Explore "Emancipation" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Behold! the days of miracle at last / Return -- if ever they were truly past: / From sinful creditors' unholy greed / The church called Calvary at last is freed -- / So called for there the Savior's crucified, / Roberts and Carmany on either side.
The circling contribution-box no more / Provokes the nod and simulated snore; / No more the Lottery, no more the Fair, / Lure the reluctant dollar from its lair, / Nor Ladies' Lunches at a bit a bite / Destroy the health yet spare the appetite, / While thrifty sisters o'er the cauldron stoop / To serve their God with zeal, their friends with soup, / And all the brethren mendicate the earth / With viewless placards: "We've been "so" from birth!"