And want consorts with crime;
Or men grown faithless sadly say

That evil is the time.
There is the field, the vantage ground

For every earnest heart;
To side with justice, truth and right

And act a noble part.
To save from ignorance and vice

The poorest, humblest child;
To make our age the fairest one

On which the sun has smiled;
To plant the roots of coming years

In mercy, love and truth;
And bid our weary, saddened earth

Again renew her youth.
Oh! earnest hearts! toil on in hope,

'Till darkness shrinks from light;
To fill the earth with peace and joy,

Let youth and age unite:
DEDICATION POEM. 9

To stay the floods of sin and shame
That sweep from shore to shore;

And furl the banners stained with blood,
'Till war shall be no more.

Blame not the age, nor think it full
Of evil and unrest;

But say of every other age,
"This one shall be the best."

The age to brighten every path
By sin and sorrow trod;

For loving hearts to usher in
The commonwealth of God.

DEDICATION POEM.
Dedication Poem on the reception of the annex to

the home for aged colored people, from the bequest of
Mr. Edward T. Parker.

Outcast from her home in Syria
In the lonely, dreary wild;

Heavy hearted, sorrow stricken,
Sat a mother and her child.

10 DEDICATION POEM.
There was not a voice to cheer her

Not a soul to share her fate;
She was weary, he was fainting,

And life seemed so desolate.
Far away in sunny Egypt

Was lone Hagar's native land;
Where the Nile in kingly bounty

Scatters bread with gracious hand.
In the tents of princely Abram

She for years had found a home;
Till the stern decree of Sarah

Sent her forth the wild to roam.
Hour by hour she journeyed onward

From the shelter of their tent,
Till her footsteps slowly faltered

And the water all was spent;
Then she veiled her face in sorrow,

Feared her child would die of thirst
Till her eyes with tears so holden

Saw a sparkling fountain burst.
Oh! how happy was that mother,

What a soothing of her pain;
DEDICATION POEM. 11

When she saw her child reviving,
Life rejoicing through each vein

Does not life repeat this story,
Tell it over day by day ?

Of the fountains of refreshment
Ever springing by our way.

Here is one by which we gather,
On this bright and happy day,

Just to bask beside a fountain
Making gladder life's highway.

Bringing unto hearts now aged
Who have borne life's burdens long,

Such a gift of love and mercy
As deserves our sweetest song.

Such a gift that even heaven
May rejoice with us below,

If the pure and holy angels
Join us in our joy and woe.

May the memory of the giver
In this home where age may rest,

Float like fragrance through the ages,
Ever blessing, ever blest.

12 A DOUBLE STANDARD.
When the gates of pearl are opened

May we there this friend behold,
Drink with him from living fountains,

Walk with him the streets of gold.
When life's shattered cords of music

Shall again be sweetly sung;
Then our hearts with life immortal,

Shall be young, forever young.
A DOUBLE STANDARD.

Do you blame me that I loved him?
If when standing all alone

I cried for bread a careless world
Pressed to my lips a stone.

Do you blame me that I loved him,
That my heart beat glad and free,

When he told me in the sweetest tones
He loved but only me?

Can you blame me that I did not see
Beneath his burning kiss

The serpent's wiles, nor even hear
The deadly adder hiss?

A DOUBLE STANDARD. 13
Can you blame me that my heart grew cold

The tempted, tempter turned;
When he was feted and caressed

And I was coldly spurned?
Would you blame him, when you draw from

me
Your dainty robes aside,

If he with gilded baits should claim
Your fairest as his bride?

Would you blame the world if it should press
On him a civic crown;

And see me struggling in the depth
Then harshly press me down?

Crime has no sex and yet to-day
I wear the brand of shame;

Whilst he amid the gay and proud
Still bears an honored name.

Can you blame me if I've learned to think
Your hate of vice a sham,

When you so coldly crushed me down
And then excused the man?

Would you blame me if to-morrow
The coroner should say,

14 A DOUBLE STANDARD.
A wretched girl, outcast, forlorn,

Has thrown her life away?
Yes, blame me for my downward course,

But oh! remember well,
Within your homes you press the hand

That led me down to hell.
I'm glad God's ways are not our ways

He does not see as man;
Within His love I know there's room

For those whom others ban.
I think before His great white throne,

His throne of spotless light,
That whited sepulchres shall wear

The hue of endless night.
That I who fell, and he who sinned,

Shall reap as we have sown;
That each the burden of his loss

Must bear and bear alone.
No golden weights can turn the scale

Of justice in His sight;
And what is wrong in woman's life

In man's cannot be right.
OUR HERO. 15

OUR HERO.
Onward to her destination,

O'er the stream the Hannah sped,
When a cry of consternation

Smote and chilled our hearts with dread.
Wildly leaping, madly sweeping,

All relentless in their sway,
Like a band of cruel demons

Flames were closing 'round our way
Oh! the horror of those moments;

Flames above and waves below--
Oh! the agony of ages

Crowded in one hour of woe.
Fainter grew our hearts with anguish

In that hour with peril rife,
When we saw the pilot flying,

Terror-stricken, for his life.
Then a man uprose before us--

We had once despised his race--
But we saw a lofty purpose

Lighting up his darkened face.
16 OUR HERO.

While the flames were madly roaring,
With a courage grand and high,

Forth he rushed unto our rescue,
Strong to suffer, brave to die.

Helplessly the boat was drifting,
Death was staring in each face,

When he grasped the fallen rudder,
Took the pilot's vacant place.

Could he save us? Would he save us?
All his hope of life give o'er?

Could he hold that fated vessel
'Till she reached the nearer shore?

All our hopes and fears were centered
'Round his strong, unfaltering hand;

If he failed us we must perish,
Perish just in sight of land.

Breathlessly we watched and waited
While the flames were raging fast;

When our anguish changed to rapture--
We were saved, yes, saved at last.

Never strains of sweetest music
Brought to us more welcome sound

THE DYING BONDMAN. 17

• earnest [´ə:nist] a.认真的 n.认真；诚恳 (初中英语单词)
• ignorance [´ignərəns] n.无知，愚昧 (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• gracious [´greiʃəs] a.和蔼可亲的；任慈的 (初中英语单词)
• decree [di´kri:] n.法令；公告；天命 (初中英语单词)
• fountain [´fauntin] n.泉水；源泉；根源 (初中英语单词)
• rejoice [ri´dʒɔis] v.(使)高兴；欢庆 (初中英语单词)
• blessing [´blesiŋ] n.祝福 (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
• careless [´keəlis] a.粗心的；草率的 (初中英语单词)
• deadly [´dedli] a.致命的 ad.死一般地 (初中英语单词)
• coldly [´kəuldli] ad.冷淡地 (初中英语单词)
• wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
• vacant [´veikənt] a.空虚的，无表情的 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• brighten [´braitn] v.(使)明亮；(使)愉快 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• commonwealth [´kɔmənwelθ] n.国家；共和国；联邦 (高中英语单词)
• reception [ri´sepʃən] n.接待；欢迎；招待会 (高中英语单词)
• dreary [´driəri] a.阴郁的；枯燥无味的 (高中英语单词)
• rejoicing [ri´dʒɔisiŋ] n.高兴；欢呼 (高中英语单词)
• fragrance [´freigrəns] n.芬芳，芳香 (高中英语单词)
• sweetly [´swi:tli] ad.甜蜜地；美妙地 (高中英语单词)
• dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• downward [´daunwəd] a.下降的，向下的 (高中英语单词)
• throne [θrəun] n.宝座；王位 (高中英语单词)
• anguish [´æŋgwiʃ] n.(极度的)痛苦；苦恼 (高中英语单词)
• kingly [´kiŋli] a.国王的 ad.国王似地 (英语四级单词)
• princely [´prinsli] a.王候般的；高贵的 (英语四级单词)
• faithless [´feiθləs] a.不忠的；虚假的 (英语六级单词)
• vantage [´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；好机会 (英语六级单词)
• harshly [´hɑ:ʃli] ad.粗糙地，冷酷地 (英语六级单词)
• relentless [ri´lentləs] a.无情的；坚韧的 (英语六级单词)