The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1890-01-31
BEN HAZARDS. GUESTS.

This beautiful poem has been going
about the country mutilated, and with
some of its most beautiful lines omitted.
| We have obtained from its author a copy
Of the original, and with her kind permits
sion give it to our readers in full.
Ben Hazards hut was smoky and cold,
Ben Hazard, half blind, was black and old,
And he cobbled shoes for his scanty gold.
Sometimes he sighed for a larger store
W~herewith to bless the wandering poor;
For he was not wise in worldly lore,
The poor were Christas: he knew no more.
Twas very little that Ben could do,
But he pegged his prayers in many a shoe,
And only himself and the dear Lord knew.
Meanwhile he must coDble with all his might
Till, the Lord knew when-it would all be
light.
For he walked by faith, and not by sight.
One night a cry from the window came
Ben Hazard was sleepy, and tired, and lame
"Ben Hazard, open, = it seemed to say,
GIVE shelter and food, 1 humbly pray
Ben Hazard lifted his woolly head
TO listen. "tTis awful cold, y he said,
And his old bones shook in his ragged bed,
"But the wanderer must be comforted.,
Out from his straw he painfully crept,
II \ Ii 1IOciS HOOI ne SIGUi,
While under the door the snow wreaths swept.
"Cone in. in the name of the Lord he cried.
AS he opened The door. and held it wide.
\ milk-white kitten was all he spied,
Trembling and crying there at his feet,
Ready to die in the bitter sleef.
Ben Hazard, amazed, stared up and down;
The candles we've out in al. the town;
The stout house-doors were carefully shut,
Safe boltcd were all but old Ben's hut.
81 thought that somebody called, y he said:
"Some dream or other got into my head:
Come then, poor pussy, and share my bed
But first he sought for a rusty cup,
And gave his guest 4 generous sup.
Then out from the storm, the wind and the
sleet,
Puss joytully lay at old Ben's feet:
Truly it was Il terrible storm,
Ben feared he should never more be warm.
But Just as he began to be dozy.
And puss was purring soft and coy,
a voice called family before his door:
"Ben Hazard, Ben Hazard, help / implore.
Give drink, and a crust from out your store
Ben Hazard opened his sleepy eyes,
And his full-moon face showed great surprise.
Out from his bed he stumbled again,
Teeth chattering with neuralgia pain,
Caught at the door in the frozen rain.
"Come in, in the name of the Lord he said,
"With such as l have thou shalt be fed
only a little black dog he saw,
Whining and shaking a broken paw.
"Well, well, /" cried Ben Hazard, 81 must have
dreamed;
But verify like a voice il seemed
"Poor creature > he added, with husky tone,
His feet so cold they seemed like stone,
Thou shall have the whole Of my marrow
houe
lie went 10 the cupboard, and took from the
shelf
The bone he had saved for his very self.
Then, after binding the broken paw.
Half dead with cold went back TO his straw.
Under The ancient blue bedquilt he crept,
His conscience was white, and again he slept.
But again Il voice called, both loud and clear:
"Ben Hazard, for Christ's sweet sake coine
here.'
Once more he stood at the open door,
And looked abroad as he looked before.
This time, full sure, twas a voice he heard;
But all that he saw was a storm-tossed bird,
with weary pinion and beaten crest,
And & red blood-stain on its snowy breast.
"Come in, in the name of the Lord he sand,
Tenderly raising the dropping head,
And, tearing his battered robe apart,
Laid the cold bird ON his own warm heart.
The sunrise flashed on the snowy thatch,
As an angel lifted the wooden latch.
Ben woke in a flood OF golden light,
| And knew the voice that had called all night
And steadfastly gazing. without a word,
Behela the messenger from the Lord.
He said to Ben with a wondrous smile,
The three guests sleeping all the while,
'sThrice happy is he that blesseth the poor,
The humbIest creatures that sought thy door,
For Christ's sweet sake thou hast comforted."
HNay. twas not much Ben hurnbly said,
With Il rueful shake of his old gray head.
"W no giveth of his scanty store
In Christ's dear name, can do no more.
Behold the Master, who waiteth for thee,
Saith; Giving to them thou hast given 70 me-"
Then, with heavens light ON his face, "Amen!
1 come in the name of the Lord. y said Ben.
Frozen to DEATH, the Waterman said,
When atlast he oun him in his bed,
With "A smile on his face so strange and bright;
lie wondered what old Ben saw that night.
Ben's lips were silent, and never told
He had gone up higher to ind his gold.
-Aaa0 p. Marshall, in congregotio'alist.