Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1887 — A Poem With an Application. [ARTICLE]

A Poem With an Application.

The following poem from the pen of the rising young poet of Kentland, W. W. Pfrimtner, who is more familiar un-. der the name of Pinkamink, is copied from the Indianapolis Sunday Journal. Aside from the literary merits of the lines, whit'h are great, they have an undoubted local application,'to certain shocking circumstances, revealed in Kentiana not many months ego, and with which the people of this county are sufficiently familiar, to easily rec ognize the application. Through all tiir years of life, a man may strive To sow the seels of virtue ami of truth, Yet near the close drop from his withered hand The seeds of evil that will grow and blight The harvest of his own and others' toll. And he a greater, deeper wrong would work, Than had he lived an outcast ali hisdays; For he whose ways are evil, and wnose haunts Are known to oc the haunts <d vic e and crime, Is shunned as lepers were in olden time. And none lint strangers of the foolish born Will tread within the lnnitot his walk.While lie who long hath lived a blameless life, Yet In the afternoon turns trout the path To wander mid the noxious weeds of sin, Misguides the feet tiiat follow where he leads. And yet for him. we some exeune may frame; May charge his erring steps to fueMe age. Aad with compassion lend a friendly baud To guide his tot'ihig footsteps to the right. But lie Wlm 'ana th the roliea of holy oflice hides The vermin of iniquity and shame. And who. while guiding innocence ano youth, With one hand (mints toward the belter way. While with the other digs pitfalls for their feet Is like a serpent lurking mid the fruit That nanga in temptiugclustersfrotn the vines: •■Or lifer contagion in the summer breeze; Or like infection in tee sparkling wine. Unseen and unsuspected till too lute! From him contamin.ition spreads, like waves From pebbles cast upon the placid lake. While all his seeming good, like withered leaves Will scarce disturb the surface where- they fal 1. And Oh, how far his wickedness will spread ! How short a.pace his b tier influence go! The one will like lhejpidrid carrion's stench Pollute the air of all the country round; The other, like the rosebud's sweet pertunie. Scarce pass beyond the casement of its birth. For such as he’there cau lie no excuse ; eornpassiou's tear fur him can never fall; His sins hath led him lar beyond the pale 'Of hum a a sympathy and human love. Jf in that final day when we are called To answer to the records made on earth— If there be one who hath committed sin So gieat that pardon to klm cannot come. It must lie he who wore the garb of truth, Yet lived a lifeof falsehood all his tlayj;. , Who at the feast with hands uplifted stood, And asked a fervent blessing on the food; Yet while all heads were bowed in silent grace Dropped imlson in the goblets on the board!