When gossips' talk and traitor's scheming,
And jealous fiends on evil bent,
With basest vices unredeeming,
Brand the names of the innocent;
When hope's bright sun seems nearly setting,
The future dim and cloudy lies,
And you more tired of life are getting,
And tears of sorrow dim the eyes;
Cheer up, take courage, do not falter,
Truth will triumph by and by,
Time all evil things will alter,
Vice and wickedness must die.
**********
Some men are not unlike the owl
That base, wild-eyed, nocturnal fowl,
That slays his victims in the night,
And brings his deeds not unto light.