Chapter III

"You took him home. Ah what record of shame!
To the falsity of a home in name.

"Oh stony heart! hard as his frozen bed;
Cold as the snow-drifts which sweep o'er his head.

"Your baby secure, in infancy blessed;
Warm-cradled as bird in the parent nest.

"Your elder boys safe as lambs in the fold;
That mother's loved one left out in the cold.

"Chilled by the coldest of winter's cold days;
Fevered by heat of the sun's hottest rays.

"Lodged in an outhouse, exposed to the sky;
Beasts underneath in a shelter all dry.

"Rest for the horses, but work for the slave;--
Tyrant! thy betters were death and the grave.

"Sick--yes! he told you with faltering breath;
Lazy you termed it, you beat him in death.

"Bridge you the river he crossed to atone?
Drown you with orgies the orphan's sad moan?

"Nay! for those wailings will ring in your ear;
Haunt your night visions, and follow your bier.

"Whilst that mighty Power which hath mother-love given
Will surely unite what asunder is riven.

"And fill with choice music the one silent tone,
By yielding to mother-love all of its own."