dge. "I will hear what you say!"

"I was only a girl when he stole me away
From the home and the mother who loved me too well;
But the shame and the pain I have borne since that day
Not a pitying soul who now listens can tell!
There was never a promise he made but he broke;
The bruises he gave I have covered with shame;
Not a tear, not a prayer, but he scorned as a joke!
He cursed at my children, and sneered at my fame!

"The money I'd slaved for and hoarded he'd rob;
I have borne his reproaches when maddened with drink.
For a man there is pleasure, for woman a sob;
It is he who may slander, but she who must think!
But at last came the day when the Law gave release,
Just a moment of respite from merciless fate,
For they took him to prison, and purchased me peace,
Till I welcomed him home like a wife--at the gate!

"Was it wrong in repentance of Man to believe?
It is hard to forget, it is right to forgive!
But he struck me again, and he left me to grieve
For the love I had lost, for the life I must live!
So I silently stole from the depths of despair,
And slunk from dark destiny's chastening rod,
And I crept to the light, and the life, and the air,
From the town of the man to the country of God!

"'Twas in solitude, then, that there came to my soul
The halo of comfort that sympathy casts;
He was strong, he was brave, and, though centuries roll,
I shall love that one man whilst eternity lasts!
O my lord, I was weak, I was wrong, I was poor!
I had suffered so much through my journey of life,
Hear! the worst of the crime that is laid at my door:
I said I was widow when, really a wife!

"Here I stand to be judged, in the sight of the man
Who from purity took a frail woman away.
Let him look in my face, if he dare, if he can!
Let him stand up on oath to deny what I say!
'Tis a story that many a wife can repeat,
From the day that the old curse of Eden began;
In the dread name of Justice, look down from your seat!
Come, sentence the Woman, and shelter the Man!"

A silence more terrible reigned than before,
For the lip of the coward was cruelly curled;
But the hand of the jailer slipped down from the door
Made to shut this sad wanderer out from the world!
Said the Judge, "My poor woman, now listen to me:
Not one hour you shall stray from humanity's heart
When thirty swift min