of men in the State, to stamp upon this infamous procedure the indelible stigma of the public abhorrence. More particularly I call upon the holy prelates of our religion to do away this iniquity: let them perform a lustration to purify the country from this deep and deadly sin. My lords, I am old and weak, and at present unable to say more; but my feelings and indignatior. were too strong to have said less. I could not have slept this night in my bed, nor even reposed my head upon my pillow, without giving vent to my eternal abhorrence of such enormous and preposterous principles. LESSON CXXXI. THE PHILANTHROPICAL SOCIETY. BY THOMAS HOOD. 1. ONCE on a time-no matter when- As smut, to flour; as coal, to alabaster; As ragmen's dolls, to images in plaster! 2. However, as is usual in our city, Not merely male, but female duns, Young, old, and middle-aged,-of all degrees, With many of those persevering ones Who mite by mite would beg a cheese. And what might be their aim? To rescue Afric's sable sons from fetters? To save their bodies from the burning shame Their shoulders from the cowhide's bloody strokes, 3. To end or mitigate the ills of slavery, The planter's avarice, the driver's knavery? And make them worthy of eternal bliss? 4. They wanted washing! not that slight ablution Sousing each sooty frame from heels to head 5. Sweet was the vision; but, alas! However in prospectus bright and sunny, One thing was requisite, and that was-money! While he whose fortune was at best a brittle one, 7. Moved by this logic, or appall'd, To persons of a certain turn so proper, The money came, when call'd, In silver, gold, and copper; Presents from "friends to blacks," or foes to whiter And charitable lifts, Printed in lists and quarterly transactions, The Dowager Lady Scannel, A stable broom; 8 Great were the sums collected! And great results in consequence expected. At yearly courts, The blacks confound them!-were as black as ever And scourers in the office strong and clever, The blacks-confound them!-were as black as ever! 9 In fact, in his perennial speech, The chairman own'd the negroes did not bleach, From being wash'd and soap'd, A circumstance he named with grief and pity. For self and the committee, By persevering in the present way, And scrubbing at the blacks from day to day, From certain symptoms that had come to light, He hoped in time to get them gray! 10. Lull'd by this vague assurance, The friends and patrons of the sable tribe And waited, waited on, with much endurance. 11. But, spite of pounds or guineas, Instead of giving any hint Of turning to a neutral tint, 12 The plaguy negroes and their piccaninnies Showing a little gray upon their polls, However, nothing dash'd By such repeated failures, or abash'd, The court still met,—the chairman and directors, The worthy treasurer, who kept the chink, With hundreds of that class, so kindly credulous, Who, willingly receiving chaff for corn, As pointed out by Butler's tact, 13. However in long hundreds there folks were, Alas! concluding in the usual strain, That, what with everlasting wear and tear, The tubs and pails too shatter'd to be mended; 14. "In fact, the negroes were as black as ink; But, ere the prospect could be made more sunny, And, with an eager stammer, thus began More money?" 15. "Why?" said the chairman, with an accent bland, And gentle waver of his dexter hand; "Why must we have more dross, and dirt, and dust, More filthy lucre,-in a word, more gold? The why, sir, very easily is told; Because humanity declares we must ! We've scrubb'd the negroes till we've nearly kill'd 'em; LESSON CXXXII. GIL BLAS AND THE ARCHBISHOP BY LESAGE. Archbishop. WELL, young man, what is your business with me? Gil Blas. I am the young man whom your nephew Don Fernando was pleased to mention to you. |