A Serio-Comic Poem

A man it is said, who is very erratic,
And bordered on what has been called "the fanatic;"
Still, it cannot be said of the sheep-stealing thief,
That he did not hold scared this shameful belief,
For one who was simply a liar and cheat,
In the struggle that followed, was sure of defeat;
Yet this singular creature, at no time affrighted,
By the tempest of wrath, that his preaching excited,
Never veered from his course for a friend or a foe,
But completed his scheme ere death laid him low;
And left to this nation, for "better or worse,"
A legacy voted the world's greatest curse,-
A monster well known as of barbaric fame,
Brought forth in pollution, and reared up in shame.

(Peter F. Dodds, Mormonism, A Serio-Comic Poem, Mt. Pleasant, Mich., North Western Tribune, 1890, pg.14)