By the Sea, and Other Verses

<h2><SPAN name="PHILISTIAS_TRIUMPH" id="PHILISTIAS_TRIUMPH">PHILISTIA'S TRIUMPH</SPAN></h2> <p class="title"><small>1 Samuel 4: 10, 11; 7: 3.</small><br/><br/> (WRITTEN ON THE DEFEAT OF THE PROHIBITION AMENDMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA.)</p> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They fought with lances in that ancient day,<br/></span> <span class="i2">With sword and spear and arrow deftly sped.<br/></span> <span class="i0">At eventide the hosts of Israel lay<br/></span> <span class="i2">Vanquished and spoiled, the dying with the dead;<br/></span> <span class="i6">And the Ark of God was taken.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">They fought with ballots in our nearer day;<br/></span> <span class="i2">From morn to eve the light-winged missiles flew;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Again Philistia's triumph brought dismay,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And Wrong, victorious, struggling Virtue slew,<br/></span> <span class="i6">And the Ark of God was taken.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">O ye to whom the sacred trust was given<br/></span> <span class="i2">To guard the altar and the ark of God,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Have ye been recreant to the charge of heaven,<br/></span> <span class="i2">That thus we fall before the avenging rod,<br/></span> <span class="i6">And the Ark of God is taken?<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Rouse from your shameful slumbers. Put away<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your strange gods from among you. Turn again;<br/></span> <span class="i0">That in the drawing of some nobler day<br/></span> <span class="i2">The hosts of sin may be rebuked of men,<br/></span> <span class="i6">And the Ark of God re-taken.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</SPAN></span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />