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‘The Lord do so to me and more,’
The Governor cried, “if I hang not all!
Bring hither the Quaker.” Calm, sedate,
With the look of a man at ease with fate,
Into that presence grim and dread
Came Samuel Shattuck, with hat on head.
‘Off with the knave's hat!’ An angry hand
Smote down the offence; but the wearer said,
With a quiet smile, “By the king's command
I bear his message and stand in his stead.”
In the Governor's hand a missive he laid
With the royal arms on its seal displayed,
And the proud man spake as he gazed thereat,
Uncovering, ‘Give Mr. Shattuck his hat.’
He turned to the Quaker, bowing low,—
“The king commandeth your friends' release
Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although
To his subjects' sorrow and sin's increase.
What he here enjoineth, John Endicott,
His loyal servant, questioneth not.
You are free! God grant the spirit you own
May take you from us to parts unknown.”
So the door of the jail was open cast,
And, like Daniel, out of the lion's den
Tender youth and girlhood passed,
With age-bowed women and gray-locked men.
And the voice of one appointed to die
Was lifted in praise and thanks on high,
And the little maid from New Netherlands
Kissed, in her joy, the doomed man's hands.
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888-89.
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