sir, And the work all fell away. "I could get no more employment; The weather was bitter cold; The young ones cried and shivered (Little Johnnie's but four years old). So what was I to do, sir? I am guilty, but do not condemn; I _took_--oh, was it _stealing_?-- The bread to give to them." Every man in the court-room-- Graybeard and thoughtless youth-- Knew, as he looked upon her, That the prisoner spake the truth. Out from their pockets came kerchiefs, Out from their eyes sprang tears, A
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122  
123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
kindly
 

guilty

 

stealing

 

looked

 

GUILTY

 
passionate
 
weeping
 

charged

 
gravely
 

slowly


loaves

 

charge

 
offender
 

condemn

 
shivered
 

Johnnie

 
Little
 
pockets
 

sprang

 

kerchiefs


prisoner

 

thoughtless

 

Graybeard

 

bitter

 

weather

 

brothers

 

sisters

 

fifteen

 

hungry

 

mother


father

 
earned
 

employment

 

working

 

moment

 
staring
 

Dreadfully

 
Through
 

impurity

 
blindly

Staring
 

Decently

 
rigidly
 
Smooth
 

compose

 

daring

 
contumely
 

inhumanity

 
Burning
 

insanity