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s feet." On the stone hearth the blazing walnut block Set the low walls a-glimmer, showed the cock Rebuking Peter on the Van Wyck clock, Shone on old tomes of law and physic, side By side with Fox and Belimen, played at hide And seek with Anna, midst her household pride Of flaxen webs, and on the table, bare Of costly cloth or silver cup, but where, Tasting the fat shads of the Delaware, The courtly Penn had praised the goodwife's cheer, And quoted Horace o'er her home brewed beer, Till even grave Pastorius smiled to hear. In such a home, beside the Schuylkill's wave, He dwelt in peace with God and man, and gave Food to the poor and shelter to the slave. For all too soon the New World's scandal shamed The righteous code by Penn and Sidney framed, And men withheld the human rights they claimed. And slowly wealth and station sanction lent, And hardened avarice, on its gains intent, Stifled the inward whisper of dissent. Yet all the while the burden rested sore On tender hearts. At last Pastorius bore Their warning message to the Church's door In God's name; and the leaven of the word Wrought ever after in the souls who heard, And a dead conscience in its grave-clothes stirred To troubled life, and urged the vain excuse Of Hebrew custom, patriarchal use, Good in itself if evil in abuse. Gravely Pastorius listened, not the less Discerning through the decent fig-leaf dress Of the poor plea its shame of selfishness. One Scripture rule, at least, was unforgot; He hid the outcast, and betrayed him not; And, when his prey the human hunter sought, He scrupled not, while Anna's wise delay And proffered cheer prolonged the master's stay, To speed the black guest safely on his way. Yet, who shall guess his bitter grief who lends His life to some great cause, and finds his friends Shame or betray it for their private ends? How felt the Master when his chosen strove In childish folly for their seats above; And that fond mother, blinded by her love, Besought him that her sons, beside his throne, Might sit on either hand? Amidst his own A stranger oft, companionless and lone, God's priest and prophet stands. The martyr's pain Is not alone from s
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