The prisoner at the bar is therein found
For crime committed--and that has been proven--
Guilty of murder in the second degree.
So say you, Mister Foreman? So say all?

FOREMAN AND JURY.
All (_bowing_).

JUDGE BOLTON.
A righteous verdict this, and yet a sad one
A fellow-being banished from our midst,
To pass his days in utter loneliness
Prisoner you've heard the verdict. Have you aught
To say why sentence should not now be passed?
Speak; you may have the opportunity.

LANGDON _counsel for the prisoner, confers
with him then addresses the_ JUDGE.

LANGDON
He cannot speak; his heart o'erpowers his tongue;
The tide of grief seeps all his strength away,
As rising waters drown the sinking boat.
And he entreats that I would say for him,
The court permitting me, a few last words.

JUDGE BOLTON
Go on. You are permitted.

LANGDON.
May it please
The court, the jury, and all these good people,
The prisoner prays that I would beg for him,
As on his soul's behalf, your prayers and pardon:
That is, while he in penitence will yield
To the just punishment the law awards,
You'll think of him as one misled--not cruel.
The murderous deed his hand did was not done
With heart consent--he knew it not. The fiend
That _rum_ evokes had entered him, and changed
His nature. So he prays you will never brand
His innocent boy with this his father's guilt;
Nor on his broken-hearted wife look cold,
As though his leprous sin defiled these poor
And helpless sufferers. Then he prays that all
Would lend their aid to root intemperance out,
And crush the horrid haunts of sin and ruin,
Where liquid poison for the soul is sold!
And while the victims of this deadly traffic
Must bear the penalty of crimes committed,
Even when the light of reason has been quenched,
That you would frame a law to reach the tempter,
Nor let those go unscathed who cause the crime.
And then he prays, most fervently, that all
Who may, like him, be tempted by the bowl,
Would lake a warning from his fearful fate,
And "touch not, taste not" make their solemn pledge,
And so he parts with all in charity.

[_A pause--the sobs of the prisoner's wife and
sister are heard._

CRIER OF THE COURT.
Silence!