The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-23
Three P)saOms Of L,,.

Three POsaQms of Life
Once a great N - England poet
Wrote wondrous Psalm of Iifan
Showing how these tired mortals
Struggle in this mundane life
Telling how lin mournful numbers
Life is not an empty dream.
But a true and stern existence
If we choose We drink the cream
And give back the vapid skimmed-n,nN
To the lazy laggard men,
Too inert to claim the prizes
Nature tenders unto them:
Men who stand beside life's river
Waiting for the tide to turn.
Without courage, nerve or purpoae
Manhood's mission to discern.
But it Is not here my object
A dry homily TO write,
But impelled by other motives
These 1 now will bring to light
For this purpose is this written.
Quite another tale to tell,
some VIII call it but burlesoua
If they choose to, very well;
1 will not begin to argue.
For I'm on another tran.
So the outline of this story
L will try to now unveil.
From the far off fiow'ry Kingdom
Came heather, buff Chinee,
Here to start little laundry.
On his sign was All Sam Lee
First he Started in cellar,
Got him tubs and soap and line
Polished shirts and cuffs and collars
On these garments put a shine.
Soon his business in dimensions
Grew beyond his narrow room
Same like Mclean man" he thouebt :.
Just had struck a splendid boom ~
So he got a larger building.
Found another Cinnamon.
Then employed a negro driver.
For his bran new laundry van
Time rolled and still he prospered
Dollars rolled into his till,
Pretty soon these silver dollars
Sam Lee changed to big bill.
Ihls the negro driver witnessed.
LAID MS plans to get that wealth
Ihese he worked, with such persistence
That 1t almost wrecked his health.
Schemes by day and dreams by night
Haunted this poor fellow So
That his former boon companions
Hardly recognized Sambo.
On the first part of this story
1 forgot to let you know,
That this same colored gentleman
BY his friends was called Sam-bo)
Then one day there came the lucky
Ohahce ne sought Tor, oh! so long,
For you see this selfsame darkey.
Little knowledge had of wrong.
All that came within his arm's-reacb.
Just so long he was not caught
He considered his possessions,
That for which he toiled and wrought.
Thus 1t was that Sambo happened
In the laundry, when Sam Lee
Carelessly left out his cash box.
A
This was more than human nature.
Human nature garbed in black,
CAS- for that all other natures,
Moral courage sadly lack).
Sambo saw where All Sam hid it,
Under bundles on the shelf,
Then he planned that very evening
This he'd gather to himself.
Softly stealing In the darkness,
Sambo crept into the ROOM
Got his hands upon the cash box
Then stepped on the laundry broom.
With snap he broke the handle,
Broke the brittle wood In two,
Then three wicked heather Chinese
Had Sambo before he knew
Hardly what had happened to him,
Had him prone upon the floor,
Holding still the stolen cash box,
Dragged him to the opened door.
When the gas-light fell upon him,
Showed Sam Lee who was the thief.
Then with lusty lungs he shouted
Long and loud for some relief
Soon the iron-hand of justice
Lodged Sambo within the den;
In the court, the trial-justice
Gave him two years in the pen.
In these P)saWms of Life, I've showed
you
Life proved but an empty dream"
This at least to one Sam, so
Proved, as lines he read between.
For this black unhappy Sambo
Found the rugged side of life,
Real, yes, by far too real,
All contention, all was strife.
There's a moral in this story
If moral you can CLEAN,
Sambo found out to his sorrow
Life he planned was not a dream,
All that glitters is not golden,
Shams beset us, all is strife,
For appearance oft deceives us,
Disappointments fill this life.
w II Sh0rtfeIl0W