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Show ABOU BEN "WILHELM." (With appropriate apologies) HBOU BEN "WILHELM" (may his tribe decrease !) Awoke one night from a horror of peace, And saw by aid of moonlight through the pane Dripping with blood of women slain in shame Satan himself, writing in a Book of Flame. Exceeding war had made Ben Wilhelm bold, And to the Devil in the room he said : "What writest thou?" Then Satan raised his head And, with a jest at thought of Belgium's dead, Answered : "The names of those to whom I turn For guidance in my realm below." v "And is mine one?" said Wilhelm. "Nay, not so," Replied the Devil. Wilhelm spoke more low, But wearily still, and said as one forlorn : "Write me as one the War Was Forced Upon !" f The Devil wrote and vanished. The next day , ' He came again, with manner cheered and gay, v , And showed the names of those who'd grace Hell's throne And lo ! Ben Wilhelm's name was all alone ! A. B. Warren, in Life. |