Pay each other salutation,
And unite their fatal efforts
To destroy in deadly numbers,
Raging through the streets in darkness,
And disguised in the daytime
To betray the one who thinks not
That his doom is yet so near him.
There the harlot of the midnight
Holdeth forth her deadly charmings
To entice the blind and simple.
He is simple who doth lend her
Such a glance that lusts go after;
He defiled that partaketh
Of the couch she sheweth to him.
Seek of wisdom, and refrain thee
From the path whereon she lurketh;
She will draw thy vigor from thee,
And thy spirit to destruction.
There is sin, in all its blackness,
Spreading wide its vile infection.
Like unto a thief it stealeth
Through the crowded lanes and alleys;
And appeareth, robed more gaily,
Yet as hideous in its purpose,
In the dwellings of the lofty,
On their walks and promenadings.
Here the young are led from virtue
Unto every ill devising;
As the lad who, in his anger,
Curseth a reproving parent
Daily wanders unto evil,
Till his hand is raised to murder,
Reeking in a brother's life-blood.
Then of fear he is betaken,
And a bloody spirit haunts him,
Till his days are sadly ended
Hanging on the loathsome gallows.
Here is revel mirth and gladness,
And gay scenes, where flock the simple.
They are simple who, allured,
Follow Pleasure's fleeting phantom.
They are led deluded onward,
Till it is a curse unto them,
And they have not power to leave it.
They are led to low desires,
Craving unto lust and evil;
As the drunkard and profaner,
As the vile and the licentious
Glory in plebian language,
With their sharp tongues dipt in slander,
And their words in curses flowing,
Think not of their awful ending
Till destruction comes upon them.
Thus the gorgeous devil hieth
To the grand and gay assemblies,
And attend him many pages
In their many-colored costumes;
They are eager at enlisting,--
Luring numbers to his bondage.
Have you taken his temptation?
Are you too an eager worker
To allure the simple to him?
Say how many souls are writhing
In a long and sad destruction,
Who pursued a better pathway
Till you lured them to forego it.
But I must not wander thuswise.
We are now in the great city,
Where the lofty and the lowly,
And the sumptuous and the starving,
Are within each other's shadows.
There the merchant and the trader
Tendeth each his own transactions;
Some deal fairly, some deal falsely.
And the judges sit dispensing
Seeming justice