Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1852-12-15
The Wickedcst Thing Alive.
AN APOLOGIZE FROM THE ARABIAN M1ss.)
ny A. BRowNsoN sMA1LcoAT.

/ A.
The Evil One held high festival in the regions
of darkness and despair.
Far swelled the shouts of revelry; loud was the
clankng of the goblets of fire. and wild the laugh
ter of the fends.
They encireled their master with songs of joy
and triumph. Raising his blackened form on
high, and throwing aloft his giant arms.
Beelzebub spoke-he said:
s'Brothers, tits the anniversary of our fall from
yonder heavens. Be it celebrated with shouts
and song. Shout ye fends, shout from every
rock of fire, from every battlement of flame, send
up the shout-long live the power of evil, and
the rule of Death !! Shout"
The shout arouse, and the iends grew merry in
their joy.
Beelzebub raised his goblet filed to the brin
with molten flame
'Pledge me, brothers /! pledge me | feel the
glory of conquest swelling in my breast, and
swear to bestow this crown fire upon the fiend
who shall produce before my throne the most
wicked thing in all created space, or in unshaped
chaos. Brothers, sweep the air, while ye my
friends shall dive into the depths beneath the
earth, and ye shall scale the stars that glimmer
through eternal space! Search, say The
| crown of fire shall be his, who brings before my
throne, the most wicked, hideous and depraved
being OF thing that lives! 1t is decree !''
/. And then spreading their wings, the fends arose
and sped them on We mission.
One searched the gibbet, and then brought to
] his masters throne. the murderer, stained in d
brothers. blood; another came, and smile was on
his lips for he had at his side parricide reekn9
with the mother;s lood who gave him BIRTH
Twas in vain.
'Ha, ha ~ laughed Beelzebub, in vain
You are dull to-day, my brothers, These mer
committed crime in the sudden flush of passion
| They were not sinners from the mere love OF
sin. Away, and to your search %
The fends again departed on their mission.
A dark, proud fiend bowed low before his mas
ter's throne and claimed the crown Of fire.
ss,The crown of fire is mine % he cried. Lo
Master looked not on the gibbet for the most
wicked thing that lives. WellI knew that the
greater the criminal, the more certain the escape
from punishment. | searched not the prisons, !
locked not under the axe of the gullotine All
no, but diving down into the oceans depths
dragged from its dunnest caverns a pirate, dyed in
the blood Of thousands victims. He is the mean
est, most accursed thing alive. claim the crown
of fre!''
] Then raising the crown from off his brow
44hhlaekered By the thunder scar, Reelzeb,fb was
/ about to take place it npon the head of the fend
who stood before hita with the pirate, when a
wild yell, more terrible than the-Wildest coral
song of Pandemonium, broke upon his ear. High
it rose! The roof of burning brass gave back the
shout! Deep is fell! And ten thousand souls
! floating in the dark abyss, returned the yell
! On they came a band Of fends, and with laugh
and shout they followed short, thick fend, who
grinned and chuck1ed, as he pointed to his prize
s'There stands the meanest thing alive - he
shrieked slIaster the crown is mine Where
think you got him In the prison No. On
the gibbet! Not bit of it. In the ocean s
depths! All, no. Where did secure him! Lis
ten We fiends, while tell the story. flew to
the wide and spacious city-a crowd lined the
streets, a crowd of orphans begged, crowd oi
mothers with their babes starving at their breasts
And around wide and lofty building, built of the
whitest marble, fast and thick like ants upon a
mole-hill swarmed the multitude Sweet music
/ of orphans groans, the music of widows cries
the music of fends' cries, the music of bankrupt
merchants curses-these are all broken upon the
1 air sweet music! entered the building-the
building of whitest marble From behind desk
filed not with skulls Or daggers, or aught that
usually betokens death-but filled with books
and papers-form behind the desk dragged this
cheerful faced, this round launched man. He
was the cause Of all this misery. ] claim the
crown of fire; am the fend of gold: there stands
nv brother fend of fraud-the-
ellis name!" shouted the Evil One.
ssThe BANK DIREcToRG' answered lhe fend OF
Gold.
And then Pandemonium laughed, and laughed
again.
cit is the meanest thing alive" the devils shout
/ ed, ssthe most accursed Wretch''
"Shall prove may claim to the crown of fire?
shouted the fend of gold. "Here my proofs!'
AS he spoke a bank of pale and ghastly suicides
came moving from the darkness, and their life
less eyes, they fixed upon the cheerful-faced Bank
4 Director.
ssThese are thy works!' shouted the fend oi
gold.
Then came throng of orphans.
ssThese would have been glory to their Deity
and blessing to their fellow beings, had it no
been for thee Their means of life you despoil
ed them of; their bread you snatched from thei
mouths; their clothing you stripped from thei
backs. They were forced to the ways of crime
They are here and you are the cause Are yol
not, dear brother Fraud; my Bank Director %
}, The Bank Director smiled pleasantly, and ad
mitted thatit was his work. but added he; ssit wal