the
sun at noon
Unmanned , they know not what they are . And though , of all the south , Nulli must stand almost alone in his insensate creed ; yet , to all wrong-doers , custom backs the sense of wrong . And if to every Mardian , conscience be the awarder of its own doom ; then , of these tribes , many shall be found exempted from the least penalty of this sin . But sin it is , no less ; -- a blot , foul as the crater-pool of hell ; it puts out the sun at noon ; it parches all fertility ; and , conscience or no conscience -- ere he die -- let every master who wrenches bond-babe from mother , that the nipple tear ; unwreathes the arms of sisters ; or cuts the holy unity in twain ; till apart fall man and wife , like one bleeding body cleft : -- let that master thrice shrive his soul ; take every sacrament ; on his bended knees give up the ghost ; -- yet shall he die despairing ; and live again , to die forever damned . The future is all hieroglyphics . Who may read ? But , methinks the great laggard Time must now march up apace , and somehow befriend these thralls .