The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1833-01-08

Who looked 10 the lHwutu part,
Foregoin the honors and wealth Of eorth
And emptied his breast Of the praise Of birth,
To seek the treasures Of matchless worth
Reserved for the pure in heart.
And he heaved sigh at the lofty look
OF the mitred head DER the gilded book;
And view Of the costly drapery took
With meek and plying eye,
"Alas :" said he, as he turned away
From the splendid temple, the grand display,
"What honor to worldly pomp they pay,
In the name ofthe King Most High !"
Then he looked around on his proud land,
Where those of his faith were a suffering
Enchained in the conscience, and under the
hand
OF merciless power oppressed.
All seek" said the Quaker, ga happier
shore,
There and my people may kneel before
The shrine we erect to the God we adore F.; |
4 nnu lOue bluli OuI IneS ulOleSt
And sick OF the sounding ofempty things,
OF beggarly strife in the island Of kings,
His dove like spirit unfurled her wings,
For bold and venturous sweep.
She waited him DER billow and spray,
'Twixt the sea and the sky on pathless way,
To beautiful sylvan scene that lay
Far over tho boiling deep.
find when he came down unruffled g. staid,
Who're along the skirt Of a peaceful shade,
The Schuylk.l and Delaware rolled s. made
| Their friendly waters unite.
The Indian sprang from his light canoe,
The bird to the topmas, bough withdrew,
And the deer skipped up on the cliff to view
The new and unseemly sight.
But the tomahawk dropped from the red
mans hand,
When he saw the Quaker advance, g. staLd
Presenting his purse, but to share the land
lie had come to possess with him.
And scanning his bland and noble face
Where goodpess was all that his eye could
trace,
He haughtily smiled at its hiding place,
Far under the hats broad brim.
Thou'lt fnd," said the Quaker, ain me and
in mine,
But friends aud brothers to thee, and to
thine,
Who abuse no power, and admit no line
! 'Twixt the rcd man and the white,
Save the cords of love as a sacred tie /;
For our one great Father who dwello on
high,
Regards the child with an angry eye,
Who robs from his brothers. right !"
The Indian paused. the Quaker stood,
The righteous Lord of the shadowy wood,
Like the genius of thought, in his solitude,
Till his spirit, the inner man,
Became too mighty to be repressed
Beneath the drab on his ample breast,
Had moved, and with neatness and plainly
dressed,
Came forth, and his lips began.
"I may not swear, but III prophecy
This lofty forest that towers so high,
Must bow-and its stately head will lie
On the lap Of its mother earth,
When the stroke of the axe shall its pride
subdue,
And its branching honors the ground shall
strew,
To shelter the peaceful hearth.
Where now the poor Indian scatters the sod
With offerings burnt to an unknown god,
BY gospel light shall the path be trod,
To the courts Of the Prince Of peace
And, hero will commerce appoint her mart !;
The marble will yield to the hand of art,
From the sun of science the rays will dart,
And the darkness Of nature cease"
And thus did the vision ofprophecy
} Expand and blaze to the prophets eye,
Till 1t grew so vast and arose so high,
That the gentle words that hung
Like string of pearls, from his cautious lip
On their silver thread, he was fain to clip,
Lest something more than the truth might
slip,
For once, from Quaker's tongue,
But the trees quaked too, at the things he
spoke,
For thev kne,v thot tho uk neo or Tho L,o,
ted oak"