The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-08-20

hoose to express in form @aich will not Ell
ounter contradiction: 1t is sssier to pull dow
Babylon than to build the Nsx Jerusalem.
The same subject continue in our next.
For the National Era
THE WlTCH'S DAUGHTER.
II was the pleasant harvest trse,
When cellar-bins are closely slowed
And garreis bend beneath their load,
And the old, swallow-haun'ed Earns
Brown-gabled, long, and fun Of seams
Through which the NOTED Sunlight streams,
And winds blew silly in, to shake
The red pumes OF the roasted cocks,
And the loose hay-mow's scenisd locks
Are filled with summers ripened stores,
Its odorous grass and grained sheaves,
From their low scaffolds 10 tfeir caves.
On Esek Harden's oaken floor,
With many autumn threshng worn,
Lay the heaped ears OF unhusked corn.
And thither came young men and maids,
Beneath a moon that, large and low,
Lit that sweet OF long ago
They took their places; some ~ GAance,
And others by merry voice.
Or sweet smile guided 10 theis choice.
How pleasantly the rising moon,
Between the shadow OF the fnows,
Looked on them through the great elm boughs -
To- ID ,br1s vnaA
On girhood with its solid curves
OF healthful strength and painless nerves.
And jes;s went round, and Laughter made
The hou -e-dos answer with his Aowl,
And kept as;ir the barn-yard toSFl;
And quaint, old songs their fathers sang,
In :rby dales and York shire msors,
Ere Norman William trod their ,hores:
And tales, whose merry license shaok
The fat sides OF the Saxon lbane
Forgeuul of the lowering Dane =
But still the sweetest voice was mate,
That river valley heard
From lip of maid or throat ofnirt;
For Mabel Martin sat apart
And let the hsy-mow's shadow hll
Upon the loveliest face of all
She sat apart, as one forbid, >
Who knew that none would consescend
To own the Witch's child hiel;l.
The seasons scarce had gone tseiEround,
Since curious thousands ,hro ages 10 see
Her mother on Illegal the sall9M Hi1s i age,
That fatered on the fatal stalls
And wan lip trembling with is prayers!
Few questioned of the sorrowipg cAild
Or, when they the mother dir,
Dreamed of The daughters agony.
They went up 10 their homes thai day
As men and Christians justified,
God willed it, and the wretch bat died,
Dear God and Father of US all,
Forgive our faith in cruel liesa
Forgive the blindness that deIaes
Forgive Thy creature WI en- he tBkts,
For the ail-perfect love Thou an
Some grim creation of his heart,
Cast down our idols overturn
Our bloody affairs; let us see
myself in Thy humanity ~
Poor Mabel from her mothers grfTA
Crept 10 her desolae hearth sioie
And wrestled with her fate alote
With love and anger and despairS
The phantoms OF Gisordered seize
The awful doubts of Providence
The school boys jeered her as TIT passed
And, when she sought the housf Of prayer,
Her mothers pursued her lhrre
And still DER many a ne ghboringsoor
She saw the hOrseshoe's curvetsAarm,
To guard against her mothers MIN
That mother, poor and sick and I've
Who, daily, by the old char
Folded her whered hands in pJ YER
Who turned, in Salems dreary ia.
Her old Bible DER and DEF
When her dim eyes could read Smore!
Sore tried and panied, the poor gif kept
Her faith, and trusted that her y "
So dark, would ewhere NEE the day.
And still her weary wheel went RI Ind
Day after day, with no relief
Small leisure have the poor for lief
so in the shadow Mabel sits;
Untouched by mirth she an hears,
Her smile is sadder than her tea !,
But cruel eyes have found her out
And cruel lips repeat her name,
And taunt her with her mothers same
She answered not with railing wof s,I
But drew her apron DER her face
And, so5bing, gded from the pls E.
And, only pausing al the door,
Her sad eyes met the troubled ga;
OF one who, in her better days
Had been her warm and steady frie ID,
Ere yet her mothers doom had m: ce
Even Esek Harden half afraid
lie felt that mute appeal OF tears
And, starting, with angry frow =
flushed all the wicked murmur. avn
Good neIghbors minen he sterniy eaidJ
" This passes harmless mirth or jta;
brook no insult TO my guest
" She is indeed her mothers child;
But Gods sweet pity ministers
Unto no whittier soul than hers =.
>"Let Goody Martin rest in prace
never knew her harm fy, =
And, witch not, God knows-nd,s
~
81 know who swore her life away
And, as God lives, I'd not condemn
An Indian dog OF word of them.D
The broadest lands in all the town,
The skill to guide and power 20 aff,
Were Har1en's; and his word wa +aw.
None dared Withstand him 10 his facl,f
But one sly maiden spake aside:
:" The liiile witch is evil eyed,
Tier mother only killed a cow
or wiiched churn dairy pan
bu' she forsoo,h, must charm mss.s