Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950). Spoon River Anthology. 1916.

90. Rev. Lemuel Wiley

I PREACHED four thousand sermons,

I conducted forty revivals,

And baptized many converts.

Yet no deed of mine

Shines brighter in the memory of the world,

And none is treasured more by me:

Look how I saved the Blisses from divorce,

And kept the children free from that disgrace,

To grow up into moral men and women,

Happy themselves, a credit to the village.