Besides, I had begun to age,
was getting on towards the fifties;—
my hair was slowly growing grizzled;
and, though my health was excellent,
yet painfully the thought beset me:
Who knows how soon the hour may strike,
the jury-verdict be delivered
that parts the sheep and goats asunder?
What could I do? To stop the trade
with China was impossible.
A plan I hit on — opened straightway
a new trade with the self-same land.
I shipped off idols every spring,
each autumn sent forth missionaries,
supplying them with all they needed,
as stockings, Bibles, rum, and rice —