The native American., 1837-12-30
From the Knickerbocker.
THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM.
BY THOMAS HOOD


BY THOMAS HOOD.
The late Admiral Burney went to school at an estab
lshment where the unhappy Eugene Aram was usher,
subsequent to shis crime The Admiral stated, thai
Aram generally liked by the boys: and that he used
to discourse to them about murder in somewhat of the
spirit which is attributed to him in this PoeIn.l
Twas in the prime Of summer time,
An evening calm and cool,
When four land twenty happy boys
Came bounding out OF schools:
There were some that ran, and some that leapt,
Like troutlets in pool.
Away they sped, with gamesome minds,
And souls untouch'd by sin;
To level mead they came, and there
They draye the wickets in
Pleasantly shone the setting
Over the town of Lynn.
Like sportive deer they coursed about,
And shouted as they ran RI
Turning to mirth all things Of earth,
AS only boyhood can:
But the usher sat remote from all,
melancholy man! .
His hat was off, his vest apart,
To catch heavens blessed breeze;
For a burning thought was on his brow,
And his bosom i'll at ease:
So he Iean'd his head on his hands, and read
The book between his knees. @
Leaf after leaf he turndi it DER,
Nor ever glanced aside;
For the peace of his soul he read that book,
In the golden eventide:
Much study had made him very lean,
And pale, and leaden-eyed
At last he shut the ponderons tome;
With fast and fervid grasp
He strand the dusky covers close,
And fixed the hrazen hasp:
so God! could SO close my mind.
And clasp it with clasp!'
Then leaping on his feet upright,
Some moody turns he took
Now up the mead then down the mead,
And past shady nook
And, 10. he little boy
That pored upon book.
my gentle lad, what is't you read
Romance, or fairy fable?
Or is it some historic page,
Of kings and crowns unstable!'
The young boy gave an upward glance
II is The Death of Abel
The usher took six hasty strides,
As smit with sudden pain
Six hasty strides beyond the place,
Then slowly back again;
And down he sat beside the lad,
And talk'd with him of Cain;
And long since then, of bloody men,
Whose deeds tradition saves; e.
Of lonely folk cut off unseen,
And hid in sudden graves;
OF horrid stabs, in groves forlorn, fs
And murders done in caves;
And how the sprites Of injured men
Shrek upward from the sod
Ay, how the ghostly hand will point
To show the burial clod;
And unknown facts Of guilty acts
Are seen in dreams from God!
He told how murderers walkd the earth
Beneath the curse of Cain
With crimson clouds before their eyes,
And flames about their brain;
For blood had left upon their souls
Its everlasting stain!
And well, quoth he, know. for truth,
Their pangs must be extreme
Wo wo, unuterable we
Who spill lif-'s sacred stream
For why! Methought, last night wrought
murder in dream
One that had never done me wrong
A feeble man, and old;
led him to a lonely field,
The moon shone clear and colds
Now here, said l. this man shall die,
And will have his gold!
Two sudden blows with a ragged stick,
And with heavy stone,
One hurried cash with hasty knife
And then the deed was done:
There was nothing lying at my foot
But lifeless flesh and blood
.Notbing but lifeless flesh and bone,
That could not do me i'll;
And yet fear'd him all the more,
For lying there 80 still;
There was manhood in his look,
That murder could not kill!
And, loi the universal air
Seem'd lit with ghastly flame
Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes
Were looking down in blame:
took the dead man by the hand,