Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-04-17
NJ MISS SARAH 8. JACOBS.


Not only on that midnight
When Chaldea's king was slain,
And all his subtle sooihsayers
Psrplexed themselves in vain;
For our eyes, too, is written
The word Of doom and fear,
And Conscience is the prophet
TO make lis meaning clear.
A poor man in the city
Last evening passed away,
And tired of ceaseless labor,
Keeps perfect rest to-day.
They labored late and early,
Those patient hands and feet,
Early in the cool dawning,
Late in the twilight sweet;
Still lieth he this morning,
His day of toll is DER,
He has thrown down his burthen
And takes it up no more.
Through life a man may struggle
With poverty's salt wave,
But must he from his brother
Seek refuge in the grave
And shall a brother bid him
With grinding toll be spentl
And from his just proportions
OF soul and body bentl
Sholl every straining muscle
Be so severely tried,
That the tall mans erectness
Is warped and turned asidel
Should the untimely burrows
Be ploughed so deeply therel
And why with manhood's summer
Is mingled snowy hairl
Tomorrow they will bury
The poor, with honors small
Hungry his children follow
Their fathers funeral.
Not sorrow only glistens
In every childish tear
Famine is on their faces,
And beggary and fear.
The widow downward gazes,
Her pale and thin lips stir,
Methinks the grave she asketh
If there is room for her.
saw the rich Taskmaster-
His living death is worse
The tvora of Doom is written
Upon his silken purse;
Upon MS uoWny SOFA,
Upon his pillowed bed ;
On all that did not minister.
Unto his brother dead.
saw the gold and silver
Upon his side-board shine /;
l saw the well-cooked viands,
And the grapes costly wine.
The walls were clothed with paintings
(But rags the mourners clad,)
The hearth blazed bright and cheerful,
(No fire the dying had.)
Upon the shining silver,
And on the pleasant wall,
Upon the Widespread table,
On every thing and all;
And on the owners picture,
Was written deep and broad
"Iekeli in the just balance
Of the Eternal God,
Thou hast been weighed, and lighter
Than vanity art thou"
Oh! man of many thousands,
Go learn this lesson now,
To give those thousands value
And dignity and worth
Comfort the hearts that sorrow,
Do good upon the earth.
Then Heaven in its mercy
That dread word shall erase,
And Blessed of my Father"
BE written in its place.
The Christian hath his closet
To which he goes 10 pray,
And fast the door he locketh
To keep the world away.
This sacred place one entered
And on the floor he knelt,
lie duly read a chapter,
And long in prayer he dwelt:
But by his open window
A ship was sailing fast,
A large rich-freighted vessel,
Ills signal On the mast.
lie went out smiling cheerful
looked within the door;
"Tekel' was glimmering family
Upon the closet floor.
II was the holy Sabbath
The bells, with warning tone,
Were audibly proclaiming
The day Jehovah's own.
The pews were filled and ready,
The deep responses came;
But ever, ever lowering
In a pale wreath Of fame
Above the kneeling people,
And by their breath unstirred,
S~huddering, ] saw the token
The dread condemning word.
And when from out the pulpit
The S~aviour's life was read,
"Tekel," in brighter colors
Seemed blazing overhead,
Weighed in the righteous balance
And wanting found We are"
Then changed tho Tekel's mystery
And an ~intensest star