Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
Communicated,

EmuQ0y, Inc frOnl0itIOuIBts
From London Punch.j
To hedge people round with petty restrlc,
ton instead of teaching them nobility ol
conduct and a worthy use of liberty is tne
perennial resource of shallow and incompe'
tent reformers. A depraved and servile hu,
man nature, cribbed, cabined and confined
by an infnity of minute regulations en-,
forced by the policeman, is their reading OF
the social problem. It follows from thelr
miserable ideal that they are entirely care,
less of the fetters they may place on rationai
freedom. A small minority occasionally
injure themselves with liquor, and these re-
formers can think of nothing better than 70
forbid the entire community to drink at all
The Times on Mr.. Stevenson's Closing
Bill.
Out on our paltering pedants, petty fry
OF ants who'd eat the core of Liberty!
Oh, for Millions virile voice to wake
The cant-drugged manhood in our midst and
shake
High Prigdom's dull, despotic DagOn
down.
And with one breath of freedom bless the
townl
smugby's a great refOrmerl smugby's
Pants with perennial zeal toward one goal :,
Gas 1 ann" smugby shouts, "should all
men be:
Where slavery's bliss tits folly to be free:
And /, am not blissful? Rapture fills
NY swelling breast, shines in my rosy gills,
Irradiates my calm, complacent face.
Let me but set my yoke upon the race.
Marshal its manhood meekly in my train,.
And badge it to my taste-how great the
gainl
Freedoms snare and liberty's lure,
Complex compulsion is your only cure.
Restraints far reaching regimen alone,
Straightness of garb, rigidity of zone, d,
The ordered movement and the measured
pace
Will bring emancipation to the racel
And what is Smugby? A fanatic fool,
Enthusiast of fad. and slave of rule,
Whose spindly Ego, drawn to sickly
growth
By mental darkness, is exceeding 10th
To let in light or trust to the fresh air
OF manly freedom lest they should impair
His spurious ideal Who but he
Shines as the full-blown modern Pharisee?
Anise, and mint, and cumin, these indeed
He measures with the most punctilious heed,
The broad phylactery suits his narrow
soul,
The ordering of the platter and the bowl
For all mankind he deems his function fit;
To lasso life's leviathan, and bit
The social behemoth would be his pride.
Humanity as his hobby-horse he'd ride,
To - whittier? Smugby, howso'er he
Knows not; he never sees beyond his
nose.
He, petty, special providence of man,
Would make US breathe, eat, drink upon
his plan.
Some men are sots. Shall cocksuxe Smugby
shrink
From despot logic? Mol No man shall
drink
That Smugby's ultimatum, and his cure
For drunkenness-and freedom. Drinks q
lure
To the enfeebled few; to enslave the
strong
And spare the slaves temptation, can't be
wrong,
According to mechanic morals. No!
Because some things called men have sunk
so low
That opportunity breeds base excess
In their base nature, place restrictions
stress
On sturdier manhood; the fanatic Graves
One blessed boon; that all men shall be
slaves,
Those to their lusts, and these to tyrant
law;
So freedoms slain; and by an ass's jawl
Smugby sees only grossly, in the gross;
The myriad forms of hardship and of loss,
Which only thoughtful sympathy may feel,
The MANNED rites of the simple midday
meal; -
Smugby is blind, too, calIous to all claims
That seem to cross his own fanatic aims.
Rather than his preposterous schemes should
He'd Danish liberty with cakes and ale,
And on slaves. sober but emasculate,
Build up his feeting fgment of State.
The sickly, servile, small ideal, haunts
Smugby's fanatic soul: he loudly vaunts
Provisional advance, or snatched success,
But will his senseless schemes abide the
stress
Of the worlds virile conhict-the old fight
For manly freedom blent with willing
right?
Nay; the invertebrate vain egotists
Will never conquer in life's open lists.
Shut up liberty? No, if you please,
Punch will shut up' the modern Phar- |
isees.