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Page 22
13.
But harmless are these occupations,
Which hurt none but the hapless student;
Compared with other recreations,
Which bring together the imprudent.
14.
Whose daring revels shock the sight,
When vice and infamy combine,
When drunkenness and dice unite,
And every sense is steep'd in wine.
15.
Not so the methodistic crew,
Who plans of reformation lay,
In humble attitude they sue,
And for the sins of others pray.
16.
Forgetting that their pride of spirit,
And exultation in their trial;
Detracts most largely from the merit,
Of all their boasted self-denial.
17.
'Tis morn,--from these I turn my sight,
What scene is this which meets the eye,
As numerous crowd array'd in white,[12]
Across the green in numbers fly.
18.
Loud rings in air, the chapel bell,
'Tis hush'd,--what sounds are these I hear,
The organ's soft celestial swell,
Rolls deeply on the listening ear.
19.
To this is join'd the sacred song,
The royal minstrel's hallowed strain,
But _he_ who hears the _music_ long,
Will _never_ wish to _hear again_.
20.
Our choir would scarcely be excus'd,
Even as a band of raw beginners,
But mercy now must be refus'd,
To such a set of croaking sinners.
21.
If David when his toils were ended,
Had heard these blockheads sing before him,
To us his psalms had ne'er descended,
In furious mood he would have tore 'em.
22.
The luckless Israelites when taken,
By some inhuman tyrant's order,
Were ask'd to sing, by joy forsaken,
On Babylonian river's border.
23.
But had they sung in notes like these,
Inspir'd by stratagem, or fear,
They might have set their hearts at ease,
The devil a soul had stay'd to hear.
24.
_But if I write_ much longer now,
The deuce a soul _will stay to read_,
My pen is blunt, the ink is low,
'Tis almost time to _stop, indeed_.
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