id="pgepubid00104"/>Bearing such a burden with you.
Ye must feed the hungry with it,
And must clothe the naked wanderer,
And employ it as a talent
To be used for wiser purpose
Than to hoard in walls and burrows,
If ye long to be admitted
To the tranquil land of Blisses.”
But the old man would not listen
To the words of wisdom spoken;
He was so engrossed in counting,
And in adding to his riches.
So the servant raised his weapon,
Sorely therewith smote the miser,—
With destruction did he smite him,—
That he fell a lifeless clay-heap
Down among the hoarded moneys;
And his spirit was removéd
Unto Sero, and he opened
Wide the wicket on his left hand,
And it passed into the darkness,
To the pit of gloom and terrors.
Then the door was rudely opened
Of this miserable dwelling
By the people claiming kinship;
And they scrambled for the riches,

And in many quarrels sought them,
Tending to the disuniting
Of the sacred bonds of friendship;
Brother against brother rising,
Raging in a bitter conflict.
Many, who received a portion,
Went and squandered to his ruin
All he had in lust and gambling,
Till his life was sorely broken.
When his riches had been pillaged,
Then the body of the miser
Was removéd quick and coldly,
Lowered in the grave and covered;
But of they who followed with it,
No one wept a tear of sorrow,
No one mourned for his departure;
But they gave attendance only,—
That, stern duty had commanded.
Thus the end was of the old man,
Of the miserable miser.

IV.

     In a wilderness of houses
In the heart of a great city,
Full of riches, full of plenty,
And of people high and prosperous,

Of its ancient greatness boasting,
And its modern princely splendors;
In a loathsome and a dark street,
Foulsome odors rising from it,
Rife and pregnant with diseases,
Stood a hovel, foul and filthy;
Lay a being, wane and wasted,
On a straw heap in a corner;
Scarce a rag to hide her person,
Lice and vermin creeping on her;
And beside her stood distraction,
Woe, and want, and piercing hunger;
And her look was wild and vacant,
Like a spectre’s, wandering madly.
When the night came, it was laden
Much with gloomy fear and sadness,
And a trembling apprehension
That the dawn would not approach her;
And the morning was attended
With but little hope or succour.
Charity, in cold attendance,
Came with many words and wishes;
And, in fair and full pretending,
Stood, and pitied, and regretted;
But it gave a meagre pittance
Or of comfort or appeasing,

To withdraw the pangs of hunger,
Or relieve her sunken spirit.
But good Sero saw in pity.
He beheld her calm endurance
Of the anguish bearing on her;
And he sent and took her spirit—
Took it gently from the ruin,
From the filth and the pollution;
And he opened wide the wicket
By his right hand, and conveyed it
From the misery and anguish
To the happy land of Blisses,
To the land of peace and plenty.

     With the burden of my stories
I shall not detain you further,
Lest ye weary to pursue them
Through the dreary way they lead you.
Let me further only mention,
Sero’s servants were engagéd
Ever seeking and conveying
Subjects from the hands of Weemus
To the watch-ward of their chieftain.
Mute and mystic were their movements;
Softly, and without observance,
Passed they to the secret chamber,—

Took from thence the hidden subject;
From the lover’s fond embraces
Tore away his dearest treasure—
She, to whom his life was wedded,
Was for ever sworn betrothéd;
Went into the stately dwelling,
And the lowly and the humble,
Heedless of position took them;
To the sacred courts of prayer,
Where the Maker of the kingdoms
Held communion with the people;
And into the gay assemblies,
To the scenes of mirth and gladness,
Where were songs and revel dances,
In a maddened fulness rising.
Many widows left they mourning—
Widows wailing, orphans weeping,
In unmitigated sorrow,
For the loss of near and dear ones.
Hard and cruel seemed their dealings
In the sight of all the people;
For they could not learn the purpose
Which, in all their acts, directed.
Yet these were most wisely ordered;
For the Maker of the kingdom,
Of Nimæra’s kingdom,—moved them—
Moved, and guided, and informed them.
    

Sero to the land of Blisses
Passéd all the just and lowly;
They whose lives had been preservéd
From the soiling stains of evil;
Who had lived in single purpose,
Holy and uprightly always;
Who had made oblations fitting,
Praise and honor to the Founder
Of Nimæra and his kingdom;
And had made a full endeavour
In obeying the commandments
Which were written for their guidance;
Who of charity gave freely
Unto all the poor and needy,
And, in giving, had no purpose
Selfishly to further thereby.
     But unto the pit of terrors
Evil and unrighteous people,
All the lukewarm and the heedless
Of the order of the statutes,
All blasphemers and revilers,
And all foul and filthy talkers,
Liars, brawlers, and adulterers,
They whose hands are stained in murder,
All the proud and haughty boasters,
All licentious and deceivers,

They who are the poor’s oppressors,
Robbers and unjust receivers,—
These for ever had their portion
In the pit of gloom and terrors.