The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1860-01-26
For the National Era.
M A M N 0 NJ.
A WINTER MIG HTS SONG.
BY L. FOXTON.

MA M NO NJ,
A WINTER NIGHTS SONG.
BY L. FoxToN.
In the autumn day on the brown Hillside,
Stout Harold, the woodsman, his keen axe piled.
His lusiy arm, with its ringing stroke,
Dealt death TO the OF a toary oak.
His cheek ruddy, his frame strong,
And his quaint old carols were loud and long
For kind stars smils
Upon honest toll;
And innocent joys his hearts cares heeuile,
That nestle there safe from the worlds turmoil,
Nor harbor with hate and wrong.
TIE mists from the meadows in dark tbs rise,
And darkness falls from the murky skies
Gray crumbng clouds in the bleak west lower,
Fo- spells and sprites Ills impotent hour
And darkness falls on the woodsman's brow;
Strange clouds DER his sunny humor 60
For why for his bread shall he toll and sweat,
While his idle lords DER their ven'son sit,
And the nut-brown ale from bright beakers quaf'
His blood ran cold at a hollow laugh!
:" Darst thou HE with me mount and void,
When the nightwnds bowling, thou woodsman
bold,
Thy barons and knights shall be all ouidone
BY Conrad OF Ghostwood's dauniless son.
have keys that shall open the old earth's chest.
Up, up, and leave women and babes 10 restn
When, shudderng, he sought for the form that spoke,
He saw but dim circles of yellow smoke,
From the mouth of a half choked cave that wound
And grovelIing crepi along the ground.
"Who bids me forsake my cottsge warm,
My wife and my child for the midnight storm?n
"The lord am of the gem-lit mine,
Give ear, and monarchs wreath is thine
Thy wife shall dwell in castle grand,
And thou shalt be cnvied of all in the land,n
Compliance danced in the youths glad eye,
But frat he say 10 his home, gcod-by
Sore chafed the goblin. He liked it not
That the clear gaze ofLove should survey his thin pot
And yielding at last, he exacted with care,
That no time should be wasted in blessing prayer
Harold out of the wood 10 his thresho ID has come.
"Ah welcome, dear husband, welcome home.
Thine image has cheered me the liveong day,
All the sound ofthy foot flies away.
Our babes rosy lips has he wreathcd 10 Frame
In babbngs unschooled their uttersnce thy name
Our mother has yesrned for the holy WORDS
That. nightly thy leitered skill Affords
And now sll thy tolls snd thy pcrls o'erpast,
Thou art here ia art safe, al my side al last!
On our warm, bright hearth is the kettle singing,
Tue FIRE, 1.-THE round the pines trunk fingnq.
Unheeded without, while the winter wind brswls,
My Edith, kind Edith, right ad is thy hearth,
But not to- night NAV share its mirth
Thy board is spread and thy settle warm
Tonight they may not receive my form
For mu HE over mount aud void.
In the weird wild night 10 search for gold
Thou sholt dwell ere long in a castle grand
Admired and envied of all in the landD
"Shall see thee then in purple dressed
Ofall in the land admired. caressed?
Shall our boy be reared with more dainty care
And fare as the children of mobiles fare
Dear Hsrod Yet canst thou not be more dear;
Add my russell weeds 10 me as fair
So they please thine eye, the velvet sheen
And the ermine mantle that deck queen.
Nay, go not forth. the night is wild
Rest safely here w ith thy wife and child"
She pleaded in vain; but the old crone took
fretted tome from its sacred Nook
And Ere thou go forth, at least she said,
"Let our nightly portion end pray er he read.n
He wavered, and almost had iu-ned about,
When Golfers clank was heard without
A he dashed it aside, with noise Ike a knell,
In its brazeu clasps ringing, the Bible fell.
Small hands were stretched from a cradle by,
The father unheeding pushed them by
But still to the doorway his fond Edith pressed,
And sank in her sobs on his hardening breast
"Vainly thou hin3'rcst; may not stay,
Nor even thou Edith, shalt bar my way
To shall peace and forgiveness earn,
For trust me- dear love, shall soon return"
lie sprang from her side, the shades closed round,
And swift y they rushed DER the freezing ground
Into moss grown tombs they wendell down,
And made the spoils OF the de ad their own;
Whose white jaws cla,tered with CHASTITY grin,
Tina, still the old ore new souls could win;
Meath raging waters they choking stood,
And wrested his gems from the bowling Aood;
Or by twilight paths to the centre led,
Tore the diamond forth from its twnkling bed;
And 10, as they swept in their course along,
For each fell spre OF earth, air, and sea,
In the train of Mammon was bound TO be.
As faster they rushed over stock and stone,
The way with bleeding hearts seemed strown,
And the widows and the orphans prayer,
Streamed 6tfuy through the haunted air
Faint tales were borne by the wailing wind,
As sobbing and painting it toed behind,
Of wi,hered woman OF hollow check,
And tottering footsteps, unstayed and weak,
And a sleeping infant that wasting slept,
And a lonely mother, who watched and wept.
But the spectre's voice rang loud in his ear,
II rallied his hope, and il stunned his fear.
For they who go
Through the slset and snow
With 6end for a guide, no fear must know,
Nor a moments aid nor pity bestow,
Lest straightway it disappear.
Fierce Battle they drove over smiling lands,
And wrung their hard earnings from toil,worn hands,
The simple wild men, from their dances and feas,s,
They hunted in herds, all turned 10 beasts;
And the woodsman won treasures of priceless cost,
~ tad hot In tn 20 lea ofh bnef
And saw as his mantle of smoke unrolled,
A skeleton mounted and chained with gold
Hoof horn and hell kinded eye flashed fell,
Then vanished the whole in a wild long yell;
And Harold, Weighed down with his booty, stood
Alone in the depths of the grim black wood.
Some struggling rays ger his way there streamed.
The mounta in with sudden grave stones CLEANED,
As his starting eye the vision he bends,
or kindred it seems TO read, and friends.
They cleaned and faded; and OIL he sped
The SHOWS had settled upon his head.
The blast had blghted his limbs young strength,
But he reached his forsaken home length.
His hearth was cold and his household gone,
He stood with his wealth on the earth alone.
For Time stays not his fight
For the cropping wight.
Who plunges his soul into Mammon's night;
And his hearts best field, ere he find the light,
The fore-locked thief may have mown.
SALE OF PEws IN PLYMOUTH CHURcH.-The
nual leasing of pews in 81. W. Reechers
urch, Brooklyn, occurred on the Sd instant.
is said the number of persons in attendance
the occasion was from 1900 to 1000, one
I'D of whom being ladies.
The pews, numbering about 300, were sold