Explore "The Convicts' Ball" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
San Quentin was brilliant. Within the halls / Of the noble pile with the frowning walls / (God knows they've enough to make them frown, / With a Governor trying to break them down!) / Was a blaze of light. 'Twas the natal day / Of his nibs the popular John S. Gray, / And many observers considered his birth / The primary cause of his moral worth. / "The ball is free!" cried Black Bart, and they all / Said a ball with no chain was a novel ball; / "And I never have seed," said Jimmy Hope, / "Sech a lightsome dance withouten a rope." / Chinamen, Indians, Portuguese, Blacks, / Russians, Italians, Kanucks and Kanaks, / Chilenos, Peruvians, Mexicans -- all / Greased with their presence that notable ball.
None were excluded excepting, perhaps, / The Rev. Morrison's churchly chaps, / Whom, to prevent a religious debate, / The Warden had banished outside of the gate.