University of Virginia Library


276

VII.

Ralph Leech believes (and he can read and write,)
That Conference Sunday-schools have saved the nation.
He would compel the dark to seek his light,
Yet hates, for freedom's sake, state-education.
That corn laws are “Man's wisdom, and God's mercy;”
That Prairie is the Book of Common Prayer;
And that one Shakspeare is a fat old Player;
He doubts no more than that Canton's in Jersey.
Though cold the night, how fast his chapel fills!
Why? Sir De Suckem hath a message sent,
Urging the Suckems of the People's Cause
To prop Saint Suckem's Navigation laws;
Therefore, our friends petition Parliament
Against cheap sugar, slavery, and steam mills!