The southern press., 1851-04-05
A LEGEND.
BY JOHN G. SAKE.

Not at all in it's sound like your Rochester
Knocking"
(Where asses in herds are durnny fockng)
But twice as mysterious, and vastly more shock |
Was heard at the door by the people within,
Who stopped in momeEt their camorous din,
And ceased in a trice from their Jokes and their |
When who should appear,
But an odd looking stranger somewhat sin the
sere,"
Gle seemed at the least in his sixtieth year,)
And he limped in manner exceedingly queer,
Wore breeches uncommonly wide in the rear,
And his nose was turned up with conica sneer,
And he had in his eye most villainous leer,
Quite enough to make any one tremble with fear
Whence he came,
And what was his name,
And what his purpose in venturing out,
And whether his lameness was "gammon' or
gout,
Or merely fatigue from strolling about,
Were questions involved in great deal Of doubt
When taking chair,
With social air,
Like that which your "Uncle" is accustomed to
wear,
Or broker determined to sell you share,
In his splendid "New England Gold-mining af-
fair,'
He opened his mouth and went on to declare
That he was DEvIL-"The devil you are! %
Cried one of the guests assembled there,
With a sudden start, and frightened stare.
"Nay, don't be alarmed" the stranger excaims,
"At the name of the devil-lM THE Devil OF
NAMEs!'
You will wonder why
Such devil as |,
Who ought, you would say, to be devilish shy,
Should venture in here with never Doubt
And let the best of his secrets out;
But mind you my boys,
It's one of the joys
OF the cunningest woman and craftiest man,
To run quickly as ever they can,
And put confdante under ban
Not to publish their favorite plan
Ard even the dell
Will sometimes feel
A little Of that remarkable zeal,
And (when it's safe) deigns to tell
The very deepest ARcANA Of we'll
Besides, my favor this company wins,
For value next to capital sins,
Those out-nnd -outera who revel in inns
So, not to delay,
Pm going to say
In the very fullest and frankest way,
All about my honors and claims,
Projects and plans, and objects and aims,
And WHY Pm called 'sThe Devil of Names %
cheat by false graces,
And duplicate faces,
And treacherous praises,
And by hiding bad things under plausible phrases'
III give you sample,
BY way Of example,
Here's bottle before me, will suit to a Il
For nice illusration--this liquor, dye see,
Is the water OF death, though topers agree
To think it, and drink it, as pure "eau-de -pie;"
/ KNOW what il is-that' s sufficient for me
For the blackest Of sins, and crimes, and shames,
find soft words and innocent names
The Hells devoted to Saans games
| christen "Saloons" and "Halls, )" and then,
By another contrivance Of mine again,
RE- ham nj hv
A phrase which gamester begs,
In spite Of the saw that "eggs is eggs"
To whiten his nigritudinous legs
To debauchees graciously grant
The favor To be A" a little gallant"
And soften vicious vagrancy down
By civilly speaking Of " men-about town."
There cheating and lying
In selling and buying,
And all sorts of frauds and dishonest exactions,
I've brought to the smallest of moral nfractons,
Merely by naming them business transactions J
There's swindng, now, is vastly more hne
Al" Banking" "a lucky invention of mine,
Worth ten in the old diabolical line !
In lesser matters it's all the same,
gain the thing by yielding the name;
Its really quite the broadest ofjokes-
But, on my honor, there Is plenty of folks
So uncommonly fond of verbal cloaks,
They can't enjoy the dinners they eat,
Court the 4" muse Of oftwinkling feet :"
Laugh or sing or do any thing meet
For Christian people, without cheat
To make their happiness quite complete
The Boston saints
Are fond of these feIn,s,
A theatre rouses the loudest complaints,
Till it's thoroughly purged from pestilent taints,
BY the charm of a name and pious Te Deum-
Yet they patronise actors, and handsomely 'em,
Keep--shade of" The Howards "a gay cath
eneum,
And have, above all a harmless " Museum,
Where folks who love plays may religionsIy see em
But leaving trihe which costs me more trouble
BY far than the worth ofso fmsy bubble,
! come to a matter which readily claims
The studous of The Devil of Names.
There's Charity now"
But the lecture was done,
Like old Goodey Morey's, when scarcely begun
The devils discourse by its serious teaching
Had seldom snoring like regular preaching
One look of disdaln on the sleepers he threw,
As in bitter contempt of the slumbering crew,
A nd the devil had vanished without ado
A trick, ! suspect, thai he seldom plays you