Yes, I accuse you that ye murdered me! Ye killed the Man--and this that speaks to you Is but the beast that ye have made of me! What! Is it life to creep and crawl and beg, And slink for shelter where rats congregate? And for one's ideal dream of a fat meal? Is it, then, life, to group like pigs in sties, And bury decency in common filth, Because, forsooth, your income must be made, Though human flesh rot in your plague-rid dens? Is it, then, life, to wait another's nod, For leave to turn yourself to gold for him? Would it be life to you? And was I less Than you? Was I not born with hopes and dreams And pains and passions even as were you? But these ye have denied. Ye seized the earth, Though it was none of yours, and said: "Hereon Shall none rest, walk or work, till first to me Ye render tribute!" Every art of man, Born to make light of the burdens of the world, Ye also seized, and made a tenfold curse To crush the man beneath the thing he made. Houses, machines, and lands--all, all are yours; And us you do not need. When we ask work Ye shake your heads. Homes?--Ye evict us. Bread?-- "Here, officer, this fellow's begging. Jail's The place for him!" After the stripes, what next?-- Poison!--I took it!--Now you say 'twas sin To take this life which troubled you so much. Sin to escape insult, starvation, brands Of felony, inflicted for the crime Of asking food! Ye hypocrites! Within Your secret hearts the sin is that I _failed_! Because I failed ye judge me to the stripes, And the hard toil denied when I was free. So be it. But beware!--A prison cell's An evil bed to grow morality! Black swamps breed black miasms; sickly soils Yield poison fruit; snakes warmed to life will sting. This time I was content to go alone; Perchance the next I shall not be so kind. =Philadelphia=, September, 1894. A NOVEL OF COLOR (The following is a true and particular account of what happened on the night of December 11, 1895; but it is likely to be unintelligible to all save the Chipmunks and the Elephant, who, however, will no doubt recognize themselves.) Chapter I. Chipmunks three sat on a tree, And they were as green as green could be; They cracked nuts early, they cracked nuts late, And chirruped and chirruped, and ate and ate; "'Tis a pity of chipmunks without nuts, And a gnawing hunger in their guts; But they should be wise like you and me, And color themselves to suit the tree. Ah chee, ah chee, ah chee, ah chee! Gay chaps are we, we chipmunks three!"