Full many a maiden drank, stumbled and fell, (Once pure as a snow-flake) from heaven to hell.” “Alas! my dear friend, how little you know Of the great revolution the world now can show. When mankind o’er the globe acknowledged the sway Of the great King of kings all are bound to obey, All sin disappeared; lust, passion and crime No longer defiled the annals of Time; None dared to entice his weak brother to wrong, None wished to provoke or by action or tongue, None, the health or the comfort of one living soul For a moment would wish to restrain or control. And with feelings like these, who, the heavens below, Could continue a trade fraught with ruin and wo! No! no! pure religion can never annoy The peace of mankind or their good-will destroy. For if God, as his works clearly argue, be love, Whose dwelleth in Him shall his follower prove. Every thing that the soul of man can defile, Is purged from the earth by Deity’s smile. Who hath cleansed the whole world, through his only Son’s blood, And seen, as in Paradise, all his works good.” “Delightful!” I cried, “that all evil hath ceased, And man from the thraldom of sin is released; Who e’er would have dared, amid doubts and fears To predict such a change in the past hundred years?” We parted, and, entering a new city car On polished rails sliding, without noise or jar, I was soon the rich and green pastures among, In history famed and by poets long sung. Lovely hamlets and villages dotted each vale, While the sweet breath of wild flowers scented the gale. The vine clung to the roof with its clusters of fruit, The fig, fearless of winter, expanded each shoot, And the bright golden orange gleamed through the dark leaves Where the robin her nest built beneath the low leaves. I looked, but could see no idler there, Sounds of labor alone arose on the air, Each his neighbor would aid if his own part were done. From day’s early dawn to the set of the sun, As a bee hive, the land seemed with people alive. And all nature in peace and in plenty to thrive; By the wayside stood rows of wide spreading trees Whose yield or whose shade could refresh or could please. For one law reigned o’er all--each, with Christian regard. Sought his neighbor’s best good as his own rich reward. I looked for the buildings benevolence reared-- There were none, for the paupers had all disappeared; No blind, sick, deaf, lame, or feeble of mind, In all my wide wanderings on earth could I find. The homes for the friendless, deserted or poor, Vainly hoped by their founders, all time to endure, Were devoted to Science, not blind, as of old, When Alchemy sought to turn dross into gold, But certain and true, illumed from on high, To the pure Fount of light ever turning her eye,